Finperation and Shrimperation

If you know me, you probably have the impression that I love creatures large and small. Well, this is the tip of the iceburg. No! I'm not some crazy hoarding cat/dog lady with 100 animals in my apartment. What I mean is that I truly love and find harmonious beauty in nature. I have a wee chunk of the Transcendentalism in me. I've started to design patterns and a few quick knits to try out the workings of my imagination. Right now I am focusing on the color combinations found in butterfly wings, in tropical fish and other marine critters. I am increasingly fascinated!


My first set of sketches and pattern doodles in excel (yes - microsoft excel) are based on a cute little shrimpy. I have been known to frequent high quality aquarium stores as a cheap thrill. Basically they are free aquarium visits for me. If you are on the East Coast, I highly recomend the Aquarium Depot in Randallstown, MD.

I have had many fish over the years but have kept to ryukins and bettas. It was on one of these visits that I saw my first camelback shrimp, also called dancing shrimp, hingebeak shrimp.

TaaDaa! (Dancing Shrimp) Sorry, I don't have my own picture of these guys - yet.

I'm also in love with the Mandarin goby/dragonet. I'm sure you have seen one before. They are quite striking - see! :)

And the Biscuit Starfish and Necklace Starfish.

Also, I must confess that I am in love with Sea Slugs (Nudibranch). Yep. I loves them. For knitting purposes I am going to focus on the pretty ones like this one, this one and this one. However, if I ever aspire to own one, I am going with a little brown blob like this one. They look like little cows to me. A little squishy, gooshy, cow (or an icky clump of fat??). I actually saw one in the aquarium store and we had a moment. Sure, they aren't as pretty but I like them all the same. While I am more interested in the color inspirations, I may knit up a little Nudibranch to keep me happy until I get that tank.

Jaeger Roma Yummy!

I've kept at that Crossneck Pullover and with lots of moral support, am sticking with those 18 sts cables. The front and back are finished! Woot!

Now I am 10" into one sleeve and have fallen into pattern loathing again. Those freakin cables are just too bulky with this yarn! The cast on for sleeves was the same for every size so only the increases affect width. I am still following the instructions for a small. Up until now I wish I had knit a medium for the body because I think the torso is going to be snug when I sew the seams. Now, the small sleeves are too big! Just can't win! They feel bigger than what I am used to but the pattern calls for two bulky cables up the arm so it even looks chunky.

Yarg!

What to do.....??? I know, keep knitting! lol. I'm more in this for the therapeutic and theoretical art aspect than for actual clothing anyway. At knitting circle even the sleeves got lots of positive feedback so it must just be ME. I'm going to keep listening to the words of wisdom and keep going. When I was testing out the sleeve on my arm, initially I was holding it with the two cables lying flat and facing upward with my palm facing down. Later I was looking at the picture and the cables are actually going to straddle the outside ridge of my arm. So there will be one cable facing up and one facing down. This looks better but I already have my panties in a bunch over it.

p.s. That funny bit at the bottom of the picture is where I increased the pattern instead of frogging. Originally I had cast on a few sts less than called for with the small size. This made the perfect width until I started the bunchy cables which pulled the sides together. So, yeah, that is NOT part of the pattern. Just my laziness which I will need to fill in/pay for later. ;)