[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

[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.