So wierd there aren't words

It occurs to me that while I am doing something that I love (designing knitwear and knitting patterns) I am also doing something that I hate (using patterns).  It is a rather odd juxtaposition (I love that word) of creating the one thing I really hate to use.

I began (taught myself) knitting February 2005.  I apologize for mentioning this fact ad naseum but I have a hard time grasping the time span.  Since then, I have made 2 sweaters from someone else's pattern.  The first was a hugely bulky sweater for myself out of Lion Brand "Thick and Quick".  The sweater is so warm as to be unwearable indoors and so big (I'm already a 3X on top) as to be embarrasing.  But it was my first sweater so I cut myself some slack on my choices that I made then.  What did I know (apparently, not much).  The second sweater I knit from someone else's pattern was the "February Lady" sweater by Pamela Wynne.

I used Noro.  I modified the pattern in a couple of ways.  First, I used a different ball for each section of the sweater so that it would give me different stripe widths.  Then, I made the bottom of the sleeves larger for a bell shape.  Finally, I put a split in the cuffs to exagerate the sleeve shape.  But all-in-all I followed it pretty closely (for me).

Aside from these two, every other sweater has been one of my own creations.  I started off making some simple drop shoulder sweaters for my husband, my boys, and my nephew.  The challenge on those was stripes.  They were made from the same yarn with varying colors and stripe patterns.  The challenge was to match the sleeves exactly with the body.  Then, I did a little colorwork for Jake in the form of a heart and reverse stripe.

At some point Carter asked for a hoodie made out of Lion Brand Homespun.  This was that result:

Then there was the sweater knit sideways for my husband out of a thick and thin varigated roving yarn from Nashua that I don't think I have any pictures of...

And the bazillion pairs of socks I have knit since I first learned how in January of 2006.

And, let's not forget the first "serious" attempt at colorwork, the Jake sweater.  Made for Jake for his 5th birthday last March.  Here he is in all his glory:

There are also two other sweaters made for me that I did recently that I love.  The point of this is that while I do lots of sketching and even more math, I do not "write" patterns for any of these.  I love to use my creativity  (and lots of math skills) to make my own creations.  Having to learn to write my stuff down (in a format that others can understand) is really hard.  There are not words for how wierd it is to have to create that which you never use.