gods, demigods and goddesses

I was hanging around the library yesterday, knitting and browsing through a Time Magazine article about how some evangelicals believe god wants them to be rich and prosperous in this life, eye of the needle be d*mned. No knitting magazines in the selection, but then I got the bright idea to check good old 746.4 to see what books might be available. The branch, Douglass-Truth, had recently reopened after a remodel and expansion. I was very surprised to see that the Dewey Numbers were not on the signs. Nope, the permanent-looking signs on the end of the rows said Fiction or Non-Fiction. What's with that?

I persevered and found the section nonetheless. There were about a dozen contenders, including these two gems. I've only heard of these knitting-with-color demigods through reading knitting blogs --- one more way my life has been enriched due to the internet. Flipping through the pages is a bit overwhelming, but oh so fun.

I browsed a couple more that I didn't bring home, books of sweater patterns. Both books I flipped through going eh...eh..eh... omg, this one's great! In each case where the pattern jumped out as so much more well designed than the rest the designer turned out to be either Norah Gaughan or Teva Durham the demi-goddesses of knitwear design.

While I have been narrowing down my color choices for the Tartan Jacket, I have been examining the pattern, color selection, color placement, and shaping to see if I can fully understand what all the design elements are and how they interact. Not just the color selection, but also the width of the vertical stripes, the width of the horizontal stripes, the exact placement of the horizontal stripes, the ordering of the colors (with the boldest contrast up high on the shoulders), the length of the body and the sleeves. How all elements combine to draw the eye upward, away from imperfect hips in a flattering way towards the face.

I have found a few brave souls who have finished this jacket and shown the world via the internet. Several who used the almost the same palette as Teva, but with slightly different colors because of different yarn and some with very different color choices.

here are some of them to browse yourself.



and my latest in colorway selection...