[Knitting] Design Question for those of you who care to weigh in....

[kniteracy]

Over lunch today, I realised I was nearing the end of the first spiral pattern repeat on filceolaire's vest. Now, I'd spoken to clothsprogs over the weekend, and he shored up my opinion that I don't want to repeat the braid band at the bottom of that pattern on every repeat: it'll look too much like stripes.

What I'm wondering now is, do I want to offset the repeat by 50% every other row? If you haven't seen the garment or you need a refresher, here's the post I wrote when I began it. It includes the spiral motif and my sketchy pattern. And here's the latest progress report, which will give you an idea of what the spirals look like in this wool.

I'm leaning heavily toward offsetting the spirals. The chart is an even number across, so it will be very simple to do, and I think it will somehow look more natural than just rows and rows of spirals. What do you think?

(no poll; just tell me in comments!)

Comments

[aunty_marion]

Yes, I'd say offset. More interesting.

[aunty_marion]

And/or, of course, reverse the direction of the spirals!

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I like the offset idea. I think that would be gorgeous.

[mihrimah.livejournal.com]

If you're going for a waves feel, definitely offset the spirals and leave off the band between. You could also replace the band with a few rows of just plain single-color whatever, so the spiral rows aren't all squashed on top of each other.

Do you have Photoshop or some other image-editing program? I often mock up things in Photoshop if I'm going to change a pattern like that, because I can't always visualise if my version will look better. :)

[cangmom.livejournal.com]

I think the offset idea sounds good, but I also think the braids are necessary to the continuity of the pattern. You might want to add more "white" space between the waves and the braid to reduce the "striping" effect.

[fourzoas.livejournal.com]

I definitely vote in favor of offsetting the spirals; otherwise, you'll end up with rows and columns, which will look strange.

I adore that chart--would you mind if I used it on a sweater?

[telynor.livejournal.com]

No problem -- according to the person whose blog I got it from, it's from Co Spinhaven's Charted Celtic Designs, which I've had for years but could not find this morning when I went searching. Maybe I gave it to a crosstitcher somewhere along the line. Ih, it's £5 at Amazon. ;)

[aunty_marion]

I've got a copy of that, but it's not one I got from you - I've had it years.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Having just had a quick play in Paint (yay hi-tech tools!) how about something like this?
http://jane-williams.me.uk/images/gwen_spiral2.JPG
Or, reversing the spiral, this
http://jane-williams.me.uk/images/gwen_spiral3.JPG
or shifting along half a repeat, this
http://jane-williams.me.uk/images/gwen_spiral4.JPG

[aunty_marion]

Clever! I like the 'peak' effect on the third one...

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what that would look like when knitted, though.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I think #3 will look fantastic knitted up. If I can keep my eyes open tonight, I'll go home and experiment!

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

The last one!

They get progressively better.

I was going to vote yes for offset before, but it's really cool to SEE how it will work out. Thanks.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

It then occurred to me that those continual lines could be coloured in...
I don't know if this is an improvement, but it's interesting
http://jane-williams.me.uk/images/gwen_spiral5.JPG

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Won't fit within the fair isle paradigm. Only two colours to a row.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Rules? You let yourself be bound by mere rules???

Well, having already knitted it, and bought two colours of wool not three, might be a consideration - but rules???

[telynor.livejournal.com]

*laugh*

I'll explain why using three colours on a single row in stranded knitting is not a good idea on Saturday -- I'll bring this project and another stranded one along so you can see how it's done. :)

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

I'll see if I can find some three-colour knitting I did a while back, then. You can tell me why it's All Wrong.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Er, there's nothing wrong with three-colour knitting. It's just not a good idea if you're stranding. If you're using bobbins and doing the intarsia thing, you can use as many colours as you like. This garment is stranded, and a third colour would be a) difficult to manage; and b) make the fabric extremely thick and stiff.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I would also "vote" for offsetting the spirals.

And perhaps you could "leave out" (i.e. replace with plain blue?) every other spiral? That would give you sort of a honeycomb of spirals, if I'm envisioning it right.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I'd miss out some of the braids, but keep the spirals lined up.

But that's just me. You do what you'll enjoy most.

[artbeco.livejournal.com]

Offset, I think. It'd be interesting to play with the possible design interactions if you flipped the spiral every other row, too. It'll be a beautiful thing you're creating. :)

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Take a look at Jane's possible mock-ups, above.

[mokatiki.livejournal.com]

definatly ofset

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Look what Jane did, above. I think that's what I'm going to do. Maybe I'll experiment when i get home tonight. :)

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

I'm for offsetting the spirals.

[infobits.livejournal.com]

pattern version # 3 looks like hearts on their sides to me

Rotate the concept 90 degress and voila! A great idea for a Valentine's day pattern!