Distractions

I got a new toy over the weekend: IntwinedStudio. It's a lovely (and very reasonably priced) little chart maker program that works on a Mac. I've usually just sketched my charts on graph paper but that's pretty time-consuming and, in the event that I would actually want to publish a design, hard to reproduce. So I've been on the lookout for a basic tool to play with and this one seems pretty great. Unfortunately, it can't solve the problem of my stitch count. I have to do that myself. I keep hoping that inspiration will hit and my fabulous cable idea will magically center itself on my 68-stitch wide 2x2 garter ribbed piece. Since it hasn't happened yet, I'm going to let things percolate in my head for a bit and see if I come up with a brilliant solution (or a new cable design). In lieu of my terribly clever cable, you get this post.

Sometime last spring, I whipped up this quick sketch:

I really love the idea of a ribbed skirt flowing into a knotted cable. The basic design concept seemed perfect for this skein of Briar Rose Legend (sadly, it looks like this yarn is no longer available on Chris's website) that I had picked up at the Michigan Sheep & Wool festival the summer before.

Fast forward to this month when I finally realized that the purple sweater I had been knitting for Tadpole just wasn't working out.

(Yes, that's the cable pattern from Guilder. No, it's not the same purple yarn - this is Miss Babs Yowza. And I know, I do buy a lot of purple yarn for Tadpole Knits).

So I frogged the Guilder dress and quickly sketched out this idea:

Look familiar? Oddly enough, the sketch with sleeves goes with the yarn with significantly less yardage. I seriously doubt there will be sleeves on this one.

Well, maybe tiny little cap sleeves. But a sleeveless jumper is much more likely. If I can ever make this chart work. Maybe I should go back to the basket-weave/smocking idea. That could be a better fit for my stitch count. I'll just have to go play with the chart and see.

And what about the Briar Rose skein? Lately I've been thinking that it would look lovely in this.