Shaping Experiments

I always think that small projects - like potholders, washcloths and phone sleeves - are great for trying out new shapes and ideas. If they work they may lead to bigger design ideas. Last year for example, I had the idea to combine intarsia with short rows - I first tried this on a small piece (Citrus Fruit Potholders) but then also used it for a much bigger piece (Wedges Wrap). Also, the random lace idea started with a small e-book sleeve and led to two bigger scarfs (Random Lace Scarf and Random Bubbles Scarf)
Recently, I've started quite a few of these small projects. Unfortunately, I haven't finished any of them yet. Most (if not all) of them will be frogged, but for me at least they were experiments that I learned from. And I guess there are a couple of ideas that could be made to work.

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• Lotus blossom (upper left-hand corner): I got the idea when I saw a stylized lotus blossom in an ad on the train and  thought that something knitted in that shape might be a lovely washcloth - perfect for a Mother's Day present. Unfortunately, it doesn't look quite the way I imagined it, so I will probably frog this piece and try it again. One of my knitting buddies even suggested that I might pursue the general idea further and make this into a shawl. 
• Red pepper/tomato (upper right hand corner): In the past, I've knitted quite a few food-themed potholders (e.g. egg or avocado- and pumpkin-shaped). So I wanted to add color to my potholder collection with something in red - and decided on a red pepper. My first attempt was a bit too narrow and the second one (in the photo above) a bit too wide and too irregular. (For naturally grown stuff small irregularities look good, but it's difficult to get it right :). This piece will definitely be frogged, but I will try this again soon.
• A slice of Emmental cheese (lower left-hand corner) - even though it's barely recognizable: When I asked on social media which other foodstuffs would be good themes for knitted potholders, one of my knitting buddies suggested cheese - including that this might include holes. The crumply yellow piece in the photo is my first attempt - and I'm not sure whether this is a worthwhile idea ...
• Spiral or snail shell (lower right hand corner): To get into the mood for summer, I wanted something with a certain "beachy" feeling, i.e. shaped as a conch that you might find on the each. So I tried to knit this spiral ... I do like how it works as a piece of knitting (and it could also be written as a lovely algorithm, but you need a nerdy kind of mind to appreciate that :). I hope that I manage to do this in two colors; it would complement my Seashell Coasters nicely.

Unfinished Business

I haven't posted much lately ... this is partly due to the fact that I have started a new job (in real life and totally unrelated to knitting), but partly my own fault ... Even though I have knitted a lot in the last few weeks (see pictures below), I haven't felt up to the task to finish writing up a pattern.

Here's an overview of some of my current unfinished projects (roughly from left to right on the picture above):

• The huge purple thing in the upper left corner is supposed to be a poncho scarf combination (here's a picture of it on Instagram). It's made from bulky yarn which is something I don't usually knit with and I don't like how the lacy edging curls in. I guess it will be frogged - and I might pursue the general idea, but with a different edging and different (lighter weight) yarn.
• The orange-pink piece with holdes in the lower left hand corner is supposed to be a light summer scarf. It is constructed with short rows and BO/CO-holes and made with Wollmeise Pure yarn. If you want to see a close up (with a better view of the colors) it's here on my Instagram.
• The small half-moon shaped piece in pale mint (lying on top of the purple poncho) is a small swatch for a scarf/shrug combination. I will design a lower edging that does not curl in, but I guess it will work.
• The dark blue lacy piece is supposed to be a short row scarf, with lacy short rows. It somehow worked with the small swatches I knitted, but when kinitting a bigger piece the inner edge started to curl. That's why I added a garter stitch edge that is five stitches wide ... but I really don't like how it looks. Furthermore, the main idea (short rows in a lace pattern) is not visible at all. So I guess this piece will be frogged .
• The green trapezoid shaped piece is going to be another Waterfall Tunic, but with some fancy stitches at the side. The back piece is already finished. 
• Finally, the small crocheted piece in colors from pink to orange on the right is a crochet version of my Helix Mitts. Somebody on Ravelry asked whether I could do them in crochet and I am determined to finish them - including a written pattern - for autumn this year.

