KNITTING UP DULWICH ROAD

It was on my 4th attempt at charting the little St Jude’s window that I thought of Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, compulsively shaping Devils Tower in mashed potato, rubbish, shaving foam – each attempt a little closer to the image in mind. I kept to successive pages of knitter’s graph paper for my work (my family should thank me), but once I had Dreyfuss’s temporary insanity in mind I knew I had to stop at chart 4.

Here it is. A step change from the space invaders of the first test, although now I’ve got Close Encounters in my head, I wonder if this square will be forever tainted by aliens. Trefoil or space ship? Whatever, it’s as close as I’ll get to the window shape for now, pasted in again for comparison.

The central shape is not exact but this was the best of the charts. Others where I tweaked the edges in or down lost the definition. I could do better over a larger number of stitches, but the image would grow too big and then all potential for a creative square would be lost.

The radiating lines took even longer to get right (or close to right). I chose this approach because I don’t want a great big dark shape that will pull too much attention in the blanket. I’d like the central outline to be darker than the radiating lines so, still with the yarns from test 1, I would use Felted Tweed Carbon (159) for the shape and Shadow (224) for the rest. I’m sticking with the background yarns because they worked well.

The issue for me as a knitter will be the 3-colour stranded work needed across the central rows. Never done it before. If I can’t manage it, I’ll use either Carbon or Shadow for all the lines, depending on which looks best.

Now I need to knit this up to see if it transfers effectively or if tension and needle size pull it out of shape. Stitch and row counts may need adjusting.

Such a satisfying moment to have a hand injury. Still resting, darn it.

Feature image: Still from Close Encounters of the Third Kind