Wordless Wednesday: Why It Belongs in a Knitting Blog

When I first started the Wordless Wednesday feature, my main goal was to have a weekly feature and to be able to share my love of photography.  However, as time has passed, I see that the photos and themes I choose definitely tie in with my knitting and designing, more significantly with the latter.

The first installment, Wordless Wednesday – Well, Nearly…, was mainly an introduction to the feature and, perhaps, to me.

Three of the Wordless Wednesday stories deal with a huge inspiration for me: color.  Color for me is visceral; beautiful color, whether a single hue or several in combination, elevates.  Wordless Wednesday: Monochrome, Wordless Wednesday: Multi (1) (because I fully expect there to be further “Multi” stories), and Wordless Wednesday: Green.  These beautiful colors inspire my knitting and my design ethic.

Wordless Wednesday: Texture (Beach), Wordless Wednesday: Water, and even Wordless Wednesday: World’s Smallest Harbor explore texture and light, which always, always inform my designs.

I discovered this beach, Gleneden Beach, which is on the Salishan Spit, the year before the Salishan Cowl pattern was written.  I was so shocked and delighted to discover that we had a black sand (or dark sand, at any rate) beach in Oregon.  How could I have lived here for over twenty years and not have known we had such a beach?!?  The wind- and surf-made texture in the sand was a direct inspiration for this cowl.

Wordless Wednesday: Faves and Wordless Wednesday: Colorwork are about beautiful things that are inspiring to me.  I love how these two disparate photos contain nearly the same colors:

Wordless Wednesday: What They’re Looking At ponders point of view.  The subjects of these photos are intently looking at something, thinking about it and taking it in. The practice of taking the time to examine something in depth often leads to  design inspiration, at least for me.

This week’s post will be Wordless Wednesday: Stonework.  Recently we visited the grounds of the Historic Columbia Gorge Hotel and Silver Falls State Park, both of which feature some beautiful stonework.  I was taken with the beautiful warm colors within the stonework and the play of light on the surface of the stones.  One of my favorite photos is of a stonework drinking fountain (!).  I love that a basic, everyday object was made into a beautiful work of art…and that’s what I attempt to do with my knitwear designs.

Wordless Wednesdays serve to share stories with you about what I’m seeing and thinking about, and they serve to keep me rooted in the images – the colors, textures, emotions and impressions – that inspire me.

Thanks for checking in and taking the time to visit!!