Pineapple Frustration

A lot of people ask me how I come up with the ideas for my designs. Actually, that is the easy part. I have notebooks full of ideas for things I want to make; I would probably have to crochet for a couple of lifetimes to make them all. And really, even that wouldn't even be enough time, because it seems like every thing I make gives me idea for another design or two.

What is hard, is turning those ideas into actual items. I have been designing for a long time, and have worked hard at learning my craft. So, usually, by the time I start a design, I have been thinking about it for a while, and I know exactly what I am going to do to get it from the idea stage to the finished item stage. Sometimes there are small adjustments I need to make, but usually things go pretty smoothly.
But every now and then, there is a design that just won't cooperate. And maybe because I am used to having things go the way I want them too, whenever I run into one of these ornery designs now days, it just makes me crazy!

And boy, have I run into one now.

Ever since I started the thread potholder and hot pad set (yes, I am still working on it), I have known I wanted to include some kind of pineapple design in it (I love pineapples!) The set is almost finished now, and there is still not a single pineapple anywhere in it. Looking at all the finished items together, I thought it would be really cool to do a square potholder, with a pineapple design front over a solid background. Good plan, right?

But somehow, the square pineapple ideas are just not flowing. I have made several, and ripped them all out when I get close to the last round. I spent all Friday afternoon and a good part of Saturday on this:

Which is okay, I guess, but it is just not right, somehow. I have tried starting with a rose in the center, but I didn't like that. I tried chain spaces in the corners, and little fan looking things, but nothing has looked right.

There comes a point in some designs where I get so frustrated that I can't do anything right, and nothing makes me happy. It makes my head hurt to think about it anymore. When I get to that point, I know it is time to just put it aside and work on something else. But this is the third time I have had to put this idea aside.

Anyway, yesterday afternoon, I didn't think about pineapples, and instead made a cute little granny square potholder:Which cooperated quite nicely (it is the green one at the top- and wow, that picture is bright, the colors are not so neon-like in real life). It went so smoothly, it made me happy!

So, what I have to figure out is this: do I keep trying for a pineapple square, or give up and do something else? Maybe a single big pineapple made with two strand of thread? I don't know, but I hope something comes to me soon.