Next up this weekend is a shawl swatch not even close to being ready for prime time. Had an idea to make a shawl from end to end with biasing lace increases and decreases, but look at that nasty little point there where the k2togs meet the ssks! Yeah, that's not going to work.
So, after this picture I tried making it all with k2togs (and a k3tog where the garter crescent meets the lace portion) and it made a most unusual, sadly unwearable and somewhat unsightly paisley sort of shape. Must have been due to the natural biasing of the k2tog making one side fall short of a half-circle and the other side overshoot it.
I tried to block it out immediately and the fabric's not really buying it. I think I've seen other designers use short rows to achieve a crescent shape in similar applications, but that way lies the problem of over-complication.
I don't have too many design rules, but one big rule is to make the directions match the apparent complexity of the project: if it looks easy, make sure the directions are easy. I don't want anyone buying a pattern thinking it'll be straight-forward, opening up the pdf and having their faces blanch with horror as they find 5 pages of inscrutable instruction.
So I may experiment with short rows, but chances are you won't see this shape in pattern form. Back to that drawing board!
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