rayquaza scarf
ray-KWAY-ZA? or ray-QUA-za. There’s a big difference and only one proper way to say it- gone are the days of me (Tyler), tolerating the butchering of this legendary Pokémon’s name. Simply put, I refuse to acknowledge those who pronounce it ray-KWAY-za. Blasphemy, honestly. As a fan of the franchise, I tend to get a little… passionate… about certain divisive topics amongst enthusiasts in the community.
A big part of my childhood was Saturday morning cartoons, waking up late (yet still very early now that I’m thinking about it) to watch the last 5 minutes of Beyblade in anticipation for the new Pokémon anime episode. It was quite literally the highlight of my week as a kid, and I’m not ashamed to admit that it still partly is the highlight of my week. With the climatic arc of the new anime coming to an end today, I thought it would be nice to share some thoughts on the new series, since that’s where I gained my inspiration for this project in the first place.
The new anime series centers around uncovering the mystery of the main protagonist’s great grandfather, who owned a shiny Rayquaza. I will say, I do appreciate the fact that this series deviated away from the traditional 8 gym formula that was used for the previous series- it gives the writers to add more context and lore to the universe through world building- it added another dimension to the anime that I had yet to see before. Side note: I don’t watch a lot of anime, if any. I grew up on the Pokémon anime and that’s about it, the only other shows I have watched are Spy X Family and D*ath Note.
I was in New York at the time when the idea first crossed my mind. Waiting in line for a jazz bar in Midtown East, I was sharing with my friends that I wanted to make a scarf as my next pattern, specifically inspired by Rayquaza due to the fact that its draconic and serpentine origins lend itself well to the shape of a scarf. I remembered to write in my notes app that night to remind myself of my idea before it left my brain- I didn’t bring any materials with me because I wanted to enjoy my time in the city without pressuring myself to work 24/7. After a week in the city and no access to yarn or crochet hooks, I finally got home and immediately reached for the black yarn, which is so surprising, considering Rayquaza is green (its shiny variant is black) and green is my favorite color. It was fate. I had to make the shiny version first, and so I did. Again, I come on this platform of mine to say that I freehanded my first attempt and then proceeded to write the pattern. No measurements or any precision on trial number one, just jazz music playing in the background while I worked backwards from my original draft to write the pattern. Thankfully it was at this point I began trials for my pattern testers to work on, which was absolutely necessary because the way I wrote the pattern started to confuse me after a while.
All this to say, writing patterns is a backwards experience for me every single time because I never anticipate that people would be interested in the pattern when I first post about new projects. Moving forward, I will be writing the pattern as I design my next piece to save myself the stress of counting every individual stitch. I apologize to anyone who has tested my first draft patterns… stronger than the troops and I salute to them because they’re MY HEROES. Now, please enjoy the pictures I took on my digital camera because I finally learned how to use it properly.
More pics and visuals on my Instagram, pattern and scarf now available on my shop.
