Blues and Blues on Blues

Today begins BLUE month in Project Spectrum.

There's a blue sky.... wholly unlike the skies we have around here lately in Tornado Land.  I won't bother showing you what's out there right now.

With the beginning of Blueness, I have a new Project Spectrum Swap partner.  Talk about broadening your perspectives!  Not only am I shifting from hunting for all things green, to hunting for all things BLUE..I'm now hunting for things NOT knitting!  My Blue Buddy is a crafter, but not a knitter.  She's even said that she never uses wool!!!! 

Never!

That gave me pause I tell you.  And caused me to put some lovely blue yarn I'd selected from my stash for her right back into the old yarn closet. (Okay, maybe my Secret Pal will wind up with Blue yarn... but my Blue Buddy shall remain yarnless (no... no... I'm not cursing her! really!  She doesn't do yarn!)  But where does that leave me...???

Of course, this will broaden her horizons as well.  She'll get to THINK KNITTING! for me. Perhaps this little adventure will open her eyes to the incredible joy of knitting. I suppose I should be fair, and warn her, that as much as I respect others' right to do things like scrap booking and stamping etc, they hold no interest for me whatsoever??  Beads I could do ... if they're combinable with knitting...(am I in a rut here??)

Okay, Tsoniki ... if you're reading this.... skip the next part... knitting is always wonderful....

As you may recall, I was having a fit of hubris and attempted to redesign a lace shawl on the fly without using graph paper.  Not surprisingly, that was a bust.

So, last night I sat myself down with the graph paper and drew things out... and erased and drew and erased and drew... (thank heavens I don't like to draw with heavy lines!) until I got it done!  I thought...  I was sure it would be marvelous.  I was so cocky I didn't count the width repeats to see if what I'd done was going to fit gracefully where I was in the original pattern (to which I had just added two repeats of the upper pattern).

I smugly picked up the shawl and began to knit the next row, applying my newly designed middle.

Ya know what? It would have been PERFECT if I'd only added ONE repeat of that pattern (which is, btw, 1/2 the width of the middle section pattern).  Adding another repeat to make it work magically with my new design will screw up the ratios again (not to mention using up more yarn than I think I can afford).  I think I know how to adapt for it some, to maintain the visual ratios, but I'm paranoid about running out of yarn.

Of course I could tink back that dozen rows... but that would undo the size change I'd been aiming for.  See... redesigning someone else's pattern is a PITA!

I have come up with a bit of a fix that will get me into my variation on the pattern reasonably well, but it's not as seamless as I'd like; it leaves an obvious spot at the center back that I'd just as soon not be there.

I guess it's back to the drafting table for me... hmmph.  Perhaps I'll stop by the percentage calculator to see where I'd be with the variations I now have in my head.

Meanwhile, on the sock front....

I'm facing yet another frogging dilemma.

It's clearly what I live for.

Here's the current issue.

I love the sole of my Koigu sock:

Alas, I do not love the top of my Koigu sock

In fact, I think I like old the lace attempt better than this one.  :-(
In case you've forgotten, it looked like this:

I've reached the conclusion that neither pattern does a thing for the yarn, and furthermore that the yarn does nothing for the patterns.  In fact, for a few minutes there, the current pattern had me convinced that I no longer loved the yarn! (blasphemy, I know).

So... do I
a) finish them in this pattern anyway, and give them away?
b) frog them and knit simple socks to enjoy the colorway on it's own?
c) set them aside until I get over this foolishness, since I'm too blind to see that the pattern is perfect?

Comments

[Carrie K]

I think the sock looks cute.

So, did you frog Thistle's sleeves?

Yay for the Bad Neighbors moving! It's so awful when one of Them moves in.

[Marji]

I'd say set aside for now. I rather like the broken rib in the Koigu.
Do I mistake myself or is that a Hunter graphic at the top of the main? Do you sail?

[Carrie K]

So what's the current Koigu interpretation? Did you fix the shawl? And scrapbooking holds zero appeal for me either. I'm good if I can get photos in a card box w/people/places identified.

[Tsoniki]

I'd probably be willing to try to knit - but scrapbooking, nope, that doesn't do it for me. LOL

Actually the reason I haven't tried knitting is that i am afraid of *liking* it - and then I have to expand my crafting! :P

[Kim D.]

Personally, I like the sock, but you know if you force yourself to knit something that you're not in to, that you'll definitely suffer with 2nd-sockitis. Frog it and try something else. What about one of the patterns on Knitty - there's never enough Jaywalkers out there and that would be interesting yet show off the lovely colorway.

Or knit them and they'd make a lovely gift/prize for your fellow Tudor Rose KAL'ers. (just kidding)