Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Honey, Because the World's Gone Wrong

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This weekend I had a strong urge to start a new knitting project, one that I’ve had my eye on for awhile. A couple of friends have had baby girls in the last couple of months, and the Little Sister’s Dress is a simple but very cute garment. This is one of the projects I thought about taking on my trip, but I opted for the (now ripped out) lace project instead. I fished around in my stash on Friday (or maybe Thursday or Saturday—I’m still a little messed up from the vacation and holiday days) and came up with a skein of Jitterbug in the Copper Beach colorway that I’ve had for awhile. Most importantly, it was already wound into a ball, so I could start immediately. I thought it was perfect—shades of brown with a little blue and red. Brown is a great fall color for a Pacific Northwest baby, and think how cute it would look with red leggings & turtleneck?

In the dim light of the living room (supplemented by the glow of a ton of Tivo’d shows that I had to catch up on), I made really good progress after a couple of minor counting/pattern following issues. I took it outside into the real, natural-light world last night, and it is ugly. Really, really ugly, with its ugliness confirmed by three other knitters. I don’t think that the photo above captures the ugliness adequately—some might even think that it looks fine. The problem is that there’s a lot of yellow in the yarn, which looks at first like it’s just a lighter brown. Blech.

This was definitely a can’t-see-the-forest-for-the-trees situation—I was so focused on the pattern and shaping (which I screwed up early on) that I didn’t pull back and see the whole garment. Usually, choosing color is one of my stronger qualities, because my former roommate E____ is a graphic designer and it was easy to just lift her favorite palette and apply it to my own projects. I bet that E____ would have noticed the yellow, though.

I really don’t even want to finish this now, because I certainly can’t give a poor, innocent baby such an ugly thing, and I can’t think of any 6 month olds against whom I am holding a grudge. I’m not interested in over dying it, if that’s even possible, because that’s a slippery slope towards dying more yarn/garments, and I would really rather focus on the hobbies I already have. If anyone would like to take this yarn (ripped out or in its current form), please leave a comment and I will send it to you, no questions asked. Maybe it would look better as socks, or maybe YOU want to over-dye it. Seriously, take it--you’d be doing me a favor. If more than one person want it (which would surprise me), I’ll randomly generate a number.

I’m starting another one any day now, because it’s the cutest pattern, but in a better color. Maybe the Sundara sock yarn that didn’t make it as the Bayerische Socks? That yarn is beautiful-no yellow in sight.

ETA: Note that Jennifer used the same Jitterbug colorway to knit these Monkeys, and they look awesome--no weird yellow splotches at all. But I still want this yarn out of my stash--I don't have the heart to try and reknit it.

6 comments:

Jennifer said...

That dress pattern is so cute! Too bad the Jitterbug isn't working out. (I actually used the same color for a pair of Monkeys.)

I bet the Sundara yarn would look great.

Anonymous said...

I am SO glad your post was about how ugly that yarn looked for a baby dress! I was a-fearin' that baby G___G___ was going to look a little too grunge this autumn!

Veronique said...

OK, I'm one of "those people" who think the colors look fine. In fact, they look quite nice! Brown is such an unusual color for babies, and I mean that in a good way :)
I hope you are pleased with the Sundara.

Ella said...

That IS a cute pattern. But I definitely agree - not quite the color for a baby dress. On the upshot, you've already figured out the counting/pattern issues! :D

Socks maybe?

Lola and Ava said...

It's the yellow with the blue that is throwing me off. Glad you found some other yarn, though. The Jitterbug might be okay for a simple pair of guys' socks.

Cactusneedles said...

I agree. Too much yellow mixed with the blue. It probably would make a nice pair of socks for a guy!