Cat’s out of the Bag! This is just one strip out of many that we did collaborativvely for Lindsey’s on-the-way baby! See it here!

Conclusions:

• Fibonacci’s Sequence is really effective as patterning
• but not in a stockinette strip unless you are a masochist, as there are a bazillion ends to weave in
• Teresa suggested I could do stockinette if I used a circular needle and just slid the work to the other end when the yarn didn’t start on the same side as the other yarn ended. Something to consider!
• garter stitch (2 rows for every number in the sequence) would be much better, or in the round
• doing the sequence against its reverse is really nice, will do that again, I like the effect, but…
• don’t go too far, stop at about 8, even 13 is a bit much
• this is a nice way to use variegated yarn, it provides interest without competing with the yarn

20110306

I want to work out fibonacci striping calculations for strips for a potential blanket for Mike. In the meantime, I may as well make something scarf-esque as the sampler, as Mike’s blanket will be bulky or worsted weight and probably in black, brown and grey.

Starting with 34, I think.

I think I’ll do it so it’s reversed, instead of 1,1,1,1,2,2,3,3…, I’ll do:

1,34,1,21,2,13,3,8,5,5,8,3,13,2,21,1,34,1

And repeat that 3x and see what I have.

For the blanket, I’m thinking of doing it in stockinette panels, and then flipping them so there is reverse stockinette every other panel, or just adding a border of some kind afterward.

later

Doing 3 repeats with both colours will be 528 rows. As a soft target so I can judge how far I am.

I like how it’s knitting up so far (33 rows in, heh).

Probably too thin to be a scarf but if I like it I’ll do another strip and try the reversal seaming or just adding another strip to it in stockinette. Or maybe I’ll work off it a different direction. Here’s to experimentation!

20110309

Went to the doctor today. Apparently I’m not dying yet, so yay! :D

Managed to finish one repeat. I may need 4 repeats to see if it’ll be in balance because I realized, belatedly, I didn’t know how to handle the transition.

So I’m going to do this:

1,34,1,21,2,13,3,8,5,5,8,3,13,2,21,1,34
1
34,1,21,2,13,3,8,5,5,8,3,13,2,21,1,34
1
34,1,21,2,13,3,8,5,5,8,3,13,2,21,1,34
1
34,1,21,2,13,3,8,5,5,8,3,13,2,21,1,34,1

That looks like gibberish, but it’s the dark colour first (1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34) and the light colour second (34,21,13,8,5,3,2,1,1), then dark down and light up, then light down, dark up, then dark down, light up.

That will put the dark colour as two dark stripes in the middle of three light ones, from a distance.

20110312

Man, I suck at gauge estimations. Anyway, the row gauge has changed, so I’ll see if a strip with the central dark looks good on its own. Or I’ll end up with a super long skinny strip. Hrmph.

THIS IS WHY I TEST THINGS!

20110318

So, typically, slowed down.

Oh well. Finished two repeats and I really like the effect, but I think for a whole blanket it’d be too much to keep the transitions up because the row gauge may be too difficult to keep sane, so the balance would get off.

I could, however, do the ends and make the main section one colour, with the contrasting reversing fibonacci stripes on the ends only.

The pattern starts getting a little lost with bigger numbers and smaller numbers. That may be the yarns I’m currently using, though, for testing. Mike’s will be cream and dark brown, probably in cascade eco. Mmmm.

I do like this quite a lot though. I think I’ll just keep knitting and when I run out of yarn, decide how to break it apart to make something functional out of it.

20110320

Got bored while away, knit until I couldn’t stand knitting it anymore.

I really think while it’s pretty neat going back and forth, I’ll have to more carefully sort out row gauge and stitch gauge to make any predictions on the final sizing of the blanket. I don’t want to end up with an incomplete repeat, though I suppose I can either do what I did with the swatch, which is just stop, or I can stop early and add a plain colour to the end(s).

Going to wash and block this, so I have some idea how this yarn handles that, as it’s my first time using Knit Picks in stockinette (I used over-dyed Knit Picks when I fourth started knitting again, in the first BSJ as I ran out of Ultra Alpaca, and for the matching little socks and shoes I made for Sydney).

I can’t imagine it’s much different, but Small likes the colours and would like some socks, so I should at least see if it’ll be all floopy or what at this needle size.

So, calling it quits on this experiment. I’ll post images later, but the early conclusion is that it’s going to look really snappy, but I may want to chart it and prepare for crazy row gauge.

It occurred to me while I was knitting that instead of adding a lining or border, I could do it in garter stitch. I’d have to change the rows to ridges (2 rows = 1 ridge) for the colours to work out properly, and I’d have potentially other issues on the “wrong” side.

I guess it’s more swatching for me.

SWATCH SWATCH SWATCH!

I think I’ll swatch in Cascade Eco, since I want to use it for the blanket. I’ll make a matching pillow, instead of a strip, perhaps? And maybe do only 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8.

20110401

No joke, there are 84 ends in this little thing to weave in. 84.

I will reiterate the value of doing this sort of patterning either in the round or garter stitch. Srsly.

EIGHTY-FOUR ENDS. And this is just a little strip! Imagine if I only repeated a shorter sequence… Ugh.

This is why we test, folks…

later

Okay, I did it. I wove in all the ends.

My conclusions (other than not to do this again in stockinette in a strip format!):

• it’s really effective as patterning
• don’t go too far, stop at about 8, even 13 is a bit much
• this is a nice way to use variegated yarn, it provides interest without competing with the yarn
• this yarn is quite nice, and a bit sticky for superwash! I find KnitPicks yarn a little dry feeling in general, but it does have great colours
• I will definitely do this with garter stitch and heathered yarns for the blanket, starting with a pillow, I think, it will be a really lovely looking blanket and the colour changes will be easier to handle up the sides without having a bazillion ends to weave in (seriously, a full blanket at this pace would have been at least another few hundred ends, no no no no)