Swatch 16: Color (finally!)

Finally I got 'permission' to add a color other than boring beige.  Really, it's a lovely cream, warm like the bit of swirl you sometimes get on a latte when you sit at a table and drink it from a real cup.  Not too much brown to spoil the light that shines in the cream, but just enough to break up an otherwise stark white.

Here's my swatch 16, per instructions.  The Main Color (MC) is a hot pink; the Contrasting Color (CC) is the cream I've used for all the other swatches.

Using different colors translates to very interesting patterns,
though this one is just a few stripes.  Using colors also means
more loose ends to take care of.

This is the first time I've shared the backside of a swatch.  In this case you can see two things:  

1.  How the colors look as the knitter changes from one to the other; and

2.  How many loose ends there really are in this swatch.

Yes, I hate weaving in loose ends.  All knitters do, I think.  Just about the time you consider a project 'good to go' you do one more review and find YALE (not the university, but Yet Another Loose End.)  So you re-take your knitting seat, gather the darning needle with the big eye, and a pair of scissors in anticipation of clipping the last one of the tails after you weave it back and forth into the stitches.  And finally you're done.

Unless another loose tail appears just as you're ready to walk out the door wearing your newest creation.  I don't recommend a staple gun or tape,  Just tuck it somewhere and enjoy the wine and dessert at lunch, plus all the oooh's and aaah's the non-knitters will shower on you and your wonderful work.

According to my progress sheet, I've got two more swatches (one is another do-over; one is a technique I'm avoiding.  I've done it before but it's tedious.)  Then on to the hat.  Will use the cream and hot pink you see above, plus a deep magenta.  Here's the collection:

And speaking of tedious -- that border on the blue shawl.  I have about 15" left and had to set it aside.  Every row of the directions is something different.  Tried to work on it last night while chatting over cocoa with good friend Darliss.  I think I knitted back (read un-knit) at least 30% of the rows I worked on.  

Move this poor puppy to the UFO pile for at least a day or two.  Gotta have a break from the fine yarn, complex directions, and the prospect of several more hours of knitting and eye strain. 

Are we having any fun yet!?!?  Absolutely.  Knitting, like life, is filled with diversity.  The pieces when experienced separately can be challenging or fun, wearying or uplifting -- but as the grandmother says in the movie, Parenthood (Steve Martin), "I like the roller coaster."

Enjoy your ups and downs today.