Blue Spaghetti -- Or: New Adventures in Knitting Drama

[janestarz]

As you all know, Zaphira needs a warm shawl for this winter's event. I am hoping for pictures in the snow, rumour has it this winter is going to be a cold'un. Her costume is a shift, a blue woolen kirtle with lace-on sleeves, a lined, red front-opening woolen kirtle and a lined woolen hood with liripipe. I've recently made a coat with wadded lining to go over it all, and then there's the warm shawl.
To recap some more, figuring out what pattern to knit was...interesting.

Here's the initial pattern-pondering post.
I decided on the Lichen and Moss Pattern...
...but then Muse was disappointed with the look of the thing...
...and she really, really wanted me to try something else.
I finally go back to my original sketch and decided to cast on and knit something during the summer Emphebion in August.

Fast-forward to yesterday: I realised I really, really hated the look of the thing. I was in the final stages, with roughly one skein left to be knitted. I could do a single row in about 15 minutes. But because I have two different dye baths for the dark blue I had to alternate skeins every row, which left me knitting 2 purl rows in a row and that was getting a little uncomfortable. (wut?)
I'd done the deep red yarn in a moss stitch pattern, but the stitches of the moss stitch were a lot higher than the stockinette I'd done previous. And I didn't like the ridge it was creating either.

And for some strange reason, when I went on Ravelry and searched, I found a lot of gorgeous patterns I hadn't seen before. Maybe because this time I was getting so desperate I was willing to dish out actual money for a pattern, in stead of sticking to free patterns.
I pondered my options. I loved the Maan Pattern, with a striking mosaic of slipped stitches, but it was made for DK-weight yarn and didn't quite meet my yardages.
With my recent appreciation of Stephen West patterns, I also pondered his Exploration station, but the rounded wedges didn't match my initial sketch. (It would be great for Windsong, though!)
Likewise, the Séjour pattern had some gorgeous, gorgeous bits of lace, bordered by one or two colours. But it would need serious surgery to become the shape I wanted for my shawl and the lace wasn't all as straightforward as it looked.

Then there was the Kettle Valley pattern. It wasn't 100% what I had initially sketched, but it was an interesting use of colours. The single-coloured version boasted a tall fringe, that I could copy if I had yarn left over. It was written for exactly the yarn I was using and I had enough of each of the colours to knit the design perfectly.
And when I clicked through to other people's versions, I found a gorgeous grey, white and deep red one that sold it for me.

I spent an hour or so carefully frogging the old shawl and now I've started on needles 5,5 and realise I will need a 6mm needle to get the drape I want. But it also means I've got some very interesting knitting to do this weekend, and Muse is happily humming in a corner somewhere.
Let's just hope this one will be all it's cracked up to be!

Comments

[creatiepje.livejournal.com]

Die grijs met donkerrood is inderdaad erg mooi.
Hopelijk krijg je nu wel wat je voor ogen hebt.

Succes

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

Tot zover is het een leuk patroon om te breien, dus dat alleen al is duizend keer beter dan wat het was.

[creatiepje.livejournal.com]

Fijn
Ik ben benieuwd naar het eindresultaat

[anemoona.livejournal.com]

Mooi patroon! Inderdaad beter dan wat je eerder had. Mijn eerste gedachte was 'On noes!!' toe je zei dat je hem uit hebt gehaald (en dat vlak voor de finish), maar ik denk dat het inderdaad een goede keuze is geweest. Ik ben benieuwd naar deze.

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

Hij is leuk! Niet moeilijk, maar ook niet saai. Mooie verschillen tussen de verschillende texturen, en hij breit erg fijn weg. Volgens mij ben ik al halverwege (een stukje op weg in de kabels) dus het gaat echt mega hard!