I Tried

"There ain't no rules around here, we're trying to accomplish something."

-Thomas Edison

There used to be this commercial for Lay's potato chips.

"No one can eat just one."

In my brief but fruitful career as a designer, I have discovered the truth of this advertising maxim.

"No one can knit just one."

I knit multiples at the same time. Doesn't everybody?

My knitting basket is a little like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. And to carry the chocolate analogy a bit further (and who doesn't want MORE chocolate?) it often resembles a picked over box of candy, with one bite taken out of lots of different projects and few completely consumed. (Coconut - YUMM! Nougat - GROSS!)

Many fans of Sherwood and Drizzle have contacted me recently, fearing for the health and welfare of these long-neglected children. Fear not, they are in the hopper for the fall. I am knitting as fast as I can.

I am an intuitive knitter. I allow my muse to lead, determining my path. Sometimes the path is smooth. Sometimes it is bumpy. Sometimes it leads to places I never expected.

That is what happened with Zinnia.

She was a simple little knit with one central petal motif, repeated over and over in ever widening circles until the edge, whereupon the final petals would be added and cast off individual.ly. She was a one-trick pony. And a one skein project.

Now I tried to keep her simple. I really did. Honest. I tried to reign her in and confine her to one skein.

But this simple petal motif:






turned into this small leaf motif.






Then four of them merged into this large center leaf:






And surrounded themselves with other leaves...






Which needed some filler in between them, to finish things off.









And before you knew it...

Zinnia was a three or four trick pony. And a two skein project.

Sigh...

Here's another metaphor from one of Baby Boy's favorite childhood reads, for those of you with little ones around:

If you give a mouse a cookie...

A mouse muse can be a terribly demanding mistress, a hard task master,



but she sure does know what she's doing...