Variegated Yarn Variations

A week ago I took Shirley Paden’s Knitwear Design class. Pre-class homework involved swatching for the garment we were going to design.  I’ve had a pound of merino DK weight yarn, dyed in a range of greys, black, and bits of lavender in the stash for some time, and with this class approaching, it started nagging me. I though it might offer a nifty way to combine several different textures in one garment, all using the same yarn.

Here are the two swatches:

The left piece is lace, but with a heavy stockinette component. The right one is a basketweave – K2, P2 in blocks 2 or 4 rows tall.  You can see the variegated yarn “striping” in the stockinette of the left piece, but because of the frequent purling in the right swatch, those black, pale grey and lavender lines are interrupted. Here’s a close up, head to head comparison:

Interesting, eh?

Shirley’s class, by the way, was as amazing as you’d expect. Lots of math. Lots of diagrams. Lots of hard work. I spent last night working through the front of my V-necked pullover pattern. In theory, I’m supposed to work out and write down my entire pattern before I cast on. We’ll just see how well that part works!