Live And Let Dye

So there I was, wondering why this yarn that I'm crazy in love with only comes in such limited colors when I remembered:  This is why God gave us Kool-Aid!

After a 90-day (give or take) hiatus from colorwork, I have decided that it's time to return to the Mother Ship.  I've been invited to appear on Knitting Daily TV, and heaven knows I don't need a better excuse than that to make a new sweater.  I also have been asked by my editor to provide some swatches and photos for the illustrator to use.  Since I'm not much of a sketcher,
 
Phillip: "Oh, that's a cute unicorn." 
Me: "It's a horse."
Not kidding.  This was last night.
 
I decided photos would be the way to go.  I'll take pictures in progress of all the techniques the illustrator needs to see, and I get a sweater at the end!  What could possibly go  wrong?  Of course, the deadline for this little project is completely unreasonable, but I wouldn't know how to live otherwise.  Care to join me as I play Beat-The-Clock (again)?  I have until 01-23 to provide all 30 photos.  And do a bunch of rewrites, too.  Did I mention there seems to be a lot of WRITING in this book-writing gig? Strange how it keeps coming up.

But back to the yarn:  I started off with yarn in red, pink and cream.  Knowing that would never be enough color variety, I dove into the trusty Kool-Aid stash and pulled out my favorites: Berry Blue, Grape, Lemon-Lime and orange.  The colors are so clear and gumdroppy - just the kind of naive, folk-art look I need as a jumping off point from this:

I know - How kitsch can you get?  I SO love the Swedish Dala Horse.  When I asked myself what I could do with Red and White, this is the first thing I thought of.  So this will be my Dala Horse sweater.  I'll make notes as I go, in case anybody wants me to write a pattern for this someday.  The chart in the first picture is only the lower border - the really red and white business will come after that.  Wait till you see it!  The whole thing makes me want to buy a Volvo and drive it to Ikea.