The Bright Side

Thanks for all the get well wishes, made me feel much better they did! I'm on the mend but doc says it's a little bit more than the flu. Seems I've managed to get stomach ulcerations! How exactly one does this I'm not real sure but she gave me some meds and I have to go back in a few weeks. I figure this means I just need more knitting time right? And apparently the sinus issues - they're just a bonus. So what did I do since I couldn't work on Queen Anne? Remember this? Inspired by this: It is now this: Project: Kiri Shawl, free pattern from Polly Outhwaite at All Tangled Up Yarn: Hand dyed Henry's Attic Fingering Weight Kona Superwash. Dyed by me in the Frittillaries colorway. Needles: Inox greys size 7US Inspiration: Yarn from Marina and VanGogh's painting - "Frittillaries, Crown Imperials in a Copper Vase" and the view from my kitchen This one was a very interesting project. It is the first shawl I have done and the first lace I have finished and blocked. There is always much discussion on "process vs project" around the knitting blogs but this project for me begs the question - which process? The process of looking at a huge hunk of naked fingering weight yarn that was deliciously soft and dreaming of what it could be? The process of finding inspiration in a famous painter and your everyday surroundings driving you to mix up dozens of shades of dye to get the right nuances of color? The process of selecting just the right pattern to show off this gorgeous new yarn that fills you with delight? The process of learning this form of shawl construction and marveling at it's ingenious simplicity? The process of making stitches in endless rhythm as the rows never seemed to end? The process of the victorious cast off and the declaration of 'done'!? The process of crawling about on hands and knees with a box of 250 pins and wet wool wondering what you were thinking? The process of picking it up the next day and holding it to the light in wonderment that it really stayed that way, forever freed from it's rumpled beginnings and the feeling of awe in the thought 'I made this'? Or the process of growing comprehension of the seduction of lace and the feeling that something changed in you as an artist and creator as a project was brought forth to completion? Hmmmm I think I loved them all.....