Time Off

Time off from work allows me to do the things I enjoy most. Relax, sit on the beach, read, and of course, knit.

Knitting Progress
Since my last day at work was yesterday, I've already made some progress on the Mini Chock-a-Block pullover. We had another visit to the laser eye surgery place, so I got some work done there, and of course just sitting around home.



This picture allows you to see a little bit more of the different pattern designs. This "sampler" concept is working out very well in helping to keep my interest up in working this sweater.

Next Design Ideas
A kind reader sent the following graphic, a couple of weeks ago on Escher's birthday.



They thought it would make a great Fair Isle design, and I am in total agreement. I'm not a huge fan of Escher's work, although I do appreciate the cleverness of his interlocking designs. This one, however, I find quite beautiful. The gecko design is whimsical and interesting, and the colors are surprising and rich. I'll have to consider using this for a sweater some time in the future.

Another idea I got when I saw Nathan Lane being interviewed on television. He was wearing a very nice sweater done in an interesting rib, and had a cool neck treatment in a contrasting color of yarn. Since I had already decided that I needed to use Jamieson's color "Sunrise" for my next project, I figured this would be a perfect opportunity.

I bought the yarn last week, but I haven't yet decided what color I will use for the contrast color.





Since the main color will be dark and tweedy, here are some of the considerations I'm taking into account when deciding on the contrasting color:

1. I prefer to use another tweedy yarn to make sure the design holds together
2. I don't want the contrast yarn to be too light so that it will blend in with my skin color
3. I want the contrast color to be surprising, but still yet look perfect with the main color yarn.

Reader Question
Chris asks if I've ever seen the Ron Schweizter design, Aberlemno in person.

I can't recall if I've ever seen this sweater in person, but I can say the that pattern design looks almost identical to Donegal. The colors are quite different (at least from what I can tell in the picture), but it looks very much like Alice's Donegal that I just finished.

One of the things I liked when I first bought the kit for Donegal was the subtle contrast between the foreground and background colors. Ron's version of Aberlemno has quite a bit more contrast in the majority of the design, except for a dark stripe of lower contrast. For me, this gives the sweater a horizontal striping that I'm not quite as fond of as Donegal.