Beginnerland
The Terrible Swatch
Just terrible, I tell you.
There is something about this swatch that absolutely fatigues me. I can barely stand to look at this thing; it’s like a boyfriend gone BAD. Just move on, fella. This is NOT WORKING FOR ME.
This may be the single most deflating swatch I’ve made since the Day-Glo Fair Isle Swatch of 2003. As bad as My First Log Cabin. It may be worse than my all-time worst idea (and I hesitate to mention it, but it’s necessary to provide a sense of the scale here) The Fingering Weight Mercerized Cotton Debacle of 2005.
I recall the joie with which I bought this yarn at Rhinebeck. Where is the joie now?
What does this remind me of? I finally figured it out. It’s the HoJo connection. I look at this and think of Howard Johnson’s. I see this and crave a Howard Johnson’s clam roll. But where’s the orange? The partial Hojoness of this is what bugs me: if you’re going HoJo, go all the way.
There’s also some institutional vibe coming off these colors. Plastic tubs from the hospital? A spit-up bucket? Can’t put my finger on it, but I’m channeling some maternity-based plastic thing. I feel like I’m going into labor just thinking about it.
I haven’t given up on my quest for the plaid mohair coat of my dreams. But I gotta keep hunting for the right colors. This is not going to be it.
The lesson here? Always make a swatch. What if I had embarked on a mohair coat without this swatch? I shudder to think.
I think you nailed it…hospital barf buckets…do not substitute with harvest gold; it will be worse ! I say “ditch the pink”…….pale blue, greige or good old off white!
Almost all gifts for Christmas were knitted…to be knitted…until I broke some tiny bones in my thumb joints! I can knit, but it is slow and not pretty.
Off to the Oregon Coast for Thanksgiving !!
Wonderful Thanksgiving to all
Kate
I dunno how to add a picture, but I think you are thinking of those cotton receiving blankets they wrap babies in before you get to them with your handknits. Here is a link, tho. https://www.liveactionsafety.com/nursery-receiving-hospital-baby-blankets-100-pack/
I will admit, I LOVE to make swatches. After having knit some real DOGS because I was too excited to swatch and wanted to knit NOW, I learned to love a swatch or two, three, four. I will admit that some dogs do slip through the cracks but learn to love your swatch, block it, put a label on it with a description and some heart break may be avoided.