Swatches are fun, maybe.
I Knit a swatch.
That isn’t really a note worthy feat for most but for me it is a gigantic leap in new direction of knitting.
I have never been one to care much for gauge. Not that I didn’t think it was important, I just didn’t want to be bothered. Up until now I have mainly worked on projects where gauge was not really all that crucial. If that scarf was a little wider or longer, no big deal. If that teddy bear I knit was three times bigger than what the designer intended, all the better for the recipient to hug. I lived in a gauge less world and I was happy.
But today I found myself sketching and really wanting to start on one of the many sweaters I have designed on paper. I have never knit one on real life but I have hundreds in my sketchbooks. Which brought me to the realization that if I wanted to make the sweater actually fit me I was going to have to not only knit a swatch but several swatches of different stitch patterns I wanted to use.
Again to most people that is completely normal, to me it has always seemed like wasted time. I am an impatient person. The only projects that I have successfully finished are ones knit with bulky yarn and large needles and took less than a week to finish. I want results and I want them now. Not the best attitude for a knitter. Today I realized that it wasn’t only about the finish piece it was also about the process and knitting a sweater just seemed to be the most natural thing in the world.
It is going to be a sweater vest, my current obsession of the fall. I bought 3 skeins of Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran in a dark blue-green with bright green and bright blue flecks through out. I cast on around 2pm, and currently after the swatch I have about 1 inch of the bottom ribbing completed for the front piece and I feel fabulous about it. Normally if I cast on around 2pm I would expect to be about 3/4 finished with whatever I started by time I went to bed. I told you I am an impatient person. I will post pictures of my progress and we will see if I can leave the world of speed knitting behind and get behind this project for the long haul.
Only time will tell=>
McK-
That isn’t really a note worthy feat for most but for me it is a gigantic leap in new direction of knitting.
I have never been one to care much for gauge. Not that I didn’t think it was important, I just didn’t want to be bothered. Up until now I have mainly worked on projects where gauge was not really all that crucial. If that scarf was a little wider or longer, no big deal. If that teddy bear I knit was three times bigger than what the designer intended, all the better for the recipient to hug. I lived in a gauge less world and I was happy.
But today I found myself sketching and really wanting to start on one of the many sweaters I have designed on paper. I have never knit one on real life but I have hundreds in my sketchbooks. Which brought me to the realization that if I wanted to make the sweater actually fit me I was going to have to not only knit a swatch but several swatches of different stitch patterns I wanted to use.
Again to most people that is completely normal, to me it has always seemed like wasted time. I am an impatient person. The only projects that I have successfully finished are ones knit with bulky yarn and large needles and took less than a week to finish. I want results and I want them now. Not the best attitude for a knitter. Today I realized that it wasn’t only about the finish piece it was also about the process and knitting a sweater just seemed to be the most natural thing in the world.
It is going to be a sweater vest, my current obsession of the fall. I bought 3 skeins of Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran in a dark blue-green with bright green and bright blue flecks through out. I cast on around 2pm, and currently after the swatch I have about 1 inch of the bottom ribbing completed for the front piece and I feel fabulous about it. Normally if I cast on around 2pm I would expect to be about 3/4 finished with whatever I started by time I went to bed. I told you I am an impatient person. I will post pictures of my progress and we will see if I can leave the world of speed knitting behind and get behind this project for the long haul.
Only time will tell=>
McK-
posted by Mary McK- at
10/29/2006 11:28:00 PM
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