So, I have come to a bit of a... pause on Vivian. I started the second skein and it is darker than the first. As you can see, I went for about 10 rows in denial before confronting the situation, and I'm just not sure what to do.
I know it is common with hand-dyed yarns for there to be variation, but the skeins looked so well matched I completely forgot about the usual recommendation to alternate rows with different skeins.
Do I:
1) Rip out the second skein and some of the first skein and reknit by alternating rows and do I alternate every 2 rows or every other row (the latter would require more attention as I'd be working from the WS for some RS rows and vice versa). But won't it just look stripy?
2) Rip out the second skein and some of the first skein and reknit with another lighter skein, also alternating rows (I still can't see a difference between skeins but if you compare strands of yarn at the start of each ball, there is a slight difference)
3) Leave as is but start alternating the other lighter skein in now and hope it will all generally blend in once you have the context and scale of the whole piece
On the one hand, ripping out is really annoying, especially with my precious little available knitting time. It would be even more annoying if I ripped out and it didn't look any better or, heaven forbid, even looked worse.
On the other hand, it would be really annoying if I didn't rip out and continued to be bothered by what to me is a fairly obvious transition.
I knew writing this out would help me decide though, because looking over my options spelled out, I'm thinking of going with option 2. Option 1 doesn't really make sense. It looks like I have possibly two slightly lighter skeins, the first of which I have already used, so it makes sense to put those two together and then gradually blend in the darker skeins.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated though! I'm probably going to mull this over a little longer.
Reading through your post, I was inclined to think your second option made the most sense and it seems you've already come to that conclusion yourself!
I can't offer any better advice that what you've been considering. I was just wondering if the wool has a kettle-dyed appearance. If so, I'd think your second option would make the differences in the skeins much less noticeable.
Posted by: annmarie | Saturday, April 04, 2009 at 01:29 PM
I didn't stripe my Tosh worsted and I can now see it in the FO but I barely noticed it while knitting. I know know, but my project was also a cardigan as is my next and its such a pain to alternate on cardigans.
Posted by: Chrispy | Saturday, April 04, 2009 at 02:13 PM
I agree that the second option seems like the best - I've been tempted in similar situations to go with the third, and usually haven't been pleased with the results.
Posted by: ikkinlala | Monday, April 06, 2009 at 07:00 PM
Option 2 would give it an ombre'd effect. That would be nice and not look as chunked as leaving it along. The Grrrr factor in that would be high.
Posted by: Laurie (Moo!) | Tuesday, April 07, 2009 at 01:51 PM