Bothersom Bobbles

I was cranky and out of sorts all weekend. Now I have a headache, which hasn't improved my disposition at all. And I firmly believe all this knitting for other people, which is sooo out of character for me, is exacerbating the situation.
So I've abandoned all projects in favor of the Heart Harf. Well, except for Hubby's Sox Socks, which I retained for office knitting.

Seeking Balance
You see here more progress on the yellow prototype. I've also included the original green swatch for comparison.
I'm still not digging the bobbles.
Toward the top of the yellow version you can see another attempt to embed a bobble in between the hearts. I got it a good distance from the bottom one, but it is still crashing into the top one.
I'm having trouble getting a balanced number of rows above and below the bobble. I would even take "close enough" but that hasn't happened yet either.

Massive Alterations
My next attempt, which I didn't photograph, involved going back to the Lavold book to see if I can work the increases on the wrong side (ie back) of the work to try to gain some more rows.
I figured it out, but it caused a cascade effect shifting the pattern on multiple rows up since the increases actually take three rows to accomplish—a work even row sandwiched between two increase rows. I tried to increase on a wrong side row followed immediately by a right side increase and it didn't look good at all. Have to have that rest row.
However, changing which rows the increases happen on is starting to alter the original chart quite a bit and I'm not sure I liked the results.
I took these pictures late in the evening in the dining room. It was a wee bit dark, even with the chandelier cranked up. If the flash went off everything was washed out. Without the flash it was dark and detail was lost again. This is actually a dark picture that I lightened using the "enhance" feature in iPhoto.
So I really need to get a picture in daylight for you to get a better idea of how it looks.
I'm really starting to think I might ditch the bobbles and go back to the original, unaltered chart.

Red, Red Yarn
All of these consideration took on a new urgency over the weekend.
Remember how I mentioned that contest the other day?
And how whether or not I entered would depend on my ability to acquire the company's yarn?
Well, guess what.
This is Invernal from Aslan Trends in Scarlet/color 2979. It is a blend of Angora, Merino, and Polyamide. The angora makes it soft and fuzzy.
Happily, it should also work to the same gauge as Cascade 220, so once I get the prototype worked out I can just follow the same numbers.
Anyway. Now that I've sunk all this money into the yarn, I had damn well better enter the contest! Of course it will be even better if, ahem, I mean when, I win so I can recoup my investment. Haha!

Sock Club Update
Oh, phew, haha, I forgot that I was supposed to get the ball rolling in the secret Yahoo! Group. So I sent an e-mail yesterday fishing for compliments. People have been responding that they like the yarn and pattern very much, but most of them are working on other projects so they haven't cast on yet.
Phew! Guess I got myself all worked up for no reason. :-)