Dear Ann,
Not surprisingly, I’ve been going to town on my Fort Tryon Wrap, which has served as a security blanket on many plane trips and car rides in recent days. (“Going to town” on something was my grandma Mabel’s equivalent of your ma’s “cooking with gas.”) It has not gone quickly, what with two rip-backs (one blogged; the other my little secret), but it has not needed to go quickly. It’s summer. Finished wool wraps are not really required at the moment. What is required is simple knitting, and plenty of it.
After asking the blog’s advice on how to arrange my five colors of Jill Draper Makes Stuff’s Esopus yarn, I ended up doing what I always do: when it’s time to pick a color, pick the next obvious color. I really like the way this worked out for the first four colors.
To me this is a great mix, with the mint green adding that Missoni-esque syncopation I craved. Like you, I tend to steer around pastels, but I like a pastel that strolls into a party of sober neutrals and says, “Look at me–I’m so pretty!”
So what’s the problem?
I’m down to my last color, Green Tea. I tried out the Green Tea at every color change, and it never looked quite right. Perhaps I should have started with it–that center strip uses the least yarn. But I didn’t go that route, and even for this compulsive ripper-outer, that ship has sailed. We are sticking with the first four colors. I am thinking about what color would be good on that edge, and I keep coming back to wanting something dark, like an inky navy or midnight blue, or even a charcoal. But I don’t want to fuss. I want to get this thing done, without deliberating about issues that fade away once you’ve got a smashing wrap to wear. I still have a dozen very long (closing in on 1000 stitches) rounds to knit before I face this decision. What would you do? To fuss, or not to fuss?
The Other Road Not Taken
I’m not afraid of long rows or rounds. (I am, after all, one of the people who unleashed the Moderne Log Cabin Blanket on the knitting public.) But before casting on my Fort Tryon Wrap, and again before picking up 554 stitches around all four sides of the long center strip, I briefly considered not knitting Fort Tryon in the round, as the pattern instructs, but working it as a log cabin, in the Courthouse Steps variation. If I picked up and knit a strip along one long edge, then went over to the opposite long edge to knit another strip, and then knit strips on the two short ends, there would be an angled effect at the corners that would be visually similar to mitered corners formed by the pattern’s paired increases. I’d have shorter rows to knit, and less awkward scrunching and bunching of many hundreds of stitches on a long circular needle. (I like purling, but for people who don’t, doing the wrap as a log cabin instead of in the round would also avoid purling.)
(I’m at the point in this project when I’m starting to feel attached to the plastic bag I’ve been dragging around.)
I don’t have any regrets so far. Maybe the only reason I’m still thinking about this is the fact that my two rip-backs were necessitated by messing up those paired increases, which wouldn’t have happened if I’d gone with log cabin. But if Fort Tryon ends up being a favorite garment, as I think it will, I might do a second one, and do it log cabin style to save myself from myself.
Bill Cunningham
New York is taking time to mourn the loss of Bill Cunningham. Nobody didn’t like Bill Cunningham. Last night, in his memory, there were blue lights in Times Square:
There is also a petition to co-name the corner of 57th and Fifth Avenue for him. I signed it. I don’t think anyone who is alive right now in New York will likely forget that it was Bill’s corner, but putting up a sign will lead newcomers and youngsters to ask who he was, and learn about someone wonderful.
(I know about both these things thanks to dear Ina Braun, that dispenser of goodness.)
Thank You
To everyone who has written me a sweet note, or comment on Monday’s post about my dad, my heart is full of your kindness. Apparently there are a lot of dads like mine. I shed many tears reading your words, which surely was good for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Love,
Kay
I would probably fuss, I am not keen on Green Tea with the other colors.
Hi, Kay,
I concur that the green tea doesn’t seem to be the best addition. I’d probably select a darker shade of one of the four colors you are using.
So sorry to hear about your Dad. 🙁
I also feel the tea green is a game changer. I would try that inky blue or dark purple. So sorry about your dad.
Not the green. Eggplant?
I second the Eggplant.
I third the Eggplant
I fourth the eggplant
Sorry but Green Tea is my favorite and it always looks fabulous with grey. I’d rip back the grey and insert the green after the teal, and then end with the grey. Also, next to the teal I suspect the green will have a more yellow cast to it. I don’t know, how fiddley is that?
Green tea is part of the syncopation – the fact that it *didn’t* look right is what tells you so.
