Patterns*

I had to make yet another trip to the yarn store for help in deciphering a very complicated pattern for what seemed like a simple sweater, so I decided to go after my Pilates class. A classmate named Nancy and I have been meeting at the Flying Goat for coffee after class.  At first it was accidental, but as we realized that we had both made a habit of it, we have begun to share a table and get to know each other. On the way home, after the explanation for the yarn pattern seemed obvious, and why didn't I get it,  I heard a story on the radio about Ohio's first poet laureate,  Amit Majmudar, who balances writing poetry with working as a radiologist. His explanation of how he does this is that as a radiologist he sees patterns of disease while as a poet he creates patterns with words.

It strikes me that everything we do In real life and in creative life is governed by patterns…patterns define the way we do things and the way we look at things. If things fall into a predictable pattern they can become monotonous and boring. It is the way we change the patterns that makes things interesting.

I think Blipfoto is a great example of this confluence of  pattern and randomness. Part of the fascination of Blip is looking for something new every day and putting it into journal. The way each of us chooses to do this is what makes it so interesting.

I have been seeing patterns in everything all day…except for the incomprehensible knitting pattern which is tapping into my latent dyslexia and driving me crazy….

*A quilt I made years ago, dug out of a trunk today and threw on the striped bedspread and herringbone  patterned throw to try to illustrate my point. A different arrangement is in the extras.