Not Aragone

I started out with such hopes. Recharted the tunic pattern for Starmore’s Katherine of Aragone out of Tudor Roses.

You see, I could not stand the idea of a tunic with fringes nor one that was 30+ cm around larger than I needed. I had also convinced myself that having a pullover to balance all my cardigans was a good idea. While I was at it, I balanced all the patterns with the directions reversing out from the middle. Not doing that just seemed sloppy.

At almost 40 rows up the body, I have a serious dilemma. I am spot on gauge and the hand is perfect. If I keep going it will be exactly the size I had planned.

This is the inside of a sweater that is evenly balanced between the two colors.-

inside

inside

Now, a couple of shots of the outside.

back

back

a bit closer

a bit closer

and closer

and closer

You see the issue? The values of the tan and blue are just too close. Without the contrast which is at the beginning with the cream or higher up with the rose, the patterning just disappears. I like the blues, the cream, the pink. Tan has never been my favorite color anyway. If I take it out of the sequence completely I am not sure I will have enough yarn.

I could use the tan for the ribbing and edgings. I could frog back to the ribbing and
1) start the contrast in a different place so that the tan comes opposite the darkest of the blues
2) chose a different contrast yarn. I have pinks/purples, purples/blues, greys/black, red/burgundy and purples/greys .
3) frog the whole thing and knit a cardigan with different colors
4) keep the ribbing and knit a different pattern on the body…..

what would you do?

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5 Responses to Not Aragone

  1. Kathryn says:

    Frog it Holly. You will not be happy with it. You will not wear it. Sorry about all that work but having ‘been there and done that’ you know you are wasting your time continuing.
    Next question, will you wear a pullover? If so, go back and do it in a colourway that works contrast wise because the idea is a good one. If not, then do a bit of jiggling with the pattern again and steek a cardigan using the same chart.

    • Holly says:

      So, at minimum frog pond back to the ribbing is in order? Doesn’t look like it will make it as gift material either, does it?

  2. AlisonH says:

    Only you can know what would feel best to do with it. It is beautiful, but if you feel it would be even more so in other colors…

    I had one half-finished sweater front I once stopped right there, sewed it, added I-cord ties, and called it a baby bonnet, so that I at least got something quite nice out of my work.

  3. Laura Pacha says:

    Guess it would depend on how badly I wanted to do the project. I’m thinking either change the contrast yarn, or reknit starting the blue at another spot. It’s a bit hard for me to tell, as the colors change with each photo on my monitor, so I’m not sure what the sweater yarns look like in person. Will you be at FHP this year? 🙂 lp

  4. nana says:

    I think, frogpond it is, down to the ribbing. Then the red/burgundy with the blues has still the potential to get the look you wanted, but contrasts up a little.

    It is a bummer it did not work out with the colour gradations.

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