The Seaside Qu’mitl  is
a good example of my design process.

 It began as the smashing
together  of two  elements (sort of like nuclear fusion or
fission or something like that):  my
desire for a little knitted piece to wear on my shoulders on cool summer
evenings and a bag of Rainshadow Yarn  wool and silk and mohair  yarns (an impulse purchase at Madrona Fiber Arts
Winter Retreat ).  One skein is thicker (lamb’s
wool and mohair) in a fairly solid teal-ish blue, the other is finer (lamb’s
wool and silk) in a range of blues with dashes of olive and purple. 

The idea was to make something  small and simple, like a scarf, with the 2
weights of yarn.  But when the hankering
for a summer-shoulder-piece came up and I began stash-diving and fished up
these yarns, well, it seemed “meant to be” (my design projects always seem “meant to be”!).  And since I had been wanting to make a
smaller version of the qu’mitl, it went from “meant to be” to “imperative” (my
design projects tend to become imperative…).  

I had fully intended to keep it simple and stick with the 2
yarns.  But, if you give a mouse a
cookie, he’s going to want a lace edging to go around it, right?  And when it became clear that there would not
be enough of the finer yarn for the edging (it being rather rapidly used in the
body of the qu’mitl), it was time to go stash-diving again.  This time, I found variegated linen (in blues
and greens – quite seaside-y).

I am a bit ahead of myself. 
Before I had begun to run low on the finer wool/silk yarn – before I had
begun knitting the qu’mitl – I had decided to make the piece in wave-like lace
patterns (keeping to the seaside theme).  
And I had, indeed, found 2 suitable lace stitches for the body of the
piece.  And 2 suitable lace edging
patterns, as well.  I chose the Ocean
Waves pattern to go around the neck edge. 
But then, it kinda seemed a shame to only use the one.  And I had quite a bit of the linen yarn.  Sooooo, last night I swatched up the second
lace edging – a particularly entertaining Puff Ball Cluster Edging – and it
should look swell around the hem edge!

So, a potential scarf project meets  up with chilly summer shoulders, 4 lace patterns,
and a fat ball of variegated linen yarn – and the fun begins!   That’s how I roll!