Freeform Tops – New and Exciting!

I should be knuckling down and writing patterns, but I went off on a tangent again when I saw a nice crocheted top and thought that if I could develop one for the machine, that would be something new and exciting for my demonstration for my upcoming lessons for Newton’s Fall Fiber Festival, Oct. 10-11.  Seeing as I am not really a crocheter, I immediately had a sleepless night thinking about how to make a crocheted look, but on the knitting machine.  Yarn choices were very important, so I pulled out one that I knew would work great and started designing, freeform style, on a mannequin.  The yarn was from Silk City in New York City – Avanti, a coral color, slinky rayon/cotton blend that has large wrapped nubs in it.  I knew those nubs would hold the long spans of “needles out of work” areas, so I started my experimentation.  Here is the result:

Now I am working on another version to include in the pattern.  Here is a quick photo of my Work In Process:

I am going to call it The Dreamcatcher.  I have lots of tacking to do tonight and tomorrow, temporarily held by safety pins.  I love it, so I will be keeping this one for myself.  These will be fun to demonstrate along with my Braided Cable designs.  I just have to start writing………