Magician's Assistant

I've been working on some original designs which I'm really happy with and can't wait to share but until I sort out all the kinks and get these patterns down on paper, they'll just have to stay secret for now.  Figuring out how a stitch works and develops into the kind of fabric I'm trying to achieve has been thrilling but tiring, too, and after weeks of knitting my own patterns over and over again, I put my needles down and flipped through my pattern binder.  Okay, call me overly organized but, yes, I keep a binder of patterns I plan to make, all in individual plastic sleeves and filed according to season.  Don't you?

Like any skill or craft, I know how important it is to learn from others, and as I'm stretching myself with designing, I find that knitting the designs of those I admire helps me develop my own abilities.

Astrid - fringe in cascade 220

I've called this post "magician's assistant" because that's exactly how I felt when I cast on this whimsical pattern (a new replacement on my year of projects).  It was designed by Joji Locatelli and I fell in love with the whole concept of this scarf.

The scarf begins with a fringe of bobbles.  It took me a few attempts before I figured out the proper way to make the bobbles, but once I did, I couldn't help smiling.  Like magic, each turn of the needles with either a knit or a purl became a bobble and not only that, my fringe began to develop and grow.  I couldn't quite get over it.  So, while I'm making this little project, I feel like a magician's assistant, turning yarn into this incredible fringe.