Hip to be Square

The real reason I don't post as often as I have something to share is that I don't take photos as often as I should, Despite my constant exhortations to others to post photos.

Since February began yesterday, and no one else in the Tunisian Crochet group on ravelry posted a new afghan square pattern, I decided to do it myself. I did post a plea for more contributions, so we'll see what happens as March approaches, but I didn't want this project to die after one month. And it's not as though I ever have any trouble coming up with ideas.

So I decided I wanted to make a motif with mixed Tunisian knit and purl stitches. First I charted a simple, nine-stitch wide heart (for Valentine's Day) and put six of them across a square. It looked very plain, so I switched to knit on purl stitches for the second set. And then I decided it looked naff. So I got out Alice Starmore's Charts for Colour Knitting and chose a motif that was slightly smaller than my square size. And I switched to a reverse stitch instead of Tunisian purl, for more contrast.

It was very difficult to work. My big downfall with Tunisian crochet is missing stitches, and that happened to me over and over. Then I ran out of yarn halfway through the square. (Have I mentioned lately that I'm not buying any yarn?) And then I decided that the contrast between the knit and reverse stitches just isn't strong enough to make the pattern pop out, mostly because the lines are too narrow.

So then I got out graph paper, I tried making Excel cells stitch-shaped, and I noodled around with the Knitter's symbol font in TextEdit, and a couple hours later, had a motif charted out. It's nothing like the half-finished square, and I haven't even started my own yet. But it's a pattern in ravelry, and, as soon as the free PDF uploading functions again, it will be available.

But I have another project, patiently waiting for me. I'm down to the skirt section (for want of a better word) for my oddball coat, which I think I'll call Optic. I'll have to rework the collar; the last row is too tight, so it doesn't lie down properly. But I do like the way the different height crochet stitches produce the short row effect for a shawl collar. It's got some chunky cables going on, too, and short rows everywhere, so there are knitting stitches pointing every which way. And I really love the Rio de la Plata yarn that's the plain knit body of the coat. Very cushy.

I know these observations would make more sense with photos, and tomorrow morning, I'll try to get some.