Nurturing a Creative Seed

Taking the bus isn't so bad. I'm finding it rather relaxing in a way, since all I have to do is get myself to the bus on time, which is way less stress than fighting traffic. But it has got me thinking about how I can make the experience more comfortable.

First off, I bought a good umbrella and that's been indispensable this week. Next, I've got myself a large yet stylish bag with a long strap for carrying my stuff. But more importantly, I need the right kind of jacket. My current jacket is waterproof, but also doesn't breathe, so after a while it feels like you're wrapped in plastic, gently steaming. What I need is a wool coat!

My brain stormed, thoughts churned and Saturday morning all my ideas came together. After my morning chores, I got to sit down to play with yarn and pencil crayons all afternoon long. It was wonderful to immerse myself in a creative flow. I kept up a little inner dialog of encouragement and support that saw me through the whole thing. No negative thinking was allowed. It was awesome and I'm so proud of myself for that alone!

And here's the result:

It doesn't look like much, but most seedlings don't. The yarn is mostly Philosopher's Wool, with some Black Water Abbey, Beaver Slide and Jamieson's Shetland thrown in. The chart is Alba from Alice Starmore's The Celtic Collection.

I tried to channel Alice in planning the colors. I've noticed that she often uses two bands of highlight color ways over a background color way. In this case, the neutrals are the background, and the bright blue and bright pink are the highlights. It looks a little silly on its own, but when there are more repeats stacked up and a whole sweater put together, I'm hoping it will look cohesive.

I can't knit this for too long a stretch at a time. I start getting self-doubt, then frustration and then an urge to rip. I have to keep up the positive self-talk and that gets tiring. Here's hoping this seedling will sprout and grow!