Inspiration-Where do you find yours?

I love looking through knitting books, blogs, and websites and of course ravelry.  I find a lot of inspiration when looking at what other people have created.  Sometimes I am content to follow a pattern precisely as it was intended and written.  Sometimes I make changes inadvertently-I don’t call these mistakes.  I call them personal design implements. And sometimes I make changes because I can and envision something different.

I began a knit along with my friend Laura during July.  We choose the Honey cowl by Madeline Tosh.  This is a great pattern for a beginning knitter and an easy quick knit for everyone.  The first one I choose to follow the pattern almost exactly.  I neglected to knit the border row at the beginning so I also skipped it at the end.  It turned out quite nicely.

I’ve started another cowl based loosely on the Honey Cowl pattern.  This time I decided to do a chain pattern.  I follow the Honey Cowl pattern for one round of the pattern with three stockinette rows in between.  The result is a chain pattern.  See it in progress:

I’m looking forward to seeing how this project turns out.  In the meantime I’m still working on the second anklet sock.   What is it about the second one that makes me go so slow?  It’s the same with the second sleeve.  The second one always takes twice as long as the first one. 

I’m looking for my next project.  A sweater that is southern California weather friendly.  A friend recently gave me a copy of the book Costal Knits by Alana Dakos and Hannah Fettig.  It’s a wonderful collaborative book of patterns written by two knitters on the west and east coast of the US.  I’ve really enjoyed reading about the different perspectives these two designers have brought into their patterns. 

And because one of the authors is a California girl I think I will choose a sweater from their collection.  I really like the Wildflower Cardigan.   I recommend you take a look through Costal Knits and see if you find inspiration.