Week Eight....of the Super Stitches Knitting Project

This week's challenge was:
1) Pyramid Stitch
2) Seeded Check
3) Mosaic Stitch

And let me just add real fast that, of the knit and purl pattern section, this page had the three most fiddly annoying patterns and I mostly didn't enjoy myself this time around. Mainly because I took Vyvyan's whole naptime and only got 2 and a half ugly little square out of it when I could be working on this.

Left mitt of Commuter Gloves, nearing completion

Or this:

What? Swatching for a new sweater? That's preposterous!

After swatching with three different needle sizes (and ignoring the half knit Mosaic swatch I'll show you later) I realized that there was simply no way I could knit my chosen pattern with this yarn.

From Ella Rae's Book number 18, "Island Holiday"

The cascade Ecological wool was just too chunky. At first I thought that I could knit the smallest size (a 11-12 year old size) and turn up with a perfectly fitting sweater, but after much swatching I realized the final product would still be about 10 inches too big. If I fiddled with the amount of cast on stitches (a whopping 92 at the smallest size) the cable in the middle would look totally out of place. So I was forced to give up and then the prospect of working the second half of that ugly puny little swatch seemed all the more disgusting.
Anyways. Moving on from the complaining about my sweater sorrows and on to the post.


(I don't have a picture yet of all three swatches together. gimme a break i'm having sweater trauma.)


SWATCH 1: Pyramid Stitch
At first, at a 16 row repeat I thought this pattern was going to be a pain in the arse. Soon, though I realized that most of the rows were either k7 p1, p7 k1, k3 p5, or p3 k5 only with the stitches a bit out of order. Like instead of saying "p3, k5" it would say k2, *k3, p3, k2* which is totally just p3 k5, yaa' mean?
So this one ended up being pretty easy, but I didn't like it anyways.

Pyramid Stitch Swatch

What's wrong with it? well...when streched out it looks fine. almost like i figured out how to do something cool. But all bunched up as it is normally it just looks....pleated i guess. I don't like the way it folds onto itslef. Maybe with larger needles it wouldn't do that as much, I don't know. Oh, also? I would go ahead and call this reversible even though the book didn't.
SWATCH 2: Seeded Check
I actually really liked this pattern.
1) It was really easy
2) I could tell where the hell I was at all times
3) The little purl sections totally snuck up on me and I appreciated that
4) It would make a nice pattern for a blanket because you can't really get bored too easily.
5) It keeps you on your toes just enough to watch tv or read your favorite blog.
If using it as a base for a blanket I would definitely bump up the squares to maybe 10 or 15 stitches per square instead of 5.

Seeded Check Swatch

Obviously this swatch needs a good blocking and tug in the downward direction, but in real life the swatch is quite nice and the variety of textures is pleasing.

SWATCH 3: Mosaic Stitch

Mosaic Stitch Swatch

Let me just say that uh... I don't like this swatch. It's too much effort for not a whole lot of pretty. Also, I had to cast on 30 stitches! It's a 20 st plus 10 repeat. What's with that?? Again, I'm thinking blanket. No way I'd use this in a garment. Maybe in a pillow. that might be nice. Like a cushion? Actually that's not a bad idea, if you had some really chunky yarn in a bright color. I forgive you stitch pattern.
Also, I like the weird wavy thing going on in the middle but I think if I tried to isolate it, it wouldn't end up working.

Anyways
Next week tune in for...
1) Vertical Caterpillar Stitch
2) Harris Tweed Stitch
3) Diamond Seed Stitch

P.S. Next week is the last week of the first section of the book! Hurray!