6 reasons to swatch
We all know that we should swatch before every project. But most of us don’t. Myself included.
Swatching is a tool, just like needles, rulers and books, and not every tool needs to be in every project.
But if I have a question, swatching is usually one of the fastest ways to find the answer. (It’s certainly faster than finishing a whole project.)
I swatch…
- … to figure out how large a piece will be.
- … to see how the final fabric will feel.
- … to clarify a design.
- … to have a record of an idea I don’t have time for at the moment.
- … to try out a color combination.
- … to learn a new technique.
And maybe most importantly I swatch to play. I see swatching as a place to experiment and try new things out with no strings attached.
There are certainly “best practices” when it comes to swatching, but there’s no wrong way to swatch, just plenty of right ways.
This is a snip-it from a larger article in Shawls to Play With, which has 4 patterns and 5 articles all focused around playing and experimenting with your knitting.
Playing With Construction
This is a small excerpt from Shawls to Play With, the shawl collection I’m working on. There are four shawls in the collection (named Gratia, Xylia, Yuki, and Idril) all of which are designed around elegant simplicity.
PLAYING WITH CONSTRUCTION
The shawls in this collection are all variations on traditionally shaped, knit in the round, shawls. The traditional shawl shapes being, the wedge circle, the concentric circle, the pi circle, and the center out square.
Gratia is a variation on the concentric circle, Xylia on the wedge circle, Yuki on the center out square, and Idril is a variation that falls somewhere between the concentric circle and the wedge circle.
Why are there multiple ways to knit a flat piece of fabric in the round?
Because all circular shawls are simply variations on each other.
They all follow the same ratio of stitches increased to rounds worked, 8 stitches increased on every other round, but each shape has the increases arranged in a slightly different configuration.
For the shawls in this collection, I took those traditional increase placements, and the ratio of stitches increased to rounds worked, and played with them.
This is an excerpt from Shawls to Play With, which, with a bit of luck, will be making it’s first appearance later this week.
Knitting From Both Ends of a Skein
The pattern collection I’m putting together at the moment has three patterns that call for holding multiple strands of yarn together. Sometimes the best way to work multiple strands of yarn together is to work using both ends of one skein of yarn. There are a couple methods for knitting from both ends of a skein of yarn.
With a CENTER PULL BALL
The first is to wind the skein into a center pull ball and hold the end of yarn on the outside of the ball together with the end of yarn at the inside of the ball. Winding a skein of yarn is often done with a ball winder, but you can also use a Nostepinne, (or replace the Nostepinne with a knitting needle, dowel, pencil, even a bottle of sunscreen.)
with TWO SEPARATE BALLS
The second is to split the skein of yarn into two balls, and work holding the end of each ball together. The tricky part about this method is getting the two balls of yarn to have the same amount of yardage. Generally the best way to do this is by weight.
Take the ball band off your skein of yarn and measure your skein. I just use a basic kitchen scale that I liberated from the kitchen and now only use for yarn.
If your skein doesn’t fit on your scale you can use a basket or bowl to hold it, but be sure not to include the weight of the basket in the weight of your skein.
If your scale includes a “tare” button, set your basket on you scale, and press “tare” this will zero out the weight already on your scale (the basket) and just weight your yarn.
If your scale doesn’t include a “tare” button, set your basket on your scale and make a note of it’s weight, then subtract the weight of your basket from the weight of your basket plus your skein of yarn.
Then divide the total weight of your skein in half.
Wind a ball, measuring it’s weight periodically, and stopping when it reaches half the weight of your original skein.
Break the yarn and then wind the second half of your skein into the second ball.
Then simply knit holding the end of each ball together.
I prefer using a center pull ball, but knowing how to split a skein into to equal balls is certainly useful, especially for knitting pairs of things, (like mittens or socks).
