Until the Challenge is published (book and website), I can't reveal my offering for this year, but I can show you parts of the process. When I first learned to spin, I bought some pale blue thick and thin handspun yarn and some same color bulky yarn from MamaJude in Pine Lake, Georgia. So, I picked it up and squeezed it a bit, visualizing this as sky reflecting the color of the ocean in the early morning. It called to be knitted; so I pulled out some very large knitting needles and began making sky. Here's the beginning of the sky in a herringbone pattern.
I finished a panel, looked at it, decided that this spiral sitting in the middle of it was detracting from the flow; so I unstitched the top. The bottom was all crocheted together; so I reluctantly picked up the scissors and began snipping - hoping to save much of the piece.
That did not happen. Because this is freeform, I had crocheted round and over and under and forwards and backwards without regard to possible changes. This great junk pile is the result.
Suddenly four panels (16" x 20") were finished. I sewed them to latch hook rug backing and then stapled that to foam core and hung them over the sofa in my living room. That wall is BIG, and they were lost on it. More panels were needed.
In two days, I created a Pre-Dawn panel that lacks a few finishing touches.
Several parts have my hand-spun yarn: the top of the sky, the white clouds, the sun rays, and the rocks. I have spun some balanced yarn, but I didn't like it very much. I can buy balanced yarn. I can't buy the irregular yarns that give interest to my wall hangings.
The white clouds are tail-spun Border Leicester, firm and scrunchy and white. At the edge, unseen in this picture, is some hand-spun cream Suri alpaca. I've spun a bit more of the yarn like the sky to use as sun rays becoming gradually darker towards the edges. The top needs to be squared, and this piece will be ready to hang.
Tomorrow I'll begin another panel - maybe a twilight ocean panel?
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