Polywog, or, partially frogged

Just over two years ed ago, the wonderful and venerable Bezzie started a little project known as KAYE: the Kootchie Awareness Yarn Extravaganza. As luck would have it, I happened to have my annual rootin' the very month she began this monthly drawing, and lo and behold, my name was drawn for that very first skein of yarn! Sadly, the yarn sat, untouched and unattended in my stash for quite some time. Fortunately, before I had chosen a destiny for that yarn, and before I had even balled up the hank of yarn, I discovered that the lovely sock yarn she had gifted me was, in fact, some of the notorious Mystical Creations yarn (Ravelry link). A little soak in a bowl of water, and the yarn bled Smurf blood, so I took my first adventure in dye setting armed with a plastic freezer bag, a large portion of vinegar and a microwave oven.

At last, the yarn was ready to be knit, and I decided that some brightly coloured baby legwarmers would be just the ticket. I got to knitting and...I didn't love them. I was nearly halfway done the first one, and I just didn't love what I was seeing. The fabric was lovely and soft, but the I just wasn't feeling the stripes. Thing is, I'm not partial to self-striping yarn most of the time, and these stripes just weren't doing it for me. Besides, Peanut already has two pairs of striped legwarmers: does she really need a third? Still, I pressed on, and decided to make the knees of the legs a little thicker, since the yarn is rather soft, and Peanut is extremely close to learning to crawl. I began a simple slip-stitch pattern on the knees and...



I adored the result! The yarn now, instead of striping, created a gently mottled fabric, not pooling, just delightfully flecked with colour and shade. The fabric was absolutely beautiful!

So I frogged it back to the ribbing and started again, knitting the leg entirely in the slip-stitch pattern. It's totally worth it. :)