Cream Afghan Progress

I have not posted about this afghan project, but it is one I have been working on since May 2011.  I knew I liked Barbara Walker's "Drooping Elm Leaf" knitting pattern, but I couldn't find another to use with it as well as patterns for the other panels.  As usual, I wonder why I am taking so long deciding how to do this afghan, but I do not want to start knitting it until I am sure I am happy with my design.

I have spent many hours reading and swatching various patterns in my stitch books as well as books from the library.  I believe I have zeroed in on four: "Drooping Leaf" and "Tanbark" for three panels and "Leaves of Grass" and "Wildflower Knot" for two panels.  I plan on using "Slipstitch Ribbing" for the dividers, but will purl through the back loop on the purl side to tighten it a bit-hope that works.

Drooping Leaf

Here is the leaf.  It will look better when it is knit in the cream Encore.  I love the size and proportion of this pattern.

Tanbark

 Here is Tanbark!  I like the diagonal overall pattern of it.  It is much smaller than all the trellis patterns I swatched with the leaf and, as a result, it doesn't overwhelm the leaf.  I almost missed this pattern as it was tucked away in the back of Walker's Charted Knitting Designs and I didn't notice she had others back there that are not charted.

Leaf and Bark

I swatched the "Drooping Leaf" and "Tanbark" to see if I liked the two together.  Here are the two together.  My accomplishment for the day.

The panel could be leaf-bark-leaf or bark-leaf-bark or bark-leaf-leaf-bark.  I am leaning towards the first one which would place the leaves next to the wildflower knot on the adjoining panel.  We'll see.

Still to do are swatches for the other panel together, design plan, math calculations and pattern writing so I can actually follow it while I knit.  I don't actually "wonder ????" why I do this instead of following a purchased pattern.  I look but never find a pattern that appeals to me,  so I have to come up with one of my own.  An afghan requires many hours to knit and I have to be satisfied with this design as I was with the last two I knit.