Last month I started working on designing some knitted items for Mother’s Day gifts. My Mom loves to read and loves candles, and she has a big, whirlpool bathtub in her new house. My idea was to create a “Mother’s Day Trio,” which would include a bookmark, a decorative sleeve for a clear glass votive, and a bath mitt. I envisioned my Mom relaxing in the tub and reading a favorite book while soft candlelight flickered through the votive sleeve’s beautiful lace. And if she wanted to actually bathe, then she’d have the bath mitt (with some nice-smelling soap I’d include) as well.1
But, of course, I wasn’t going to design just one set.2 My brilliant idea3 was to design three sets, in three different color schemes and with three different “styles.” I was very ambitious.4
Needless to say my designing did not go well. I made many swatches–3 for the votive sleeves, 3 for the bath mitts, and I lost track of how many bookmarks I started, but I know it was at least 4. And this was all after looking at literally hundreds of patterns and narrowing it down to a handful to swatch. I got discouraged and stopped working on everything.
Blocking the swatch of Diagonal Madeira Lace
However, out of all my efforts, there were two designs that I liked a lot and thought would work for my intended purposes. The first, and my overall favorite, is for a votive sleeve. The pattern is Diagonal Madeira Lace, and I just love the color of blue mercerized cotton I found–it is exactly the shade I wanted.5 I love that the pattern is simple but open and “lacy,” and I also love that it is diagonal so it’s more visually interesting even though it is a simple pattern.
Small Quilted Cross-Stitch (on the bottom) with Stockinette Stitch (at the top)
The other pattern that I really like is called Small Quilted Cross-Stitch. It has wonderful texture and creates a thick, sturdy fabric. Thus I thought it would be a great candidate for the bath mitt. However, after knitting up a swatch combining Small Quilted Cross-Stitch with Stockinette Stitch,6 I wasn’t sure if a bath mitt was the best choice–the Cross-Stitch pattern has a really nice reverse side, so I wouldn’t mind it showing, and the Stockinette stitch in the hand-dyed yarn is quite pretty by itself.
Seeing the swatch made me question whether I should change my original idea of doing the entire bath mitt in the Cross-Stitch pattern and instead do Stockinette Stitch with a border of Small Quilted Cross-Stitch. And questionning that made me wonder if a bath mitt was even the right thing to be designing. Would a washcloth or bath puff be better? What would my Mom, and other ladies for whom these gifts might be made, prefer? I still haven’t decided what avenue to take. Let me know your thoughts by participating in my Poll (it’s at the top of the page, underneath the Search box).
- Personally I’d add a glass of wine to the scenario also. But since I’m not knitting anything directly associated with it, it only warrants a footnote. [↩]
- In my defense, there is an economies-of-scale argument to be made when designing since once you work out all the gauge and measurement issues you could somewhat easily create another similar pattern. [↩]
- It really wasn’t brilliant. [↩]
- And, no doubt, that was my fatal flaw. [↩]
- The yarn is Sienna by Rowan Classic Yarns in the color Pacific. Alas the color has been discontinued. Such a shame; for me it was the perfect shade of aqua. [↩]
- The yarn I used is a beautiful, organic cotton: Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Cotton in the color Slushie. [↩]