If You Have to Explain....

I was having a conversation with someone a few weeks ago about a logo.  It was a very interesting logo, had a lot going on in it.  So many elements in fact, that neither one of us could figure out what it was the company was trying to say!  Which is incredibly sad, because we both happened to be on the board of this particular company.

So we asked.

Twenty minutes later the CEO finished explaining it to us, and it was a very cool concept...but....if it takes you that long to explain your logo, I feel that you missed the mark.

I felt that way about my first ColourMart Spring Contest Shawl Design entry.  The finished shawl got many "likes" but also the comment that the spine wasn't symmetrical.  To which I replied, it wasn't supposed to be symmetrical all the way down, there was a theme, but I didn't explain it because if the average viewer of the pictures couldn't figure it out I, too,had missed the mark.

After some discussion and a very friendly offer to look at my charts and fix them for me, I decided that I would make the shawl more symmetrical and changed the charts on my own.  No sense flogging a dead horse, or spine treatment in this case, and I still liked the individual motifs in the shawl but it was too big in the gauge I knit it at for "the average"* knitter to even attempt.

Changing the charts to be symmetrical wasn't hard.  A tweak here, cut and paste there and they were done....but....well....that felt like cheating.  Why make just those small changes when I could see another way to start at the same place, end at the same place, but have the middle take an entirely different path?

You guessed it, I reworked the charts again and came up with a whole different design!

Ever play "telephone" as a kid? 

The game starts with a message and you whisper it to the person next to you, who whispers it to the person next to them and so on and so forth through however many people you can gather together.  By the time the message it spoken out loud by the final person to hear it whispered, the message has morphed into something new.

That, is how I feel about this shawl.

She is brand new and taking up most of my attention right now....well that and keeping track of edits from my test knitters for the next socks!

Well, not that I am monogamous with my knitting projects, the sock after next might be on my needles as well!

I almost forgot, in fact I did until I previewed this....new FAQ page has been created...link in the sidebar.  As questions come in I am going to put them there so that you can always find them.  Especially for those "free" patterns**, that way you don't feel like you are bothering me and I don't feel like I am answering the same question too many times!

~M

*Who is this mystery average knitter?  Do you know them?  Can you tell me what they want to see in my next grouping of patterns?
** I actually got paid for the patterns, so technically you (as the knitter) are getting a pattern on someone else's  dime.


PS- I am still in search of one test knitter for the sock currently being tested, please sign up in The Testing Pool on Ravelry, look for an Open Knit - Cable, Texture, Lace Socks.

Next call will also be a "Fickle Knitter" Special but it will be a secret test, no photos anywhere!  PM me on Ravelry if you are interested with the subject line of Secret Test.  (marydear on Ravelry)  As it is a submission the text is very different from my usual style.  :)