Blocked by Leaves

"Everything you can imagine is real." - Pablo Picasso

Imagine that the only thing you have to do today is to knit a Maple leaf.  You know what a Maple leaf looks like.  You can reference all manner of photos of them, and even step outside and pick a real specimen for study.  You have needles and yarn, and the will to do the deed.

What you cannot do is pop on over to Ravelry and download a pattern for a Maple leaf, because that would be someone else's leaf, and yours has to be your own.  You also have to knit your leaf in such a way that others can follow your instructions to knit it the very same way, with immediate success.

Would you start with the stem and work up?  Make separate lobes and attach them to a common base?  Where do the increases and decreases go? How lifelike or interpretive will it be?  How will you predict what size it becomes?  Or can you?

Go!

Now don't think I'm complaining: I think this is a GREAT problem to have.  Seriously, if this is my biggest challenge today, I'm clearly living right.  But every once in a while, (usually when I stop doing and start thinking), I realize that I have no experience in doing the thing I have to do.  I've never knit a maple leaf before, and that is no stinkin' excuse.  I have to leaf up and make it happen.  I think I know where to start, but I'm just wondering: 

What would Gentle Readers do?

Rabble Rouser

I've been swarmed.  Lucky for me, this lot is pretty good-natured.  There's more where they came from, too.  Did you know that the collective noun for butterflies is "Rabble"?  No better description for an unruly profusion, in my opinion.

Furthermore, A Rabble-rouser is a person who speaks with the intent to stir the passions of their audience.  Just like knitters.  Here are a few you may have heard misquoted, elsewhere:

"Give me Free Patterns, or give me Death!" -  Patricia Henry

"And so, my Fellow Knitters, ask not what yarn can do for you.  Ask what you can do for yarn!" -  Jeanine Fitzsimmons Kennedy

"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of knitters and the sons of crocheters  will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood." -  Martina Louanne King

"The only thing we have to fear is Moths, themselves!" -  Francis Delores Roosevelt

"We shall defend our yarn stash, whatever the cost may be!  We shall knit on the beaches, we shall knit on the landing grounds, we shall knit in the fields and in the streets, we shall knit in the hills; we shall never surrender." -  Winnifred Churchill

Stirring words, aren't they?  Just makes me wanna get out there and start something. 

Like maybe a cardigan.

Wanna Get Stranded?

No, not on a desert isle (no yarn there - we'd hate that).  Our friends at Yorkshire Yarns are planning an adventure, and we're all invited!

Have you ever wanted to make your very own stranded colorwork sweater?  Have you worried that it was too much to take on by yourself?  That's how I felt the first time I attempted it.  And since I first began my stranded colorwork journey of discovery, I've picked up a lot of information and skills that I really want to share with you.  So I've created what I consider to be the perfect sweater workshop:  Stranded With Mary.

First, I offer personal guidance to each student in selecting your favorite pattern before class.  There's also a Ravelry group where you can meet, compare notes, and get help between sessions.  We meet four - count em'- FOUR times, in as many months.  Which means that you can actually create your stranded colorwork masterpiece, from start to finish, with my personal help and encouragement all the way through!  

And if all that weren't enough: the timing of the workshop is perfect for you to finish in time for the holidays.

Yorkshire Yarns is located in Lakewood, WA; just about perfectly centered between Portland and Seattle.  Why not grab a friend and share the drive?  

CLICK HERE for all the details.  Class fee includes a copy of The New Stranded Colorwork, in addition to my exclusive workshop handbook.

I can't wait to get stranded with you!