This satisfying little swatch is a quarter test for the final square. It’s a little over half the width and exactly half the height. The full height will mirror what is here, so there will be two dark green/blue strips and three sand/bobble strips. The colours and textures mimic Brockwell Park at the height of this year’s hot, dry summer (photos in the planning post).
Shades used are:
- Adriafil Merino Cotone, shade Pine Green (42) – PINE
- Rowan Felted Tweed, shade Stone (190) – GRASS
- Ainworth and Prin Merino Silk, shade Malachite Table & Ainworth – GRASS
- Ainworth and Prin Merino Silk, shade Snowdrop – GRASS
- Rowan Summerlite DK, shade Linen (460) – GRASS
- Rico Ricorumi DK, shade Pearl Grey (04) – PATH
- Rico Ricorumi DK, shade Blue (32) – SKY
- Rowan Alpaca Soft DK, shade Off White (221) – THISTLE HEADS
As I’ve been planning from the start, the approach will be the same for each of the four seasonal park squares. (And oh! How much prettier is this idea than the first one.) Every park square will feature strips of:
- moss stitch in alternating shades, to suggest the natural tumble of colours
- grass with a seasonal feature
- pine/sky.
Only Shade 1 (pine) and Shade 6 (path) will appear in all squares because they are constants through the year. Everything else will change. So, the sky seen through the pine will not always be intense blue and the thistle heads will be replaced with daffodils in spring. I won’t use bobbles for those. The spring grass will be brighter, autumn will feature the red and gold of fallen leaves and winter will sparkle with frost.
I’m really looking forward to knitting this summer square (if not weaving in all those ends). I have a couple of tweaks to make and then will write the pattern before I knit so I don’t have to keep remembering what I want to do.
First test
I got to the little quarter swatch by trying out a number of strips, as I said I would in the planning post. I was expecting to try loads, but it turned out that I was happy with three early on and later strips were less attractive. It was fun, though, and I think I’ll do a lot more play with stitches, for this blanket and other stuff.
I’m not using Strip 6, but it’s prettier on the reverse side and I may like it for something else – perhaps daffodils in the spring grass.
Here’s the info for the strips in the first test. The ones I took forward into the quarter swatch are much the same, with the odd row added or taken out.
Cast on 25 stitches in Shade 2 using 3.25mm needles.
- Strip 1
- Moss stitch over 6 rows
- Alternating one row each of three shades: 2, 3+4 held together, 5
- 2.5mm needles
- Strip 2 – as above, but only Shades 2, 3, 5 – far less satisfying
- Strip 3
- Stocking stitch with small bobbles, over 6 rows
- Stocking stitch, Shade 5; small bobbles, Shade 8
- 3.25mm needles
- Strip 4 – as Strip 1, replacing yarn 2 with yarn 6. This was not better.
- Strip 5
- Blurred Lines pattern (Vogue Knitting: The ultimate stitch dictionary, p. 105), over 12 rows
- Pattern Yarn A = Shade 1; Yarn B = Shade 3, except for rows 5 & 6, where it is Shade 7
- 2.5mm needles (too narrow)
- Strip 6
- Two-colour Pattern with Floats pattern (The New Knitting Stitch Dictionary, p. 146) over 10 rows
- Shades 1 + 2
- 3mm needles (too narrow)
- Strip 7
- Pattern as for Strip 4
- Yarn A = Shade 2; Yarn B = Shade 7.
- Not very satisfying.
Finished test blocked to 10.4 cm / 4 inches in width.
For the full-width final, I will cast on 45 stitches. See final square.
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