On the plus side, I have managed to finish some pieces - and quite a few of them will be made into patterns.

• On the upper part of the picture above there is a new knitted scarf. It is knitted from side to side with CO increases and decreases which gives it a staircase look. It is made from one skein of my new Wollmeise yarn, that I purchased a few weeks ago when I visited a friend in Bavaria. I have written a part of the pattern and (hopefully) I'll finish it over the weekend. I
• The black and white piece on the left hand side is going to be a cowl. It is knitted in intarsia technique with short rows. I've finished the written part of the pattern, but I still need to finish the chart (and maybe a helpful "shorthand" version). I also need to get some nice photos for it.
• The blue/white pair of fingerless gloves was finished earlier this year, and I really love the look and texture of them. I have started writing the pattern and some of the explanatory schematics have been drawn ... 
• The brown/beige pair is basically the same idea - only in crochet. And the pattern is half-written, half-illustrated, too.

If you know of any techniques that make me actually finish the things I started, please let me know. In real life deadlines work fine for me. But there aren't any deadlines for my blog and my knitting patterns ... (which is actually a good thing :)

My Knitting Failures in January

In January, I felt as though I had lost my knitting mojo ... Apart from the fact that I have currently, four half-finished knitting patterns not quite ready for publication, most of the new projects I started in January have somehow not worked, i.e. were (or will be) frogged.

The main reason I'm posting this is to say that nice knitting designs don't happen magically. Sometimes you've got an idea and it just doesn't work the way you planned it. You have to try, and try again and again and again ...

The first idea was for a new pair of fingerless mitts - again knitted in one piece with a special construction that wouldn't require to cut the yarn while. I planned to model it similar to the U-Turn mitts, but with a triagular (rather than round) turning. I had to start four times over to get the proportions right (short rows for the garter stitch ribbing vs. angles for the triangle on top). And the fifth time, I made it too wide to fit my hands. I am currently debating with myself whether to frog and forget it or whether to give the idea a new chance (and try again for the sixth time ...)

The second idea was a cowl knitted in the round with a fair isle pattern. I wanted the color A to blend into color B and then do it in reverse on the way back. I used some reclaimed yarn for this, i.e. yarn from a previous project that got frogged because I didn't wear it.
Unfortunately, my skills at this kind of colorwork are "suboptimal" (to put it mildly) and with this wriggly reclaimed yarn the color changes looked even worse than usual. I considered finishing it - hoping the problems would heal themselves in blocking, but in the end I decided to frog it again and start something different with this yarn.

The last project was a cowl I started as a "waiting room project";  I wanted to have something to knit to accompany my Mum to the hospital for a follow-up on her bone fractures. That meant it had to be

• easy to remember (no written or printed pattern to read),
• easy to carry, and
• something that wouldn't require me to make notes or take photos - for a pattern I meant to publish later. 

I settled on an idea for a short row design that I had drawn some time ago. It doesn't look too bad on the picture, but I don't quite like it. I'm not really sure why, perhaps the colors or the texture (I should have taken bigger needles). Not sure whether to try with bigger needles (and some other slight modifications) or to give it up completely.

The patterns and posts I published in January were actually knitted last year - so it didn't look so bleak on the blog :)

To finish on a positive note (and to give the absolute counter-example :) The pattern for the Ice Maiden Cowl was something that I wrote on a tiny Post-It note when I sat on the train to Zurich in November - planning an easy knitting project that could be done while playing Dungeons & Dragons. I only new that I wanted some intarsia pattern and I just wrote down some number (stitches of each colors) that I thought might work. I cast on and started it and even after I had knitted a few repeats, I wasn't sure whether to keep it or not ... But now that it's finished, I like it :)

Abstract Art? ... a Design Fail and a Trick

Recently I got a lovely present from my former team - a gift voucher for Magliamania a store with beautiful hand dyed yarns in Berne, Switzerland. They have a web shop, too, but - if ever you're in Berne - go there. The yarns and the colors are just beautiful. (No, I'm not sponsored by them nor affiliated in any way - I just like the yarn and the shop.)

