knitting | Should I frog or keep going

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knitting

I cast on a new pair on Monday, using some rather nifty Fortissima Socka yarn in one of the Mexiko colorways. But for some reason the balls hadn't been put up in the same direction, so the color changes are going in opposite directions on each sock...

which would normally be the time when I frogged them both and rewound the balls so that they were going in the same direction.

But I'm making Biological Clock socks from An Eclectic Sole and I kind of like the idea that the colors are anti-parallel.

And I really need to get an image editor -- the one on Flickr isn't up to snuff. Any suggestions for an inexpesive program (or freeware)?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

wyomingnot

You should totally keep going. No frogging.

As for image editor. Have you tried Irfanview? Pretty basic, but is small and free.

From:

gblvr

Keep going -- they look cool upside down like that....

(Edit for spelling.)

Edited Date: 2009-04-23 01:52 am (UTC)

From:

neotoma

The colors are a lot more noticeably reversed in real life. This picture doesn't do it justice.

You're the second person to suggest Irfanview. I think I will try it. Thank you.

From:

aquaeri

As a biologist, I say antiparallel is definitely the way to go for biological clock socks.

From:

neotoma

Yeah, that's what I realized after I suspected that the balls had been wound from opposite ends. I just didn't know whether I'd be unbearably geeky for using *that* as a justification not to frog.

From:

gloss

I think it's *awesome* that the colors are reversed.

From:

neotoma

I'm kind of surprised at how people are liking the reversed color order. It still might end up looking dorky, though.

From:

marginalia

me too (which you are not surprised by, i'm sure, since you know how many socks i made not match on purpose :) )

From:

aquaeri

I think it'd be unbearable if you tried to claim you planned them to be antiparallel when you didn't. But I often find myself saying something like "this is a bit different than I intended but still appropriate, so I kept it" - it often personalises what I'm creating. I definitely think happy accidents have a place in creativity.

And I don't think you should apologise for your liking for antiparallel biology. Mind you, I have spent most of my life refusing to apologise for my belief that mathematics (one of my strongest subjects) and crafts such as knitting have a much more interesting relationship than most people believe. So I am quite possibly considered unbearably geeky by many other people. But I don't think humanity can function if we're all identical, and so as long as some people like who I am, I have no need to appear "normal". Plenty of other people can do a much better job of that than I can ;-).

From:

rainkatt

I love the way they look as is!!

From:

neotoma

That does seem to be the consensus. Oh well, save me from having to redo the toes.

From:

piranha

it's not unbearably geeky, it's totally appropriately geeky. :)

From:

persimmonfrost

I sort of like it this way, but then I'm Asymmetrical Girl.

From:

those look fantastic as-is, and I like the idea of opposite socks. :)

From:

cesy

Maths and knitting are fun. *subscribes to you*

From:

dreamingpixels

I second (or maybe third?) IrfanView as well. I've been using it on my Windows computer for about 9 years now.

From:

neotoma

Everyone agrees with you. So I think I'll just keep going.

From:

neotoma

Thanks... and 'opposite socks' would be an interesting pattern to try to write for Noro, don't you think?

From:

nanceoir

It depends on what you want to do in your image editor. If you want to just do basic stuff, Irfanview's probably a good choice. If you want to start messing with layers and adding fun stuff, Paint.NET is a good start. It's free and built off of Microsoft's .NET framework. There are some effects in it, as well as being able to draw and make adjustments.

If you're looking for some major image editing stuff (or you can't use .NET stuff), something with a lot of the same functionality that a paid program like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro has, then you should definitely check out The GIMP. It's got loads of features, it's free and open source, and it's available for many platforms. This is particularly good if you're looking to do more creative-type images (icons and such). I'm particularly fond of the GIMPshop mod (also free), which makes the user interface more Photoshop0-like, but that's because I've used Photoshop for years.

Sorry, that was a lot; I used to run something of a Photoshop class, and I provided some information about Photoshop alternatives. But, I figure it's good information for you (and others) to see. Just in case. :)

From:

persimmonfrost

Well the cool thing about knitting and crocheting is that if you REALLYREALLY hate it once you're done, it's still undo-able.

From:

marginalia

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/noro-stripey-socks/people :)

From:

iamshadow

GIMP is the one I've got, but I haven't had a chance to use it that much yet. Looks like it's good, though. I've read that the GIMPshop mod doesn't play as nicely with newer GIMP releases, though, so you might want to be careful if you decide to add it on. I've read user comments about program instability caused by it (hence why I just chose to leave GIMP as it was).

From:

aquaeri

Hi! Nice to meet you. It seems to be a strength of DW currently that it's so small we can meet some new people as well (I'm mainly subscribing to my LJ friends transferring). I have a fairly major crochet and maths project I should get back to and why not now?

From:

surpluscat

I haven't used it much since I have Photoshop but Google's Picasa is supposed to be pretty good.

From:

blitheandbonny

I'm ever so late in commenting but I'll drop my .02 in anyway - personally I prefer mismatched socks. I've never knit a matching pair. This can probably be attributed to the fact that I'm lazy and bore easily and once I'm done with one sock, I'd rather move on to a new project.

As to photo editing - I've got to go with the GIMP.

From:

sporky_rat

....There is no such thing as 'unbearably geeky' when it comes to biology. Just...no way.

From:

neotoma

I tried using it once, and it tried to yank all of my pictures into itself in ways that made it hard for me to find stuff. Maybe I'll give it another whirl, but I don't know that I need an organizer.

From:

jumpuphigh

I use this program cause I've been to lazy to search out something else. However, I don't recommend it as it overwrites your original photos with any changes you make and I haven't been able to figure out how to stop it from doing that. I make a copy and that becomes my master copy cause it still overwrites the original. *facepalm*