If you click on May 11th posting you will find a pattern for the potato chip scarf. It's a great accent piece and you can make it in several colors to go with different outfits. I got the pattern from one of the women from the knit group I attend. She was having difficulty with it and so I helped her. In the meantime, others wanted to make the scarf and had similar questions, so I thought I would post the pattern on my blog and explain it more clearer. As I was starting the scarf, so that I could measure how far up you go before you start to see it curl, I measured the piece and put it aside. Later I was looking at it and I thought butterfly wings. I also had a piece of crochet I-cord that I had made as a sample. I thought body of a butterfly and the wings could be made out of the sample I made starting the potato chip scarf. I just added a thinner knitted I-cord for the antennas and walla a butterfly. You never know what can come out of just playing with pieces of something and a little visionary creativeness.
Think about that the next time you make a sample or you are starting something. You just might see what else can come out of it. Be creative. That is where the excitement comes in when you are involved with the needlearts. My de-stressing happens not only when I am working on my projects, but also when I am looking at things in a creative way trying to see what can come out of it differently. Do that and see. Think out of your box and view your project as your creative tool and try changing one thing on it to get a different look. Start small and expand. As always, have fun.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Speaking of beauty and fascination, have you ever visited a butterfly house? If you haven't had a chance to go to a butterfly house then try to go to one. It is worth the trip. It is such an enjoyable experience to view up close and personal the beauty of a butterfly as they flicker around your head and sometimes land on you. I've been to about seven butterfly houses or places that featured a butterfly exhibit. Only once has a butterfly honored me by landing on my head. The colors and sizes of the butterflies are amazing. There is such a calmness you feel as you walk around viewing the different butterflies. I had forgotten all about what I saw at some of these places and I took out my video of my trips. All I could say is WOW! I was just in awe as I re-caped seeing these beautiful creatures that don't even live long.
I love photography. This is another form of freeing your mind as you peer into the lens, well it use to be for me when I had a 35mm camera. Now I have a little digital that has an LCD screen so no lens. I guess I could have a big digital with some of the bells and whistles if I did not have such an addition to yarn. You know where I am going with this one if you are into the needlearts as your hobby. I love taking pictures and butterflies make great subjects. Your picture background when you are shooting butterflies could be a flower, which brings more beautiful colors out or a pretty bush or the sky which brings the colors of the butterfly out even more. If I can find my other pictures I will post them at a later date.
I love to see the display of cocoons because they are like little surprise gifts of life. When you don't know which cocoon is for which butterfly, then the end result for us non-lepidopterist (study of moths and butterflies - I had to look that one up) is a surprise package. And what beautiful surprises they become as the one in the picture shows.
There are a lot more butterfly houses and places that feature butterflies for the summer than when I last went. Some zoos have a butterfly house now so check them out also. It is an easy find through an Internet search. But I am listing the ones that I visited so that if you live near these areas or are visiting these areas you might want to put one on your list. Call or visit the website since butterfly houses or exhibits can be seasonal depending upon where it is located.
Stony Brook-Millstone WaterShed Association, Pennington, NJ
Butterfly Conservatory and Gardens, Niagara Falls, Ontario, CN
Magic Wings Butterfly, South Deerfield, MA
The Butterfly Place, Westford, MA
Museum of Natural Science (Cockrell Butterfly Center), Houston, TX
American Museum of Natural History, NY, NY
Bronx Zoo, Bronx, NY
Happy creating and having fun.
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