Mood:  happy

As I have finalized patterns to send off to pattern testers, I have had a set of issues with this one Seed Stripes.  The pattern is dead simple and I have used it before in my circular sampler bag.  What caused me the problems was which yarn. Last year I had bought some Baby Twist, a sport weight alpaca from WP at a sale.  I didn't have enough of any one color to make a scarf.  I decide to make a color block pattern with purple, several greens, and a goldy yellow.  I had the scarf half knit and I just didn't like it.  At WP a young girl suggested that she liked the green parts.  I always knit my patterns twice in 2 different weights of yarn.  I came home and cast on some fingering weight yarn semi-solid yarn  I dyed in a green blue.  This yarn was varied enough that it didn't show the seed stitch stripes.  So it turned into a swatch.  I finally decided to start over again in the Baby Twist, this time only using green.  It worked.  Most of the scarf will be one green, but I have 2 other greens at each end also.  Yeah I'm happy.

Seed Stripes and Reversibility! will be one pattern I call Two-fer scarves.  Both patterns are quite easy. I had shown you my first Reversibility! in a handdyed dk weight yarn.  Can I resist little bits of color--no.  Pagewood has a very pretty handdyed Yukon sock yarn that is partially bamboo which gives it a sheen. They market leftovers as Sock Bites and I just couldn't resist a package.  I started a multicolor version in the sock bites which after fussing with picking out the colors I like.  It will lay flat after I wash the finished scarf.  The scarf is about half done.  I will have it on display after Labor Day at Wild Purls.

I also started a handdyed fingering version of Stepup Stripes, a lace pattern, I had previously knitted in a handdyed variegated pink.  I had also started a different version of this scarf in a Canadian yarn that is an unusual blend of alpaca, cotton, and silk in a natural beige color.  The yarn is pretty but kind of blah for me.  I also worried that it would also block as well as I liked.  I am happy with this version.  Because I like this color and this yarn, I perceive that the pattern is much nicer than I thought when I used yarns before that didn't please me as much.  It is a cool pattern and it is an easy lace and reversible. 

So what did I learn in my patterns recently.  Just don't settle for any old yarn.  Make a good sized try at your design before you give up.  But if it is not working and you give yourself a week or two to determine this, bite the bullet and start again.  Don't forget blocking properties when knitting lace.  And yes it is a good idea to swatch (just like it is a good idea to exercise and floss your teeth) and I should do more of it.  At least scarves are so narrow that what starts out as a scarf can soon turn into a swatch.  

I'm still looking for pattern testers for these three scarves.  I like to have at least 3 people knit each one.  Let me know if you are interested at lindas5252@yahoo.com