Still Swatching

Last night was all about swatching. I am on my third version of woven and figure on attempting one more version before making a decision. So far we have, from bottom to top, the basic pattern but using the ??? yarn for the main vertical elements and the Jacob is knit in garter stitch resulting in raised horizontal bars for it. The middle piece has those two reversed -- the ??? is worked in garter and is now the horizontal element. The top piece is worked in stockinette and the color choices are the same as for the bottom.

I know, I need at least one more pattern repeat on the top swatch to see if I like the flatish effect -- there will be some 3-D because of the puckering caused by the mosaic stitch which is what I want. The fourth piece will be also in stockinette but with the colors reversed.

So far I am favoring the bottom coloration and have not decided on the flat vs garter effect. I may try another variation in all garter but I think the mosaic will look wonky. My goal (HA!) is to finish the swatch tonight and give it a nice bath and gentle blocking to see if I like ANY of them. The idea is a basic sweater for jeans -- a house sweater -- so simple is good.

(Now that I have looked at the photo I think I like the first swatch the best so far -- the garter bars of the darker Jacob seem to make the color differences more distinct -- the flatter version on top looks more washed out.)

And now, for your viewing pleasure, a cute (to me) picture of two of our 3 turtles. On the left is Gym and on the right is Natasha (both male). Natasha is a border turtle, his owner (Boris) is in Sweden working on his Masters degree. Apparently it was too difficult to take Natasha so we are turtle sitting for a few years. Our third turtle, Sparky, is in Female child's room. We keep her segregated from the male turtles, not really wanting little turtles.
If anyone knows what kind of turtle Natasha is, could you please let me know? We really can't figure it out -- he might be a snake-neck. Gym is a red-eared slider.