I am not sure if you are just seeing/looking for what will work and what will not, - or looking for something in particular but not knowing what it is. . . kind of like "I will know it when I see it, but until then . . .
To me, that top OP photo does not look like what my mind says is an equally spaced 3 lobed knot. An equally spaced 3 lobed knot would probably have a semblance of a 3 string braided/plait.
Did you turn the 4 sided blank indiscriminately in relation to the triangle ends? Or make all cuts based on the triangle itself without altering the 4 sided blank's relation to the triangle?
OH - Did you alter the
angle of cut from one lobe to the next? Or
arbitrarily choose the entrance cut for each lobe? To me, this is where Kens suggestion of starting with a round blank might help.
SORRY, lots of questions here.
Further irrational thinking by me:
If I were looking for a non-rhythmic creative flow - yet with a semblance of attractiveness, I think would try a "multiples minus one" such as 6, 9 minus 1 lobe side; or 4, 6, 8 side guide minus 1 or 2 lobes. A 5 or 7 sided minus one lobe might look attractive.
A five or seven side guide - minus 1 lobe (lobe for each side except one) - will look OK, (in my thought processes), but not for a 4 or 3 lobed knot on them. I think it will come down to a mathematical figure as to what looks different but great with an odd number of lobes as opposed to sides.
A triangle end guide on a 6 sided will look good, but not on a 4 or 5 or 7 or 8 sided blank.
Conversely, a 6 sided end guide on a 3 sided blank or round blank will look good with one or two alternating lobes left off.
A five sided end guide will look good, but leave one lobe off for that odd look. It will have a bit of symmetry without being totally symmetrical. etc
Something is still missing in my thinking. In the end, when everything is rounded over, a rhythmic flow minus a side should be attractive enough, BUT then . . .