Gotta say, I agree with MKG, Meredith MC, Francis, and Kathie – that Green Tea is a great color, and adds to the Missoni-ness of the whole project.
I hate to tell you, but this is a good idea to rip back the grey and insert the citron. I think there does need to be some darkness in the last color or we will all just stare at the teal. Plus it makes a color then has a green repeated. Now you always say you would be knitting anyway so take the plunge.
Agree with MKG and others here. Also, I found myself wanting to “heart” your blog post as I would an instagram photo in several places. Yay for ‘simple knitting, and plenty of it’ and for the loss of your wonderful Dad.
I agree- the green tea would look awesome between the teal and the gray, and then the gray can be the frame you’re looking for. However, if that is out of the question, don’t go too dark for the last color- the teal and gray are pretty dark already.
Fuss. Green Tea deserves to shine, not be that color that drags down your wrap. And Oh! I can have a Fort Tryon with no purling! I bought Kristen’s anniversary pattern pack and I have all your books, so, bonus information!
So sorry about your dad. Beautiful eulogy (I would expect nothing less).
I’m with Debbie on the courthouse steps! Maybe I’ll knit this someday after all. Also I like the green, and the suggestion of reordering above. Third time’s the charm? XXO
The green tea will add a punch of brighter colour. It will give that Missoni touch you were looking for. Go for it!
Go with the Green tea colourway for the final section.
Kay, don’t be afraid of the colour. The colour is not afraid of you.
The green colour for the finish will make a great balance and you’ll be glad that you went along with your original choice for this project.
If you question it, change it. It’s a lot
of long rows to not love it in the end.
Fuss, but don’t go with a dark shade — it would be too dark with the dark blue and medium gray. Instead, go with a brighter, lighter shade. Wedgwood blue would look good; so would a dusty rose, an ivory, a lilac or lavender, or a coral or melon. Just don’t do the green tea shade as it is so unrelated to the other colors,
I agree, go light on the outer edge and make that center pink and mint come back to life. I’m voting ivory/cream, but not too yellow as that would clash wiht the mint (that’s the problem with the Green tea, too yellow which is out of context)
I say fuss and reach out to Jill Draper for suggestions.
Best suggestion yet!
I see you have a tidbit of the first colour left. Sneak that in, too, but for sure use that green! Whammo!
Fuss. Don’t give yourself any doubt to stare at for thousands of stitches.
I keep trying to tel myself not to fuss and it rarely ends well. Save the green tea for something you’ll love it in.
green tea, please. If you look at this without the peach (cover that part of the photo with your finger), the green tea looks great with the other four colors, especially the grey on the edge.
Remember what the queen said: keep calm and carry on.
Is it big enough without the last stripe? ( I think that green is too yellow for that spot and would also prob go darker. But you have a good eye and your instinct led you to buy it so maybe …) Condolences on your loss – your words showed great personal strength, which is, of course, a tribute to your dad in and of itself.
I concur. I was thinking it looks beautiful with the colors there and doesn’t need another one. If you want another color, trust your instinct.
I third your comments. I like it with the colors as is, though I love the green tea. I’m just not sure it fits on the outside edge.
Fuss. I like a punch of color, but not such a big punch on the outside. You need something for a frame. Save the green tea for the center of your next one. Green tea and all neutrals?
Good idea!
Fuss, definitely.
Also I stumbled onto some Josef Albers at the OKC Museum of Art on Tuesday (after viewing the FAB Matisse exhibit) and I tried to get a photo for you, but the reflections on the glass were too strong for a decent photo.
Maybe it would help to study a bunch of Missoni. There is so much crazy color mixing in what they do. The Green Tea doesn’t look impossible to me, but if it’s not singing to you, maybe it should go. I worry that if you go with a dark, you’ll lose the slant surprise of it all. Of course, if you do go dark, it will be beautiful. Wish you had a pile of Jill Drapers to play with.
The center panel is very bright, perhaps the Green Tea color would fight with it. Inky Navy or Midnight Blue sound good. If the colors compliment eachother more, the overall effect will be more pleasing to the eye (which I think will add comfort when wearing it). After all, I think I would rather say “here comes Kay in that Fab shawl”, rather than ” who’s that under The Shawl?”. Just saying.
BTW, thanks for pointing out the necessity to purl in this project. If I make one, I’ll consider the courthouse steps.
Fuss. I’m not sure Green Tea will play well with others but maybe they will be best friends in the end!
