'Nittin' Notes: 2

I'm getting into the Valentine's Day frame of mind.How 'bout you?
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My Mum has established a tradition of lively Parcheesi with my kids and their cousin Sovann. That's why I chose the board as a backdrop for a progress check on Sovann's Winter Warmers. I really need to get going on these, before it isn't winter any more... It's time to start the heel flap.*********************************
The other project, you may recall is Ian's Dapper Chap Vest. I don't have enough of one color to make it in one solid color, so I needed to stripe or something. This is the photo I posted the last time. It was taken at night with just my bedroom lighting, no flash.This is a better look at the colors, taken in the southwest-facing dining room in today's afternoon sun. I love the way they look together.I made b&w photocopies of the vest, and used Ultra Point Sharpies to color in some possible designs. And yes, I was inspired by Charlie Brown to incorporate zig-zags. But there was also straight stripes and argyle to choose from. Then I polled the 4 males in the household: they each picked a different one! But it's Ian's vest and he chose the design seen on the bottom right.

I had to change the hem a little, because I couldn't make it work. I tried it over and over and over and I guess I just don't have the experience to understand and visualize what I was supposed to do, so I finally just threw in the towel and made a hem I could live with. It added length, which is fine, since the Dapper Chap himself is about 6'3" and probably not done yet!Working with the 2 colors together is a bit cumbersome. (BTW, I have no idea what I've done to make this text underlined. It happened to me once before, and I don't how to reverse it. I know, my ignorance is showing again.) As I was saying, you have to keep track of the yarns and not tangle them. I didn't try this part riding in the car in the dark. And since there will be 2 more times that I'll change colors for 16 rows, I'm dreading it a little. The carried yarn has to carry over long stretches and it's a constant challenge not to allow it to pull too tight when you pick it up again. I didn't make the colors overlap at the diagonal interface on purpose. It was a serendipitous effect that I didn't "fix" because I like it. And then the other issue (Oh look, the underlining has stopped! How brilliant of me!) is that the carried yarns are subject to getting caught on things. I thought I had a solution: twist the carried yarn with the working yarn every so often. I found that made the carried yarn show through. It might be an interesting effect if done deliberately, perhaps in a "planned random" pattern to give it a tweedy look, or a very regular way to look like a dobby pattern, but that isn't really what I want, and is more thinking than I want to do and I've already made this pattern a little complicated.

So that's all on knitting for now, I'm close to adding the blue, and I can't wait to see how it looks, so hopefully by next time, I will have the sock finished (hope so, as I'll probably see Sovann next w/e), and the blue incorporated.