Think Pink.

For the past two weeks, every waking moment has been consumed by by Peachtree Charter Middle School's Executive Council Retreat (I have the honor of serving the school as Chair) and by this: the 2009 Butterfly Festival at Dunwoody Nature Center.

To cool my roaring jets, I've played with a design-as-you-go shawl, incorporating a series of motifs and trims from several sources with some archaic soft, worsted weight pink yarn found at an estate sale.

The result is:

Think Pink: A Shawl That's The Sum Of Its Splendid Parts.

Worsted weight yarn, approximately 900 - 1000 yards, depending on number of repeats and your gauge

Size 10 knitting needles, straight and circular

Section 1: Dean Crane's Candle Flame Shawl pattern, notated by Linda Clark. Continue pattern repeats until there are 12 flame medallions across the top, then bind off.

Section 2: Crochet-Trimmed Frill (without the crochet trim), 150 Knitted Trims by Lesley Stanfield. Pick up 108 stitches along one side. Repeat rows 5 & 6 until there are 5 bars (14 total rows). Now shift to Hoops, trim #59. Follow pattern for Rows 1-7 and bind off.

Section 3: Repeat Section 2.

Section 4: Modular Diamond motif from Patricia Werner's Dazzling Knits: Building Blocks to Creative Knitting. Pick up 16 stitches along right facing crochet-trimmed frill end, one center stitch from tip of Candle Flame motif, and 16 stitches along left facing crochet-trimmed frill end. Follow instructions for Basic Diamond. Bind off.

Last Step: Single crochet an edge around entire boundary of shawl and weave in loose ends.

Certainly, a knitter can follow my "recipe" and create the same shawl. But the beauty of this shawl is its spontaneity. I finished one section, switched patterns before I got too bored with repetition, studied the lacing and drape, tried another pattern, and created something very unique. Yet not one stitch is an original design.

Knitting doldrums.

What do you do when something isn't fun anymore?

I've had a prolonged bout of knitting doldrums that started right after Stitches South in April. The show was inspiring and overwhelming at the same time. So many yarns. So many designers. So many opportunities.

I left feeling somewhat inadequate.

I cast on a sweater coat. And ripped it apart after I'd knitted 12 inches. Boring.

I thought about a new design for a felted handbag, something I've thoroughly enjoyed in the past. Nada.

I tried a new knitting technique for socks. Sigh.

What the heck?

Then the synergy of Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day, a stormy evening, and a clean house led me to noodling in my yarn stash. I am too restless to sit still and watch a movie, so I decided to give knitting another chance.

I played with some lovely pink German yarn I found at an estate sale more than three years ago. It said "shawl" to me, so I adapted the traditional candle flame lace pattern and will add an edge pattern that frames it perfectly. I'm back in the knitting game again!

It's hard when something you've enjoyed so much stops giving the same sense of pleasure. I even thought maybe knitting would no longer be the linchpin it has served for so long.

I guess I just needed a break, to not take it for granted, and to focus on the pleasure of the process rather than just the results.