A couple weeks ago, I wrote about how I was attempting to design knitting motifs based on hex signs. The exercise is part of the Knitting Seasons creativity thing I have been doing. The hex signs are because I am from eastern Pennsylvania, and am in fact of Pennsylvania German heritage. So hex signs were just always around in my youth, and I have always thought they might be a good basis for nifty knitting patterns.

Anyway. I did an oak leaf pattern, which turned out to be too large and needs to be redone. The other one had some promise. Here is the swatch I wound up with and the chart and the original hex sign…

And here is the swatch by itself

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out!

It’s not perfect. I messed up the beak a little. And definitely, if I were knitting a sweater with this motif as the basis, I would pick a different colorway. I keep thinking about a dark gray or black background, and blue and pink for the bird, the heart and the flowers. With lighter green leaves and stems. But there are lots of possibilities!

So that’s what’s been keeping me busy for the last week and a half, along with some other exercises. I’m going to ease up on the exercises for a little while. Tonight, I get back to my sample gansey! I think Dolores will be pleased 🙂