Hand dyed thread "Crocus" and pattern progress

 

Always a thrill to see the first crocus bloom in the spring! Inspired by the purples, yellows, and orange colors of the flowers and the green of their leaves, I hand dyed a fresh batch of thread and it's listed in my Etsy shop. (Next batch is planned to be "Beach Cafe".)

Returning to my new pattern in progress, "Phoenix" I did successfully complete a smaller prototype that pleased me, so I've begun work on diagraming it. Both the large and small versions will be included in the finished pattern, along with in-progress photos. Here's a teaser photo:

Behind the Scenes

These aren't all the scraps, some have already been thrown out. 

People have asked me "How do you come up with your designs?" 

Well, the answer is, "Experimenting". That actually means to learn from mistakes. To see what works, what doesn't, which parts are pulling out of shape, where to add more stitches, thinking, tatting, cutting out, more thinking, more tatting.

The design I'm still working on is "Phoenix", and I actually thought about taking a lighter to singe the scraps, making it literally rise from the ashes, lol. The "Leave Her, Johnny" sheet music background is because I'm starting to think of leaving this mess, giving up on the small Phoenix design. I have the large Phoenix done, and that went surprisingly well, but I really want a small, pendant style version with shorter wings retaining the essence of the original. A "baby Phoenix" as it would seem. 

Well, I won't give up. Once I have figured it out, I'll get to writing it up, including how to tat an excellent spiral from both front and back sides. Yay!!!

Just saying, I "waste" a lot of thread. Cotton biodegrades and more plants grow. Support designers.