Autumn Colours Trial

Some time ago, I picked up some sock yarns in lovely close colour succession.  The colours were wonderful reds and oranges and I was absolutely delighted to find them.  I had in mind a (ridiculously) elaborate project which never made it off the ground.  

I thought I would use the yarn to try a few things.  

The first thing I tried was to change the background from green to the varying red/orange and that wasn't the greatest idea for this collection.  Also, the orange stands out if given half an opportunity.  If it's in the middle, it's tame and blends nicely with its neighbours.  If it's on the outside, it's a rogue.  

The next thing I thought I would try was to play with the dimensions of the pattern, but by the time I'd done three 2-stitch-thick patterns (contrast to the swatches of my previous collection, which are 1-stitch-thick) I was not happy with the yarn and the experience and I just wanted to stop.  

The tiny sock yarn is fiddly to work with.  It is very slippery and does what it can to wriggle out at the edges.  I didn't enjoy knitting colour work with it, and that's a good lesson, too.  I know that superwash yarn has different characteristics while I'm knitting it than regular yarn has.  I know that it's likely to be splitty and problematic, but for some purposes (say, baby clothes) I think it's ideal.  It's not ideal for playing around under these circumstances.