Why doesn't somebody...

Those three words get me into no end of trouble. Why doesn't somebody do something about _____ (fill in blank with your favorite thing that needs solving)?

There are two main ways to respond to this question.

1) Wonder why no one (else) does anything about it and move on
2) Do something about it yourself

I happen to be one of the people that (almost) always goes with the second option. As I said, this gets me into all kinds of trouble. You wouldn't believe how many problems present themselves to someone who is likely to solve them. Usually, they are things that no one really wants to do (order new printer cartridges for the office, take out the trash, pick up litter on the street...). Still, it always seems better to me to actually do something about the problem rather than stand back and complain while waiting for someone else to do it.

Sometimes, the thing that needs doing is more pleasant. For instance: Why hasn't someone made the perfect pattern for this yarn???

I have hunted high and low, in blogland and online, in pattern books and stitch dictionaries. Nothing is speaking to me. I could spend the rest of forever looking for a pattern that I like, that's just perfect. Or, I could just get over it, pick up some needles, and start playing around while I'm waiting.

On Saturday, I made a swatch.



I quite like it. It's assembled from three patterns in the Walker books, all of which are based on the same basic Shetland lace. Kind of a "variation on a theme" for knitting. No reason that classical musicians should have the corner market on those. I wanted something open and airy, with nice curvy shapes. The horseshoe lace caught my eye.




And then the fountain lace.



If I hadn't already been planning to buy it, I probably would have bought the last book in Walker's series for just the swag lace pattern.



The one thing I wasn't sure about in my swatch was the fact that the swag lace has the horseshoes pointing in a direction opposite to the other two patterns. The lines work ok, but I think I'd like it better with all of the horseshoe elements going the same way. I could probably reverse the pattern, but that seemed like a lot of work for something that could be solved with a little grafting. Knitting the swag lace separately and then grafting it on will also expose its scalloped edge, making a border unnecessary. I'd usually be a little hesitant about leaving a cast-on as the edge of a lace piece (preferring a knit-on border), but a little testing shows that my standard cast on has plenty of stretch to accomodate and stabilize the scallops.

On Saturday evening, I blocked the swatch.




So, that's what I was up to this weekend, besides going out and basking in the springtime sun that graced us on Saturday afternoon. I wasn't really sure that I wanted to design a lace piece, but nothing else was stepping forward as a good alternative, and I'm rather liking the way it's taking shape.