Saturday, January 08, 2005

Return to the Fair Isle

We're cruising along. I decided yesterday, however, that I'm going to change horses in midstream despite traditional recommendations against.

Up to now, I've been working with nine colours, letting each one run for three rows and never changing both pattern and background colours on the same row. The balls of yarn are all lined up, and as each change comes, I pick up the next colour that presents itself. That means (since I'm working with an odd number) that any particular colour appears alternately as pattern and as background.

Does that make any sense?

I don't entirely mind the effect, but I don't think this arrangement contributes anything, either. So I have divided the colours into a pattern group and a background group and will proceed like that. There are different numbers in the two groups (I threw in a couple of extra colours while I was at it) so the colours will change in relation to each other -- unlike the earlier arrangement -- and of course in both arrangements they change in relation to the pattern.

I'll have to do several inches more before it will become clear whether the change from one system to the other is too violent. The colours are the same, the pattern is the same -- there will clearly be a difference, but I hope an acceptable one.

Meanwhile I am working on a summary of the knitting I did in 2004. I do this every year -- this one will be the ninth. I print them out and keep them in my FO file and frequently re-read with interest. Talk about solipsistic.

 

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