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Jiggering

I wonder how many years you have to spend knitting colorwork before your instincts are really worth trusting? I’ve had to make a course correction on my new Winter Garden after it forced me to admit that my initial sense of how to shift between reds, purples, and greens was just flat-out Not Going to Work.

From the moment I knit the first Winter Garden, I had a vision of an alternate colorway for my Ada: a friendly brown dress with the flowers done in greens and reds with purple accents. I had the yarn in hand. But then I started lining up the colors I’d chosen and doubting my wisdom. Artifact had too much black and too much yellow. Homemade Jam looked oddly dull against the other colors in anything less than full sunlight. I swapped them out and still there were problems. Birdbook didn’t contrast with Nest sufficiently, while Long Johns was too potent against Woodsmoke, and Plume bisecting anything was as disruptive as ants scurrying over your picnic cloth in the direction of the cake. Argh. Of course, I only admitted to myself that it had all gone awry after I’d cast on a few hundred stitches and stubbornly knit four fifths of the chart in the hopes that it would somehow all come together. Rrrrrrrrrip!

I went back to the original colorway (which had fitted itself together as neatly as you please) …

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… and lifted half of it. You can always do something with green and purple, I believe. I upended my progression to keep the greens on the lighter background (Woodsmoke). And as a final touch, I restricted the red to the peerie bands and related the purple half to the green half by lifting Sap to divide the purples, Thistle to divide the greens. And then it worked. Oh, it’s not very traditional, and you could argue that Sap really is a bit jarring and ought to be darker to pair well with Birdbook, but it makes me smile.

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I’m still not giving up on the dream of a colorway featuring Birdbook and Homemade Jam. Tent-Birdbook-Homemade Jam-Camper might be the way to go, maybe on Fossil and Postcard with Blanket Fort accents?  Here’s the Loft color range so you can see what I mean. What progressions would you try?

Woodsy

Thank you to everyone who’s signed on to test Winter Garden! I’m very excited to see some versions of this little dress take shape out in the world. I still don’t have anyone firmly committed to the largest (6/7) size, so if you’d like to take a whack at it, please let me know. After all the hours I logged last week coaxing the draft to life, it was a pure pleasure to close the computer and head for the woods this weekend.

We piled into the new family wagon and drove up the Columbia Gorge to hike Wahclella Falls with friends. The drive itself is one of the most beautiful stretches of interstate in the country — in fact I feel a twinge of guilt as a human being for having plowed a highway right up the middle of that splendor each time I travel that way. And this was a prime Oregon autumn day: maple leaves beginning to splotch yellow and brown, southbound sun casting the grasses in platinum, river licking chilly at the shaking alders, waterfalls in every trajectory from leap to piddle down the fir-clad cliffs.

And then the hike itself, the perfect scale for adventurous three-year-olds.

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Jolly wore his new jacket.

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Ada climbed everything. She is suddenly fearless, though not reckless.

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(When in doubt, help your friend into the cave first.)

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(And don’t attempt family portraits before lunch.)

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First woolly bears of the season!

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And now back to the rain. Nothing wrong with some knitting weather, though. I’ve got a mountain to scale with this 4/5 sample of Winter Garden for Ada. I’d love to have it ready by Thanksgiving…

Testers?

Almost two years ago, I designed a little woolen jumper for my niece, Lucy, in Brooklyn Tweed Loft. Ada obligingly modeled Winter Garden back in January of 2012. (It doesn’t sound all that long ago, given that this is only 2013, but oh my heart, look how little she was!)

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(This expression has endured, I’m happy to say. 100% Ada Lillian right there.)

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Close-ups of the Fluted Rib bodice and the colorwork:

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I had every intention of getting the pattern done soon after these photos were taken. But the sizing and, oh yes, the growing baby on board scuppered that plan. I’m happy to say I’ve finally righted the ship and Winter Garden is now ready for testing in sizes 12-18 months, 2/3, 4/5, and 6/7. I’ve altered the fit a little so it’s more of a bell skirt than a bubble, and it’s a longer length in the upper sizes. If you’re game for a project at 8 7 sts/” with some techniques that are probably new to you, leave a comment and I’ll be in touch! UPDATE: I’ve got folks willing to be formal testers for all sizes now. Thanks, everyone!

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