Workin' on New Stuff

I've been working on a new design–my first garment idea. Well, hardly my first garment idea, more like the first one that I came up with a stitch pattern for that I could actually execute. I was making a shawl that was basically a series of loops made of chains, and shaped like a triangle. I realized that if you let the loops hang straight down (as opposed to at an angle, as in the wrap) they form holes that looked like little squares. So I figured out how to adapt the stitch pattern to form a rectangle-shaped piece instead of a triangle, and made three panels of a vest (back and two fronts). It came out okay considering it was my first attempt at sizing and shaping but it needs tweaking. My original idea was to make a beach wrap sort of thing, but I'm not even sure it's going to stay a vest. For one thing, it's too baggy and shapeless. And probably too long. I could fix that, but then it wouldn't cover enough to be a beach wrap. It might just have to go the cardigan route, we'll see.

I used Sensations Boucle yarn for the prototype (green), and it's very forgiving because it hides my seams and the colors change so nicely it would probably make anything look good. I made another swatch in Sensations Sublime (blue), but may not be able to do anything more with that because I'm going to run out and I can't find any more. And the whole concept of this garment needs a re-think. But I like the stitch pattern even though it is plain. Something about the squares intrigues me. I'd like to figure out how to make different sizes of squares in the same panel, or add some kind of embellishment that will make the whole idea "pop." It'll come to me...