Design Process; Next Project

As the Lemony jacket nears completion I begin contemplating the next project.

First, I played with some zig-zag patterns using three colors. The idea is to use up the two skeins of cream left from Canyonville and the left over coral from the Drops Brocade sweater. I have some nice turquoise that I know looks nice with the coral.

I used Stitch Fiddle to come up with a design, using the Grey Sparrow as a starting point.

I use sleeves for swatches when I feel confident so off I went.

Turns out, I do not like the way the coral plays against the off white. It looks better in the photograph but in real life it makes my eyes hurt.

I was also troubled by the turquoise. Not how it played but in the quantity I have on hand. There is enough of this yarn for about a half of a sweater. This application needed just shy of three skeins and I have more than four.

In the background, I have been creating an inventory of my stash. I discovered a few important things:

1) I have some Reynolds Debut, which I thought was DK, but is really worsted. I have 250 grams of navy blue which would be very nice against the coral.

2) I have a lot of brown. I may have liked browns but now this seems to be a problem.

So, the next try is inspired a bit by the Tour de France. Specifically the AG2R team that has been riding in the same turquoise, brown, and white jerseys for years. Here is Romain Bardet, who, incidentally looks like an anime character in those colors.

The next choice was to pull a two color project out of my queue. I decided on Drops 55-14. I like the pattern a lot, and I also like the pops of a third color on the cuffs.

I'm not fond of the hemmed edge that the pattern calls for, so I decided to try a slip stitch pattern in garter stitch. I'm interested these days in alternate edges and using slip stitch patterns for cuffs and collars.

So, again, I started on a cuff. I used a slip stitch pattern from Barbara Walkers's second Treasurry and the bright yellow from Lemony.

Again, it looks better in the picture but I decided that the yellow was too bright. I was also surprised that the brown/turquoise contrasted less than I expected. The idea is still good. Next try will use brown and turquoise for the slip stitch section and brown/yellow for the medallion section. Then, I will skip the third little contrast design and go straight to the main body pattern.

Good think that I don't mind ripping.