Not In The Mood

Bias knit garter stripes inspired by a satellite picture of a Saudi Arabian desert

You know how it goes, (maybe you don't),  but sometimes you just aren't in the mood to knit.  Not in the mood to finish those five UFOs in the basket, not even in the mood to start that new jacket for Autumn/Winter season that you have been drooling over and promising yourself for the last three years.

Bobbles inspired by pictures of the Fly Agaric fungus - the one you always see in pictures in fairy stories

 

On days like that when it's raining, I'm not working and I can't garden, everyone's been fed and I have cleaned pretty much everything, then I turn to 'faffing about'.  I look through old patterns, I browse on Ravelry, I tidy up the yarns, and when I feel like picking up needles, I swatch. 

I was encouraged in this when I took up a City and Guilds handknit course taught by Loraine McClean.  I loved the swatching and the learning.  Family pressures prevented me from completing the course, but the swatching and learning habit has stayed with me.

Inspired by a 1940s Stitchcraft pattern and knitted in fine crochet cotton on 2.25mm needles

Barbara Walker and Mary Thomas are well and truly thumbed for stitches I haven't tried.  Maybe that's the problem, maybe I'm a 'sampling' person, rather than a 'knit to the bitter end' person.

Bobbles and stripes in chenille inspired by a picture in an old RHS Garden magazine 

I look at pictures of plants and the natural world, art and gardens.  I have heaps of coloured paper cut from ads in glossy magazines, throw them up in the air and look at the colour combinations that land.  Then try to knit them into pleasing patterns in slip stitch.  I look at vintage knitting patterns and try the stitches out.




This sample comes from a 1940's pattern and full details given in a previous post  here.  I just love, love this and make no apology for posting it again.


This is another post in the ABC meme with An Accidental Knitter