I’d skip the tea green. Have you considered a multi-colored border? If you have yarn left over you could knit one or two rows of each color you have already used. It would be easy to create a small swatch of stripes to see if you like it.
I think I’d make a wee little striped swatch starting and ending with the green tea and leave it lying around while I finished the gray bit. By the time I got to a decision point on the shawl, the swatch would either be displayed somewhere close by giving me great joy every time I caught a glimpse, or hidden under a sofa cushion so I didn’t have to look at it.
I like the green tea! I think it will add a nice punch.
I like the green tea on its own and I’m sure it will look lovely in another project, but I just don’t think it goes with the other colors. The tone is too different. I also vote for something darker, and in my world you can never go wrong with purple.
For color five, have you considered something reddish? A muted, dark red?
I agree. There’s a pattern working its way out from the center (all the colors a bit muddied): pale (pinkish) followed by its pale complement (mint green), darker shade of that complement (teal). So, like on one of those psychological tests, what comes next in this sequence? The complement of dark green which in this pattern seems to me to be darkish red (or maybe a sort of purply burgundy)?
My first thought was similar: darkish brick red. But navy might work too. I’d advise knitting swatch-size little flags of your options onto the grey before doing whole rounds, but I think it’s important to actually knit into the grey rather than holding the colors next to it. Somehow, to me, that makes a huge difference in acceptability.
I love love love that tea green but not here. I thought a deep blue red but the deep brick red might work too. Works with the center stripe.
Why fuss? You didn’t enter into a binding contract with that green. Treat yourself to a visit to your local yarn shop (your friends there will share condolence hugs and kind words), audition colors until you find the one that makes your heart sing, buy it, and finish the wrap on a loving note.
The green tea is one of my favorite colors.
Over dye the geeen tea. You can use Kool-Aid.
How about a little washcloth sized test? Put on a whack of stitches in green tea (60?), knit a garter stitch blob the width of the upcoming section and behold. Leave it on the counter, scrunch it on a chair. Surprise yourself with it, see it out of the corner of your eye, see how it goes. Low commitment, high information yield. Extra garter stitch!
I am not loving that shade of green with what you have going already. I think your hesitation is telling you something. My suggestion is to go to the Quince site, click on Lark or Chickadee and use their “Compare” system to line up their versions of the colors you have so far. I realize they are not an exact match, but the clay, lichen, fjord and one of those darker grays are close enough in shade and tone that you can start throwing in a fifth color (include their version of your green tea which I think is snap or split pea) and get some ideas. THEN, go to the yarn store and do what KB said. Playing around with the Quince tool might get you pointed in a general direction, colorwise. Course, once you start laying it down next to real live yarns, you might change your mind altogether. In any case, the “Compare” tool is a fun thing to use and can be helpful with certain projects that use a lot of colors….like striped baby blankets. Good luck!
I agree. Save the green. Maybe Jill can help with an Esopus color suggestion. I love what you have knitted so far–just one stripe to go!
It is not really fussing to want your wrap to look the way you want it. Save the green for something it will look spectacular in and end with a color that delights your eye.
Exactly.
i am no colour expert
but i would vote for something bricky, terra-cotta, that would echo the centre strip
instead of a blue or a dark grey.
The green tea will look fabulous. It’s unexpected and exactly what this wrap needs.
Another way to “sample” the look, find some graph paper, get out the colored pencils, and make a to scale drawing of the wrap without the outside color. Then color up a strip in the bright green, cut it out, and place it as the outside border. This will better represent the color impact, I think.
The photo kind of only shows how a double-wide chunk of green looks crossed equally over all of the colors,, which is unlikely to happen in real life. (In particular, the bright green will not be having such big, wide, unbroken contact with the inside green.)
or maybe un-bundle That skein, and lay it by the wrap so that a stripe worth of green is showing on the edge of the wrap.
I would go with a darker gray. My dad has been gone for 28 years. I am reminded of him whenever I look at a beautiful garden, or immaculate lawn, a golf course or a standard schnauzer, or I catch of whiff of pipe tobacco, or when I have my camera in hand. He will always be with you. Take care of yourself.
I agree that the Green Tea doesn’t look right with the other colors. Being somewhat conservative with my color choices, I’d go for an eggplant or some dark-ish color on the outside. But here’s a suggestion that no one else has made yet, though someone hinted at it. With that leftover pink (center color) that you have, you might make a small stripe in the outside border. Take a look here: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/mustaavillaa/moderne-log-cabin-blanket for a gorgeous way of using stripes; I think that just one stripe of the innermost color in the outermost border would look fabulous.
