Hasn’t everyone had to go back to the drawing board and take a new approach to knit design gone awry? This is just one example of how I fixed a seemingly lost cause, without ripping out a single stitch!
I love to design knitwear. Unfortunately, the design does not always come out the way I visualized. On these occasions, I go back to the drawing board to readjust my original idea. I explore all design avenues before, I heaven forbid, succumb to ripping it out! There will be times when ripping is the only solution. But I think there are many times when a fresh look at a finished piece is a great opportunity to creatively change the look of a knit garment without having to rip!
I had several skeins of handspun yarn earmarked for a scarf. The inspiration came from a pair of socks (pictured below) I knit last fall. I imagined a long scarf with triangles and bobbles all in a vertical asymmetrical design.
The Scarf
Here is the original design. I was hoping for a whimsical look with a bobble at the end of each triangle, mimicking the top of the socks. However, once finished, rather than whimsical it looked court jester-esque. As this was NOT the particular look I was going for, I decided the pattern needed further review.
When my patterns need a little extra review, the first question I ask is ‘what is it about the design that I don’t like?’ In this case, the scarf had a decidedly linear and stiff look. The triangles were too deep and the bobbles needed to be gone. The first adjustment was to soften the lines. The second adjustment was to get rid the bobbles. I started by picking up stitches in the V at one end of the scarf and filling in the negative triangle space. I worked the stitches around the bobbles effectively eliminating them from the scarf.
Original Design
Reworked Design
After the adjustments, I was much happier with the new design! It is more fluid and has a softer look.
Designing knitwear can be very rewarding. Adjustments and readjustments are just part of the process. The challenge to designing is to be flexible and sometimes thinking outside the box.
Has anyone else experienced a design challenge? And how did you work around the problem?