Climbing the skill ladder, however, sometimes means you make things that are ugly. Behold!
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| obverse |
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| reverse |
What is this?
This is the obverse and reverse of my swatch from Harry Wells' "Colorwork the Easy Way: Mosaic Knitting" class at The Knitting Guild Association Next Level Knitting Conference a couple weekends ago. I either attended in real time or watched the replay of eight of those conference classes. While I had done mosaic knitting a long time ago, I thought a refresher from an excellent teacher might be good.
The pattern at the bottom of the swatch is the pattern worked in class. Of
course, I then decided I wanted to work it reversibly. My first attempt was
not entirely successful. But above it, you can see two repeats that did work.
It took two tries, but I managed to run a successful experiment.
The next section of this swatch is brioche rib, the pattern Steven West and other designers commonly use. I was inspired to play with this pattern because I also took Amie Palmer's "Brioche Beyond the Basic Stripe" class. I had taken a class in brioche increases and decreases before, but just couldn't quite keep them in my head. Amie's explanation was excellent. I noticed brioche increases and decreases are not always quite reversible. I've also played with working brioche rib using the knit-below method instead of the yarn-over-and-slip method. This part of the swatch was me trying different techniques. I decided I need much more time sitting on the couch with this. So . . . not entirely successful. Will need more investigation.
The top part of the swatch is two different ways of working double-knit corrugated 1×1 ribbing. I first tried identical reversibility, where the pink stitches are knits on the both sides and the green stitches are purls. Then I remembered people like brioche rib because one color dominates one side and the other color dominates the other side. So the very top of the swatch is worked in double-knitting to mimic brioche rib. Once again, I was trying to find ways to make the increases and decreases identical on both sides of the fabric. Yet again, I did not quite hit the mark. More investigation needed.
Why I am showing you this mess? Because on an internet where everything appears beautiful and effortless, I think it is important for people to see how things happen. Innovation typically requires iteration, which means doing something over and over again different ways. The creativity is in finding different ways to do the same thing. The iterative process requires patience and, if you keep getting answers you don't like, then perseverance and persistence, too! The creativity may require research, discovering how other people approached similar problems. Sometimes research is reading the latest knitting magazines. Some technique you've heard of but never used might be useful in solving a new design challenge.
I've set the swatch aside for the meantime because this week and next I am assembling my handout for "A Feast of Reversible Knitting" at John C. Campbell Folk School later this month. Nearly a decade ago I taught "Doctorate in Double-Knitting" at Southeast Fiber Forum 2015. I originally thought my Folk School class would be a five-day version of what I taught then. Assembling the handout shows me there is much more. There are techniques I rarely teach anymore because they are advanced double-knitting and the classes don't make. I don't even bother to put them in proposals. There are a few techniques I have rarely or never taught before that I will be sharing for the first time. I have come farther in my innovations than I realized. This latest swatch — inspired by taking classes — shows me there is more to discover!
Note: the timing of this post is purposeful. I arrived home on 10 November
2023, after completing my final trip to Pennsylvania to deal with my mother's
estate. It has been six months. While I have not completely caught up with
what wasn't done in my own life in 2023, I have made progress. I feel like
maybe I am getting back to my own life!
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