Formation

"To find a form that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now." -Samuel Beckett

I found this quote under the heading of "Chaos." and it struck me that most of what we do in life is formation.

On a personal note, I am still searching for the form that accommodates my house mess, but let's just agree not to go there...

Knitting is all about formation. How do we take a length of string and form it into something beautiful? How do we bring order out of chaos?

Having spent the last three days swatching and working out the design nitpickies on Evenstar, I am all about the formation.

I want so badly for all of you to find something magical in this design. It is a big challenge.

It needs to be special. It needs to be beautiful. It needs to be art.

The form needs to communicate the message.

I have completed the first section (clue) and am moving into the second and I love how it is developing. You have no idea how hard it is not to show pictures.

Something else has been forming out of the mess: our community of knitters.

I broached the prospect of fellowship in my welcome message and I believe it to be coming true.

I have never seen such a devoted, enthusiastic and generous group of people in all my days as a designer. The KAL on Rav is bustling with ideas and helpful opinions. Plurk is full of peekers & helpers. The comments here are a wealth of inspiration.

Are we having fun yet? I know I am...


I have decided to send you a small portion of the first clue to the finished pattern in advance. This will serve as both a gauge swatch and a tutorial in lace knitting.

If you can knit this swatch, you can feel confident of your abilities to knit the shawl.

And if you struggle, well... just unravel it and try again.

And ask for help.

I will try my best to be standing by in the chat room from 12:00 noon to 12:30 pm and again from 7:30 to 8:00 pm to answer any questions you have.

And I invite (encourage) other experienced lace knitters to help me out.

If you can't wait until one of those times, there will be a HELP ME!!! thread on the board at Rav. You can also email or pm me and I will do my best to get back with you, as time permits.

Between all 400 of us, I guarantee SOMEBODY will know the answer to your particular problem.

Unless you want Legolas' home phone number. Sorry. Can't help ya there.

And even if I could, I'm not sharin'... (waggles eyebrows suggestively)

If enough people are struggling with an area, I'll rope in DH to take some pics for a tutorial here on the blog (another first!)

I want YOU to succeed - I want ALL of you to succeed.

I want this to be as much fun for you as it is for me.

This way, when the first clue comes out on Feb. 12th, you can all feel confident in your abilities to find the form and avoid the mess.

So put on your thinking caps and ready your needles - ES101 is about to start...