I missed last week posting for the Year of Projects group on Ravelry here. But I was by no means no working and knitting away on my project. I do have an update but it may not be just quite the one you are expecting.
So as you can see my Franklin Park Top was well underway to completition of the first side. But the entire time part of me just felt off with it. I did put this down initially to being back knitting but the futher along I got with the project the more the doubts crept in about whether I was really loving the project, even liking it enough to wear.
So last week I had been away and busy and used the time to mentally sort through what part of the project I was unhappy with. It ultimately came down to the addition of the colour – I wear nothing but black, I will at times wear other dark but very muted tones but will invariably feel uncomfortable until I’m back in something black. But the second part of the project that kept niggling away at my brain from the start was how much cooler would this be with the addition of some texture!
So I frogged the project and called quits on it late last weekend.
Then on my Monday morning commute I cast on again. I’m roughly taking the style of the Franklin Park Tank but will add my own modifications to it. I’ve created its own project page here and not linked it to any pattern as while its loosely based on the Franklin Park Tank the majority of whats in it is coming from my head.
I’m continuing to use the Rauma PT2 in black and I started off with 5x50g balls of it, I may need to pick up an additional 1 perhaps 2 balls of it to make sure I’ve enough. As I was frogging back the original tank I thought about what textrue and how I was going to incorporate it.
As you can see I began with some simple lace which I’ve incorporated right from the start, nestled in amongst the ribbing and I have continued it up as I’ve moved into the body. I’ve made a slight bit more progress since this picture was taken yesterday and am now at the stage of incorporating some of the texture stitches I had in my head to play around with.
I am loving this version already so much more and am glad I listened to the niggling doubts and frogged back. I am surprised the need to modify to the point that I’m creating a new design started back so quickly but I can’t say for definite whether I’ll go back to designing, let’s play that by ear.
During the week I also picked up some new naturally dyed yarn, now these two shades, Nightshade and Plum Violet are a lot more muted in real life than they appear here, take it from me, a lot more muted. But I picked up a couple of tote bags to use as project bags and I needed some new scissors.
That is pretty much it for the week. I’m looking foward to catching up with everyones progress over the last two week and the link to see other participants or join in is at the start of the post. See you all next week!
Ruth x
8 responses to “Year of Projects 15 – Week 5”
I did like the bright pink but if you didn’t then glad you were willing to frog and knit something you like. I have a hard time frogging something but I should of I know I probably won’t wear it.
I read once that you never regret frogging a project you are not happy with, and you always regret not frogging a project that you are not happy with. I can tell you are happy with your decision and I look forward to seeing how you change the pattern to suit your personality.
Thank you Mary-Anne I believe you are right, I won’t regret the frogging of this project at all.
I really like the lace you have designed into your project. Having made many of you past patterns I know lace is one of you favorite design elements. And you do it so well. Your new muted yarns will look awesome with black or Grey. So glad you have picked up your needles again.
Well, Ruth, as much as I was looking forward to seeing the first vest, I do admire that you figured out what you didn’t care for, and are remaking something with your own designs in it. As I’m experimenting with quilting/piecing, I am often torn between ripping something out and and simply letting a thing be. At the moment, I’m trying to not rip out, as I feel I’ll never finish anything if I do that. OTOH, it’s good to know when ripping out and starting over is the right thing to do. You may not think much of having done this, but honestly, I will think about this post for some time.
Thank you Becki, I’m glad it resonated with you. It’s always such a difficult decision to make because as you say we can end up finishing nothing. I ultimately asked myself was I more concerned with completing each project on my list or having garments I would wear and this made it a lot clearer as to what I should do.
I was enjoying seeing the progress on your top with the pink, but goodness if you aren’t likely to wear it definitely better to quit while you are ahead. I hope you have a great light for knitting all this black yarn. I’ve only knitted some parts for gnomes in black yarn and struggled, real skill doing lace with black yarn I think. I look forward to seeing how this comes along.
I agree much better that you listened now, than carrying on and then not wearing the piece. What you had done at this point is lovely and your new yarn is also looking good!