KNITTING UP DULWICH ROAD

The jury is in, and it’s intarsia! I know. I know! I said it was a boring idea. Well, I changed my mind. BLM has to be crystal clear, and in this test only the intarsia M does it.

The idea to ‘grow’ the letters out of the background using reverse stocking stitch still feels attractive. But an idea is only good if it can prove its worth in practice. And this one didn’t. Poor L is muddy and even a strong contrasting shade in a heavier weight of yarn failed to make B stand out. In the end, keeping the background colour in the mix blurs the (h)edges.

If I could spend entire days playing with different versions I might eventually make this work, or I could even experiment with texture to raise the letters out of the background. But I don’t have those breezy days so I’m going with intarsia (and even I can hear ‘I’ve had enough of this!’ in those words). Logging this post as a ‘beginner’s fail’ as the reverse stocking stitch was a red herring.

Turning to the positive, what pleases me is that in making the decision I’ve come up with a different plan that I think will be prettier and more striking than the original.

Resources & what I did

As set out in Test 2, except that I left the top half without beads rather than changing the colour.

For FINAL square

(because I’m determined it will be that)

• Use 3mm needles again as I’m keeping to 47 stitches.
• Keep Grass Green for the backgound but pair it with a darker shade for the intarsia. I haven’t chosen the yarn or shade yet. Tomorrow’s job. I may also replace Grass Green. I said in an earlier post that it is a good privety colour and indeed when you hold the yarn next to the privet, they are close. But seen from a distance, the hedge looks much darker than what I’m knitting. I have no idea why that is, but I will look for alternative shades.
• Knit the lower BLM with Grass Green as the background and the other shade for the letters, then swap this for the upper BLM. (My new plan.)
• Hook beads into the background throughout, with Debbie Abrahams Green beads in the lower section and Holly beads in the upper section.
• Fingers crossed!