Among my summer knitting projects there always seems to be one that is 
artistic!  This year's Artist is the same as last year's Artist which was the same as the year before: The Beachy Q'mitl.  Oh, there are design projects and then there are DESIGN PROJECTS — and the Beachy Q'mitl is definitely the latter.  

It is inspired.  It is witty.  It is deep, layered, and significant.  It interprets.  It represents.  It distillates essences and waxes metaphoric.  It is intentional in its process.  It progresses, but oh so slowly.  It is not that "one cannot rush art" (but, okay, no you can't — go ahead and try sometime!), but that there is a lot work that goes into a piece like the Beachy Q'mitl.  Much of which is not even knitting!

Originally, it was just going to be a simple Q'mitl that I could wear on the beach.  Two or three cream and taupe yarns purchased at a lovely stall at Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat.   Then, I read Tracy Chevalier's Remarkable Creatures  which is a novel based on the discovery of fossils on the beach of Lyme Regis, England in the 19th century, and got all inspired!  I was struck with a vision: iconic fossil and shell textures wrought in neutral yarns of various textures and weights.  

I sought images of shells and fossils on the Internet.  I searched through my stitchionaries for patterns that evoked shells and fossils.  I raided my yarn stash for sandy, bone-ish, fossilly colored yarns of various weights.  I found special significance in certain images, special meaning in the names and histories of certain stitch patterns, special appeal in certain yarn textures and hues.

I gathered these all together and then started sketching.  Which means I drew an outline if my proposed dimensiona and then blocked out sections for specific yarns and stitches.  I copied out stitch patterns, sometimes charting them to make them easier to follow.

Then, I started swatching.  Swatching for needle size and gauge, but all so to see how the stitch pattern looked in the yarn I intended to use.  After I swatched for a section, I knit that section.  And when I finished that, I began swatching another section.  I switched yarns or patterns if my original idea wasn't working out.  Then, I would swatch again.  Sometimes there are design or construction issues. Then, Inre-think something and swatch again.

So, now — on my 3rd summer with The Artist (who winters on a shelf in my studio) — I have a basket of knitted sections and a file folder of notes.  I am down to my last section — tho, actually, I am working on little knitted tubes that will be formed into spirals and sewn to this section (along with some real shells) and I have to complete them so I know how wide to make the flat columns on this section where they will be appliquéd, so I have not actually begun knitting the section itself yet…then I am making good progress on the lace edging that will finish it off!

After the knitting comes the blocking and sewing together — and I may add some bits, too, once I see how it looks.  Maaaaybe I will complete it this summer.  In time to wear it on the beach in August!  Meanwhile, I am loving the process and am content to let The Artist work itself out.