Strange Obsessions

I should be working on Nimbus. I should be finishing my current afghan. Sooner or later, winter will end (won’t it?), but they'd still be useful during our always erratic spring weather.

I should be writing the patterns readers and Ravelers have requested. I should be working on one of several stealth projects that have real deadlines (more or less).

Instead, for reasons I can’t quite explain, I’m swatching, experimenting, knitting, frogging and re-knitting small things. Last week, I knocked out a red super-simple, seed and stockinette dishcloth.

                                                                                  

This week, I’m focused on the Swedish Weave stitch, from Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury (p. 90). Walker’s books are incredible stitch compendiums and invaluable references, but let’s face it, sometimes the descriptions generate more questions than they answer.

The Swedish Weave is attractive on both sides (in my world, that counts as reversible). But … is the fabric heavy or light? Does it lie flat or curl? Is it stretchy or firm? To answer these questions, I started swatching.

The front looks like this.

The back looks like this.

The fabric curls. A lot.

To offset this tendency, I tried framing it with a basic knit-as-you-go seed stitch border.

The border, due to a misguided sense of empathy, decided to curl, too. And see that wonky row? Something’s clearly awry, but I’m not sure what I did to make that happen.

                                              

This little project has been fun, frustrating, edifying and distracting. Now that I've shared photographic proof of my mistakes, I can frog this hapless swatch and try again.

Why? Because my strange obsession with small things knit in reversible stitches continues.

Which brings me to this question: What are you obsessed with this week (month, year)?


PS: Don't forget to check out WIP Wednesday at Tami's Amis.