This is a photo of my knitting work-in-progress–a knit-from-the-top-down, black, Fair Isle cardigan. I’m slogging through the sleeves on 4 needles on a hot August afternoon, and what breeze there was has died.
You won’t find a final product resembling my sweater in the pattern book I’m using. I haven’t followed the suggested colours, I’m using different yarn, and I’m not going to put a zipper in the front. What remains of the original is the shape and the stitch count. Do you do this, too?
I like patterns in the books I read, too. I love to read mystery novels. In fact, one of my writing works-in-progress is a mystery novel. But just because mystery writers need to follow certain patterns, such as being fair and revealing all the clues to the reader, doesn’t mean that there isn’t an endless variety of mystery novels and short stories out there to delight readers of every taste.
In knitting and writing, patterns are a starting place for a creative journey that can result in a lot of fun and some surprising and satisfying final products.
How do you play with patterns in your knitting and crochet projects and in your writing?