Pleased to be here

Hello everyone :)
I was quite excited to find this group on the KAL list. I am facinated by design and although I haven't been knitting for very long, I decided to undertake the challenge of design to stretch my understanding of construction and increase my comprehension of what a workable design really entails. At this point, I am not concerned about the selling or market for a design, just the experience of going through the process.

I am in my late 30's and have been knitting for a little over 2 years. I found Alice Starmore and stranded colorwork very early in my knitting explorations and have been drawn to colorwork ever since. A definite "I want to do THIS" type of reaction.

My first design initiative is for a stranded colorwork sweater. My first focus for this inspiration was to come up with a pattern repeat that met my personal criteria for enjoyable stranding; floats no longer than 6-7 stitches and a stitch pattern with a distinctive rhythm but not overwhelming monotony. I went for an allover type stitch pattern with multiple symetry. I chose a lattice format and instead of a single repeat within the lattice structure, I tweaked it to provide two distinct but very similar stitch patterns that come together at the lattice crosses and provide a third visual pattern to provide more interest. As I was playing with this, I was inspired again by the vision of the Ambassador bridge, a lighted suspension bridge that connects Detroit, Michigan to Windsor, Canada, that I pass by every day on my ride to work. This vision really cemented the stitch pattern design and I chose to do the pattern in only two colors - the midnight sky and the pearl of the lights on the bridge and the cars traversing it. I will get some photos of my sketches (drawing is so not one of my talents) and better samples of what I have done so far for my next post. Right now, I'm just happy to be here :)