Inspiration shows up when you least expect it...(pt. 2)

For the past few weeks I have been wracking my poor addled brain for THE PERFECT STITCH PATTERNS for the seaside sweater I'm designing.

In typical fashion, I'm simply biting off more than I can chew. With all of the elements that I'm looking to include it could make for the busiest, most deplorable mess of a sweater known to mankind.

First, lets look at the pros: I've already got the buttons for it (Thanks again to MADEFORFUN at etsy. The beach stone button set she put together for me is just what I was looking for!) , so its a great starting point. I'm thinking that I will go from the button band I originally planned on to the twined cables on either side (unless that gets a bit busy...then the cables will be the first bit that I drop) and then I want to go into a linen stitch to suggest the sandy beach.


Egads! Time for the cons: The one stitch dictionary that I do have doesn't have anything remotely resembling what I'm looking for to transition from linen stitch to something remotely resembling the motion of the waves, so its going to be a hardcore mess of swatching transitions to see what works and whats even possible. Then, there is the small matter of weather or not to make a subtle color transition as the patterns change...for some reason, I think that would be tremendously cool, but ummmm....how to make it happen? Knit to that point and then try to dye and set the color? Dip dye the finished sweater? I'm not so good at estimating my yarn yardages to dye prior to knitting, so its not really an option for me. I guess I could knit the waves first and try to transition to linen. It might be a bit easier to do it that way if I make the transition over a few rows...

Oh, here's an idea...I could make the "coast line" curve from the bottom to the top area, and over onto the sleeves-making the equivalent of a yoke out of the linen and having the waves work all over the back and down the arms. if the line of the waves is done properly, it will be really flattering. I think I'm liking it so far!

Swatch. swatch. swatch. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can get it to work out.

Inspiration shows up when you least expect it...

I was surfing Etsy, as I am prone to do, and I came across these nifty beach stone buttons in madeforfun's shop. (http://http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5594789) All of a sudden, my brain started rolling with ideas for a cardigan inspired by the coast.

Boy genius and I used to live in Charleston, SC. and since we came back to Kentucky I truly miss being near to the ocean. Since I'm stuck in a place that has a good amount of sweater weather, why not make a sweater than celebrates the place where you are least likely to need to wear one? Convoluted logic? I think so. But I'm working with what I have here :)

Now, first things first. I'm thinking about the things that would best symbolize the things that I love about Charleston and the beach. For one, Charleston is where Boygenius and I lived when we were first married, so I'm thinking a twined cable (with 2 different textures in it) would be a nice representative pattern, possibly running the length of the sleeves or on the sides of the button bands. I think its also going to be important to find the right pattern to exemplify the texture of the windblown and water worked sand on the coast. Maybe something that shows the rolling of the waves?

I'm totally brainstorming here...so thanks for coming along for the ride :)

Wow...and color! Now here's where it gets interesting. Maybe I should go with an earthy, sandy sort of shade to reinforce the texture, but then possibly flowing into more watery tones? Nothing too overt. Or, maybe the color should stay consistent, but the pattern of the knitting should flow from the beachy texture to the rolling waves from the top to the bottom.

I've got lots to think about, that's for sure! Time to bust out the sketch book and the stitch books when I get home before I loose all momentum.

For those of you who design your own knits...heck your own anything....What does your creative process look like? How do you go from idea to finished object? Do you start with a detailed idea or do you just wing it? I want details folks...Inquiring minds want to know!