Wednesday, May 23, 2007

A Proud Frogger!

I was going along smoothly on my BonBon tank, using my Great Adirondack Silk Noir in the Chagall colorway, when I noticed some big blobs of pink pooling. I kept going, but it bothered me as the blobs (one on the front, one on the back as I am knitting in the round) kept getting bigger. Today I surfed around a bit and saw lots of advice about alternating balls of yarn with handpainted variegated yarn. I kept wondering if I should just keep the pooling--you know, it gives that hand-knit character, blah, blah, blah. I came home and took another look and decided I just couldn't live with it, so I bit the bullet and frogged about 20 rows, tangling a little bit of the frogged yarn beyond saving in the process. Then I started alternating balls, and after about 4 rows done, it looks soooo much better. I forgot to take a "before" picture, but here's what it looks like now:

It was just bothering me too much to go on! The plus was that I wasn't sure how the fit was going to be, and while I had it off the needles, I tried it on and I think it will fit fine. I learned a good lesson, and now I'll know about this trick for the future.
It's funny--the pooling never bothers me on socks, but with a garment like a close-fitting tank top, it could look awful.
This is somewhat of a cursed project--this is the second time I've frogged it--but I'm still glad I strove for perfection. Back to knitting.

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