Putting an idea into practice: a photo essay to be presented in divers parts.

Part I: the first flush of inspiration

1. Gather your yarn scraps. (In my case this involved some throwing-of-stuff-around in my stash closet, and a tiny bit of cursing, as it wasn't where I thought it was).



2. Decide on a pleasing arrangement, balancing both amounts of yarn left (the smallest amount is going to have to represent "1"), color, ideas about what colors certain numbers "should" be....



3. Make notes so you don't forget what's what...



(Yes, I know I have horrible handwriting, even horrible printing. I know it looks not unlike an eight-year-old boy's printing. That's why I type most things these days.)

4. Do some basic math to scale back a pattern for dk weight to fit heavy worsted...


(I'm using a basic pattern out of a Paton's book, because it has the decreases worked out nice and neat).

Next up: casting on and actually knitting the thing.

(Yes, I am knitting it flat. Me, the knitting-in-the-round proselytizer enthusiast. But I figured: it's a better way of not getting stripe-jogs, and if I have to sew in a million ends anyway, why not use them to sew up the rear seam?)