1 post tagged “intarsia”
So I got a new orange bike recently and I can't fight the urge to decorate it with woodgrain patterns. For me, the color orange and 70's style woodgrain go hand in hand. If they made them, I would certainly have a woodgrain patterned bike saddle, and handlebars....but they don't. I even looked for a woodgrain top-tube pad but I couldn't find one of those either.
I then realized I'd have to make one myself.
My first instinct was to look through my stash of cheap yarn and see if I had anything that looked "woodgrainy". I found 4 contenders and crocheted up 4 swatches. In the past, I've both knit and crocheted bike cozies, and I've found that the crochet cozies are a little more snug and durable than the knitted version.
Well, as you can see none of these 4 swatches looks much like woodgrain (especially the bottom right swatch, but the colors enticed me and I was just curious to see what it would look like as a swatch!).
So my next step was to look online and see if there were any woodgrain knitting or crochet patterns. Once again, I came up empty-handed. So I figured I could use some graph paper and make up my own pattern. And that's what I did!
So my next step was to look online and see if there were any woodgrain knitting or crochet patterns. Once again, I came up empty-handed. So I figured I could use some graph paper and make up my own pattern. And that's what I did!
Recently, while working on my Seabird Bag (from Andean Folk Knits) which has some little birds and multi-colored patterns going on throughout, the tangling and twisting yarn each time I changed colors was driving me up the wall. After each row I found myself spending several minutes untwisting the balls of yarn before proceeding to the next row. Madness!
So, halfway through that bag, I taught myself to knit with two colors at once with one color in each hand, one hand doing continental style knitting, and the other doing english style knitting. After some intitial awkwardness, I got the hang of it and the rest of the bag just flew off my needles! Now I actually think I like Fair Isle knitting!
Anyway, I think if I didn't learn to do the two-handed thing, this woodgrain project would have driven me crazy with all the yarn twisting. But it went by really fast, and I'm pleased with how it turned out!
I'm still not convinced it really looks like a woodgrain pattern...(Already someone has mistaken it for tiger-stripes.) I'm not sure what more I'd have to do to make it look undeniably like woodgrain but this is a start!
And lastly, here it is in action!
So, halfway through that bag, I taught myself to knit with two colors at once with one color in each hand, one hand doing continental style knitting, and the other doing english style knitting. After some intitial awkwardness, I got the hang of it and the rest of the bag just flew off my needles! Now I actually think I like Fair Isle knitting!
Anyway, I think if I didn't learn to do the two-handed thing, this woodgrain project would have driven me crazy with all the yarn twisting. But it went by really fast, and I'm pleased with how it turned out!
I'm still not convinced it really looks like a woodgrain pattern...(Already someone has mistaken it for tiger-stripes.) I'm not sure what more I'd have to do to make it look undeniably like woodgrain but this is a start!
And lastly, here it is in action!
