Swatching

Swatching is one of the most fun parts of a new knitting or crochet project for me because I love testing different combinations of yarn, stitches, needles and even blocking methods (all of which can have a huge impact on a finished knitting project). 

If you've been reading my blog for a while you may have noticed that I often try out new stitches in a solid, light-colored yarn in order to compare and contrast them. The yarn I used in the photo is a basic fingering weight wool as I've been swatching stitch combinations for a new pattern for fingering weight yarn.

Once I settle on a few stitch favorites, I swatch them again in the yarn I'm considering for the design. And for every project, I always block the swatches in the same way I plan to block the project. 

Now I have piles of swatches and (being a thrifty person who hates to throw out something useful) I need to come up with an idea to put them all to good use.

Thanks for stopping by today, happy swatching!

Blueprint for Knitting

Since about the middle of last October our life around here has been frantic at best. Both knitting-wise and personal life-wise things were cranked up to boiling level and continued so through the holidays and until the end of this week when all of my previous knitting projects and a stint on jury duty were finally concluded. 

 

Since the first of the year, I've bound off the back of my gray hoodie, swatched a huge batch of stitch patterns (I love swatching), and begun another new pattern project - one that was really easy to pick up and put down during aforementioned jury duty and that, in light-weight yarn, would last a while. I'll try to get some photos and post more about it soon. 

We've finally received enough snow to matter here, and I can call this weird season Winter. I'm  hoping we'll soon have enough snow that I can try out the snowshoes I received as a Christmas gift. 

Our climate, although not fabulous, is nice and in the temperate range. We usually only receive a few weeks of extremely cold or hot weather through the year. But along with much of the US, we've been experiencing even milder than normal conditions, which was fine with me considering all the running around we've been doing.

Now that life's a teensy bit calmer, I'm taking time to chill out, knit some fun projects and clean house. And, um, I haven't yet packed up the Christmas things... But hey, it's 2012 and I'm excited about the possibilities the year holds!

This guest-blogger post from the Designsponge.com blog suggested a 'blueprint' strategy to get organized for the new year. 

I am using this idea, rather than traditional resolutions, as my outline for what I'd like to accomplish in 2012. 

One of the things I plan to do right away is hold another giveaway, so check back in the next week or two for details on that (I just need to photograph the loot), it's going to be a good one!

I can't wait to move on to to more of the things on my checklist - I'll be sharing a lot of them here throughout the year - and I'd love to know what knitting or craft-related goals YOU would like to achieve this year. As always, I really love to read your comments. 

Peace, blessing and happy knitting to you!

Seasons of Knitting

Can it possibly be September already?  Wasn't it just New Year's Day?

I can't say I have kept up with my 2011 New Year's goals of monthly crocheting and weekly spinning (although I have done both more or less regularly this year).    

One New Year's goal, that I have accomplished, however, was to adapt and create a few knitting stitch patterns, in the sense that I have not seen these stitches published in this precise fashion anywhere yet. Of course as EZ said (sort of), is there really anything new in knitting?  I like her notion of "unventing."

The photo at the top of this post shows some of my work in a favorite swatching wool, Cascade 220.  The photo below, from my last post, shows a stack of swatches.

Of course, that's all I can show for now, the details are under wraps until the patterns are ready to be test knit and published.

This inspired some of my swatching. 

 
As did this.

Today, September 1st, marks the first day of meteorological autumn, and the signs of the season are already making an appearance.  

If you're in the Midwest, mark your calendars for a fun fall experience - A Wool Gathering, Sept. 17-18, in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

With the coming of fall I turn my thoughts to what to gift knit this year.  I plan to do a few knit/ crochet/ handspun items for deserving people (those that comprehend the amount of time and love a handmade gift requires), including home decor projects made from squares based on my Northwoods Coasters pattern for Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2011 issue.  More details on that pattern in an upcoming post.

I also have in mind some new designs that would make ideal gifts, so those'll be put together for publication soon I think.  It will be the holidays - and New Year's - before we know it!

Imagine the Possibilities

 

"Imagination is 

the beginning of creation.  

You imagine what 
you desire, 

you will what you imagine 

and at last you create 

what you will."

- George Bernard Shaw

Swatching!

  
Swatching.  A word that inspires many knitters to run and hide.

Many of us find knitting a gauge swatch tedious, boring, or unworthy of our precious knitting time.  But it so often pains me to see people's projects end in frustration and frogging, or at best, in ill-fitting garments that might have been saved by a 30 minute swatch session.

Not only does knitting and properly blocking a swatch give you a stitch count per inch, it allows you to see and feel the knitted fabric, which is very often different from how the yarn feels and looks in the skein, and even from how it feels upon first knitting it.

This is not to say I love to swatch, but I've learned to enjoy/ endure it as part of the creative process as a whole, along with choosing yarn and stitches, doing the actual knitting,  finishing and blocking.  


For the past couple of weeks I've been trying to squeak in a few minutes every day to work several rows of various stitch patterns for a new cardigan.  I have more stitch patterns and ideas than I can possibly execute at the moment, so I want to try out some of my ideas in a swatch before knitting and ripping out over and over if I don't like it.

Sometimes when I'm deciding between many stitches, I like to work them (if not in project yarn, then in yarn of the same weight and similar fiber content as my project) one after the other, in a continuous length so that in the end I have a finished sampler scarf, like this one which took two skeins of Patons Classic Wool.

I cast on for several pattern repeats in width, adding between 3 and 7 edge stitches on each side, and then several repeats in length until I decide whether I like it or not.

If I like it, I put the scarf on hold until I need to try another stitch or have a bit of time to finish it.  If I don't love the current stitch, I usually just begin knitting a new one on the next right side row, or sometimes work several rows of garter stitch as a separation.  Edge stitch numbers are adjusted up or down a few stitches as necessary.  Usually I try also to align stitches so that purls, ribs, etc. match at least a little if possible.

The long lengths allow me to see a nice size swatch of the stitch, how different border or small patterns work with it, and get a better feel for the hand and drape of the knitted fabric.  If I need to adjust needle size, I do this then knit some more.  Some scarves I keep, others are donated to a local food and clothing pantry we support. 

It admittedly takes much longer to knit a scarf than a small square, so I usually reserve the large scarf/swatches only for very special projects or a pattern design.

If I'm planning a project in cotton, linen or other plant fiber, I'll often work out my stitch patterns first in plain cotton to make fast, new dishcloths.

I try to encourage myself to swatch by reminding myself that even small swatches, saved over time, can be turned into something useful.

There are, of course, Elizabeth Zimmerman's swatch hats. I've also seen folks on Ravelry stitch several small swatches together into patchwork scarves or cowls.  Swatches could perhaps be stitched into a small quilt or throw.  I've felted wool swatch squares then cut them into smaller pieces to pad the bottom of chair legs, or the back of picture frames to prevent scratches on floors and walls. Maybe some of you out there can suggest other creative ways to use swatches.

Once I have a couple of stitch favorites, I swatch them again as smaller, proper squares in the actual project yarn, to make sure I have the correct needle size.

That is what I am doing with this one in Elann's Peruvian Sierra Aran wool/ alpaca blend for my new cardigan.

Pretty examples that don't end up being used for current projects, but I don't want to part with just yet, I tag with stitch names, the book I found them in, or the actual graphed stitch.

Yes, this is partly why I am not a prolific knitter.  And, OK, so maybe I'm a teensy bit overly careful (or picky), but I only occasionally need to frog an entire project.  Perhaps some of this is due to my long swatching selection process.  That, or maybe I am just picky and extremely lucky.