Prospera:

Something keeps nagging at me. My sketch for Prospera still doesn’t seem quite right to me.  Again it’s too fussy - maybe in a fine yarn it would be right but I am committed to Peruvia. The moss st has to go.  I think st st is better. The detailed circular motif and the the feather and fan are so …are so…so…ah man, that’s it! Feather and fan,  why not use the feather and fan stitch again?

This seems to be working:

Ok - this sketch is doing it for me, finally:

That’s it

Prospera: Medallion invented, feather and fan extended, base of sweater swatched -  where, where where should the godet go? Once again, Margery comes to the rescue, pulling a completed sweater off the shelf, one we know we like. Now it’s easier to visualize just where the godet should be placed. Oh, and if I haven’t declared this before - I love our dress form. She is very helpful.

I am planning to evenly space 3 godets in the lower section of the body, so the back will look something like this:

I think that the decisions are made.  I sketch again:

but…

I had planned to do this:

I am thinking that it’s too much, too fussy. The chevrons are too fussy, the double godets are too fussy. Always ready for these Kinds of challenges, Margery grabs the godet (ok, nicely takes the godet from my hands) and places it in the opening of a cardigan to see how the proportions work.

I’m in love with the look and knit this:

to be continued…

This is a bit of an artifice, but I’m going to describe the next part of the design process for Prospera in the present tense:
Ok now, I’m happy with the medallion. How do I extend it into a wedge shape? Let me rephrase that. How do I easily extend it into a wedge shape? I don’t want to add fussy little short rows and the thought of making a wedge with shaping at the wide end and then sewing it on seems very inelegant.

So, I’m driving down the highway and (this often happens to me) whammo it occurs to me that I need a stitch that would naturally curve around the arc of the medallion. Why didn’t I think of that before? What stitch does that?  Feather and Fan does!!  Sigh of relief.

I wing it on my first try, since I can’t really guess the row gauge.  That’s the swatch above. Later, getting the length right and making the decreases logical will be fairly easy. 

I’ve managed to design this pretty pendulum. One might think the hard part was over. Not so fast.  What am I going to do with it? 

To be continued….

Well, the Berroco pattern books have hit the shelves. A few months ago, I was able to document the birthing process of one design, Prospera from Booklet #277 Peruvia, and now I can start talking about it.

The story starts with this photo of a store window in Florence:

As you can see, it’s not a brilliant photo, not a piece of art, but a reminder of an idea. The sweater in the photo has a crocheted medallion inserted into a knitted garment. I started working on my version. Mine may look crocheted, but it’s totally knit.

 
I thought this was going to be the RS:

Then, I turned the piece over:

Some themes seem to repeat. Here’s a wooden medallian I carved a few years back:

To be continued…and continued…

How could I not mention this FIRST?!!!!! I am honored to be seen knitting on the Yarn Harlot’s sock.

It’s been a very very busy week preparing for TNNA (the national needlework association trade show) and then working the show. I promised to give more pithy instructions for Margery’s birthday afghan. I hope this will help as a start.

As promised, close ups from the center panel:

While taking the photos, I discovered that I had one color misnamed. The lightest shade is couscous, not off white. I’ve corrected my previous post.

I’m asking Margery to bring her blanket in to the office for some close-up photography. I was working with the photos I had, but I can see from you comments you need more! Thanks, N

Knowing that M is crazy for B & W stripes, I started my panel with B & W stripes Aiming for reversibility, and reduced curling, I decided to alternate rev st st and st st. The little interchange of color that happens when one color meets another on a “garter” row is a fav of mine. Figuring on the recommended gauge of 5 sts/in, I cast on 80 sts (16 sts x 5 sts/ inch). Four rows of st st alternate with rows of reverse stst - change colors and stitch at the same time.

I worked the stripes until I was good and bored and it looked like I had enough - no grand plan, no special proportions. Next, Mustard made for a nice contrast and I began a woven pattern. One row of st st made a good base before beginning the actual stitch part. I was trying to think like Margery, which a was freeing and fun. So, on the set up row, I worked 10 sts each stst and garter a few times and then started to mix it up, throwing in a few fives and later a 15 and a few fives to round it out again. I worked as established for a few inches and then reversed the stst and garter. That repeated a few times and then worked a few blocks that were half as high to balance out the narrower vertical bits. Eventually I ran out of mustard, went back to B & W stripes for a bit, worked black in moss st for a bit and threw in some more stripes. When I ran out of black I switched to the lovely heathered warm brown shade (woodland mix), worked one base row in st st and chilled out on some more moss st. Un peu bored, I went back to alternating st st and rev st st , then back to moss, stopping when my 60″ was up. All in all, good masterpiece theatre or NOVA knitting.