grafting

After working on the Funny Bunny Bath Towel i discovered several important things:

* i am NOT a designer.

* i will NEVER be a designer.

* sleeping at the Holiday Inn will NOT qualify me to call myself a designer.

* although i may have great ideas, i can NOT always manage to get them implemented!

* it's much easier to tweak someone ELSE's pattern than figure out your own original!

i spent several weeks working rather diligently on this simple little project ... or at least in my mind it was SUPPOSED to be an easy-peasy thing to knit ... and in principle it really is!  i just have managed to do all the possible things WRONG that you could ever think of!  in fact, one of the things NOT to Do for this pattern  was to put the 15 stitches from the towel portion on a holder and then using waste yarn do a 15 stitch provisional cast on as part of the hat.  in my mind you'd then knit the hat, unzip the provisional cast on and graft the 2 sections together.  [i even tried, once i got down to 15 towel stitches, simply casting on 45 addtional stitches and trying to knit the hat while still attaching and twirling the towel portion around!]

i used the kitchener stitch to join my hat and towel ... and it looks okay, i guess, but i was joining a stockinette section  (hat) to a garter stitch section (towel).  so .. i thought we'd look at a proper way to join two garter stitch sections, in case you opt to knit the hat to match the blanket identically!  A great source for this demonstration can be found at the Knitting Daily website .....

"To graft garter stitch, place live stitches on needles held parallel. Thread tapestry needle with yarn and go through first stitch on front needle as if to purl, then first stitch on back needle as if to purl, leaving both stitches on the needles. *Then go through first stitch on front needle as if to knit and slip it off the needle, go through second stitch as if to purl and leave it on. Go through first stitch on back needle as if to knit and slip it off the needle, go through second stitch as if to purl and leave it on. Rep from * until no stitches remain." 

The true purpose of grafting is to make seamless transition .... just another row of knitting that flows from one to the other, with no visible interuption .... and of course, in looking for life lessons and applications i immediately thought about God's desire of each of us .. to make that smooth line of what appears to be effortless blending .... so that the rows of my look like His!  Stitch by stitch, working from one needle/day .. to the next needle/day .... and slowly as the stitch slip off the needles they form a continuity of commitment, a blending of one row to another .....

and how i pray that although it may feel awkward, or He may have to tug a bit tighter in order to get mE lined up and mirroring Him, it will SO be worth the time and dedication He so willinging continue to invest in me!


"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. "  John 15:5

He didn't have to sleep at a Holiday Inn Express .... or anywhere else for that matter ... He is MORE than qualified to  be the Designer of my life .....  each and EVERY day!