The Element of Surprise

Sometimes when I'm about to start a new knitting project, I skim the pattern to get a sense of how everything comes together.  Some designers are really clever, and I'm often amazed at their construction concepts.  By reading through the pattern ahead of time, I have a better grasp of what's coming down the knitting pike.  It's like reading the end of a book before you actually get there.  It takes the element of surprise out of the equation, but it prepares you for what's coming.

Sometimes I'm curious how everything comes together, but I don't read ahead.  I want to be surprised.  When you think about it, knitting requires a certain amount of faith that it will all work out and that your finished garment will, at the very least, faintly resemble the one pictured in the pattern.  We won't discuss how pattern errata can lead you astray.  That's a discussion for a different day.

My strategy with Itineris was one of blind faith.  There are stripes all over the place with some twists and turns that create stripes at right angles.  I thought of reading ahead but decided to sit back, enjoy the ride and hope that everything would work out in the end.  So far, so good.

I turned the corner.

Now I'm striping in the other direction with a new set of stitches and incorporating the old stitches as I go.  Yes, I'm curious how this will all come together.  No, I haven't read the ending.