After I bought 4 skeins of a silk merino blend (2 blue, 1 white and 1 dark brown) - this yarn feels wonderful to the touch - and I thought long about how to use them. I decided on a bold geometrical pattern - as shown on the photo below.

But I don't really like the whole effect enough to wear it. So, this attempt at a scarf will be frogged. And I'will do something better with this wonderful yarn - even though I don't know exactly what ... yet.

However, here's a tip if you are like me, i.e. try out a lot of stuff but also frog a lot, but you do not want to cut your yarn:

• If you use yarn for one color block and want to use it again later in the project, Don't cut your yarn, but let it hang in a long loop between color blocks (see photo). Had my ideas worked out, I would've cut the yarn then and would've woven in the ends afterwards. Now that I frog it, I have the yarn still in one long piece.

Maybe this will help you sometime.

Knit Design Fails - or Patterns that Haven't Been Finished (yet?)

A lot of knitting ideas occur to me when I'm on the train commuting to work. I usually write them down or draw a little sketch to avoid forgetting them straight away ... and then I'll try them out when I feel like it.

Some of these ideas work - they become finished knitted objects and I write down the pattern for it and publish it here. But some of them don't work, or just don't get finished.

In this post I wanted to share some of the "design fails" I've had over the years - some of them were forgotten completely, others were reworked into a better version ... please note that there are lots more, because on average I have one "fail" for every one published pattern :) This means that I frog a lot which is the main reason I don't like to cut my yarn before I'm really, REALLY sure that I want something to stay the way it is. This is also the main reason I prefer sturdy materials (e.g. sock yarn from wool and poloyamide) that can be ribbed back many times.

1. Picture 1 shows the start of an idea for fingerless gloves started from the thumb (like e.g. Circle Mitts or Pieces of Eight Mitts). However, I didn't like the way the waves at the shaft merged into the circle around the thumb - so I frogged it. I have a vague idea how to fix this issue so I may pursue this idea again in future.
2. On picture 2 is a prototype for a kind of opposite version of the Starburst Mitts - with the rows pivoting around a point at the wrist. Even though it kind of worked, I didn't like the look of it - so I frogged it.
3. Number 3 shows a yoga sock design that just look plump - it fitted my foot but I really didn't like it.
4. Photo number 4 shows a try to use some beautiful Noro Kureyon yarn. I wanted to show off the color way by contrasting it with a different color way - unfortunately, I didn't like the shape. This yarn eventually became the Almendra Cowl.
5. Picture 5 shows a rather confused construction idea for fingerless gloves knitted in several directions. It did fit my hands but it look too crowded and complicated. I used the idea of a slanted thumb panel later in the Windings Mitts.
6. Finally, on picture 6 you can see the first prototype of  wrist warmers that are knitted at a 45 degree angle - the connection between the thumb and the main part looked a bit clumsy so I ribbed it back and knitted it without the angle - resulting in the Strata fingerless gloves. (A pattern with a similar construction but without a thumb will be published in a few days :)

Have you ever tried out an idea that just didn't work? It would be great to hear about it.

Color Way Grievances

I love Schoppel Zauberball yarn - especially the colors and the way they combine. 

But this time I didn't have much luck in the way the colors developed. I wanted to show off the colors by using two skeins of the same colorway (Fuchsia) and alternating every few rows. 

On the right hand side is my first try: the stripe pattern became practically invisible, when both skeins turn red. So I frogged and tried again - starting from the other end of one skein - the result is in the left hand picture. This time both skeins turn orange at the same time - with the same effect.

I'm slightly annoyed ... but I'm sure that I will find something nice to do with the skeins sometime soon. In the meantime, this goes to the frog pond (i.e. will be ripped back).

I will also use this pattern idea another time and with different yarn(s).