Inspiration - Where Does it Come From?

My inspiration often comes from stitch dictionaries. I have two upcoming pattern releases which both came from this one:

I love how the stitch appearance is determined by the yarn you choose. Sometimes it blurs or softens, from what I see in the dictionary. In other cases I might choose a crisper more tightly spun yarn and the stitches pop more than they did in the yarn chosen for the dictionary.

Sometimes I use a stitch exactly as it is, pairing it up with other stitches and borders. 

This is the stitch dictionary photo.

This is my version in a tweedy yarn.

In other cases I take the stitch and modify it in some way using the "what if I..." question to develop ideas.  

This is the stitch dictionary photo

This is my version in a darker colour yarn.