I think that the tea green may not look right now but when you put it together it will one of those elements to a garment that makes people go, WOW, and not in a bad way. It’s going to make it a unique stunner. I’ve read your thoughts on fashion – yours personally and in general – and I think this is a risk worth taking.
I was moved by your post about your father – moved to tears at my desk – my father died five years ago and he was also a man who had difficulty showing affection but lived a surprisingly productive and admirable life given the obstacles put in his path. They sound like similar strong, Midwestern men who get the job done without suffering many fools. That was a wonderful tribute you gave him. Peace be with you in your grief and remembrance.
Buy a skein of charcoal gray and save the green for another day (maybe the log cabin version of the Fort Tryon you’re considering). Then this one will definitely be a favorite.
The green tea color doesn’t do it for me so I would choose another color. I’d go with a color that would make me smile when I see playing nicely with the other colors in my wrap.
Save the green tea yarn for another project or pass it along to someone who could use it… 😉
I think you need a russet-y, brick color like you started with, but perhaps a shade darker. My 2 cents.
If you aren’t loving the green tea, don’t use it. Lot’s of suggestions for purple or brick red. I like that Idea.
The mint green and tea green are just not good together!
I would repeat the center color – I love it’s “soft” brightness.
Dear Kay, what a profound gift your mother and father gave you; that stable sweet home, solid values and hearing how much you were loved and valued (if a bit belated). Not everyone receives such treasures. I bet you have been sharing the riches in every way.
Thank you for sharing something so hard and so worthy of emulating. And ever so prosaically, thank you for the garter st suggestion, wonderfully suited to lace weight, for Fort Tryon. The original mode had it looking to be more of a Fort Trying.
That green is all wrong. There’s too much yellow in it to work with the other colors or even to clash in pleasing way. If you can, end with a deep forest green that rhymes with the mint green you’ve already used, or similarly, a russet-y red that agrees with the center block. My 2 cents.
Lavender.
Jill has a color called Creeping Myrtle. That would be my first choice.
Second would be any one between her colors Brick, Deep Amethyst or Cirrus Clouds. No ripping required.
Excited to see how you’ll resolve this!
Two choices: go with your gut and fuss, or call Jill Draper. I am so sorry about your dad; what a lovely tribute you wrote.
I love the green tea with your other colors. Either at the border or between the teal and grey, I think it would rock your shawl 🙂 That yarn looks amazing btw.
I say go with a deep purple or burnt orange – if you’re not sure about the Green Tea you don’t want to regret stitches added to a gorgeous shawl.
Your tribute to your father was lovely – sending healing thoughts your way.
Charcoal. Definitely. Given it is not my project I can say definitely.
Or totally out of the box- use one of Jill’s multicolored color ways.
Xo Sara NYC
Mint green where it is and also around the outside? (Make that anomaly look intentional!). The combination of tea green and mint green on the same item seems too risky when so many stitches are involved.
I don’t have an opinion this time, although I love and adore each of the comments above. I’ll be anxiously awaiting to hear what you finally decide to choose. No matter what, it’s going to be gorgeous!
I missed the post about your dad, and am so sorry for your loss. Your eulogy was lovely, and made him come alive for those of us who didn’t know him, it must have sparked wonderful memories for those who did. Wishing you peace and comfort in the days ahead.
The Green Tea near the Mint makes my teeth hurt, but one of the best things about this blog is finding out how deeply personal knitting choices are. It is wonderful to try to see color through the eyes of other commenters, to tilt my brain to just the right angle so that I can appreciate why Green Tea could in fact be the perfect choice. I’m not succeeding so far, but it is an interesting exercise.
Kay, seeing your dad through your eyes makes it clear how staunch and loyal and instinctively generous you both are. Your dad was justly proud of his kids – it must be some small comfort knowing that. Take good care in this hard time and be tender with yourself.
Nope. Go for it. That green will be perfect.
I had the great good fortune to be working my Fort Tryon in the presence of Through the Loops herself. She looked at mine and said “that’s going to be kind of big – why don’t you just do one round and bind off in the purple.” Just a thought for green tea.
Sorry for your loss. Losing a parents changes everything, no matter our age.
I agree with an earlier comment. I think a brick red would compliment the other colors, while tying in with the center color.