Swatching, boo I know, but...

I know the swatch is not fun and so many of us skip it. I however learned a valuable lesson this last week. Swatching is important, possibly even if it is just a shawl or a blanket.

Last week I shared with you that I was having problems with the bubble stitch from the Stephen West Bubble Shawl. It was because my gauge wasn't correct. I had to go down two needle sizes before my gauge was right and the bubbles were actually bubbling.

A couple of weeks ago I swatched for the test knit from Gina Baglia. My yarn was on order and I wanted to be able to cast on when it arrived, so I swatched using the same yarn, but in a different color way. Here are the THREE swatches I made.

I started with the needles called for in the pattern, it was too tight and I didn't like the drape of the fabric. So I went up one size, still too tight but the drape is better. The third swatch was it. The stitch gauge is almost perfect and blocking will help that and the row gauge is close enough. So for this design I had to go UP two needle sizes.

This experience made me think back to when I first started crocheting and my line of thinking about choosing a hook. I thought that all the patterns were written and crocheted to the same standards and that I will always need to go up one hook size to get gauge, which was often true, but... This experience shows how naïve I was.

Just from the info above swatching is a good idea to make sure the finished piece will fit. That texture stitches will show and behave as they are supposed to. So you know if you like the drape of the fabric. Is this the right yarn and needle/hook combination?

I mentioned my stitch gauge and my row gauge. So which one is more important? That depends on what you are making. I was swatching for a sweater who's directions indicate to knit until the piece is such and such inches long, not to a specific number of rows. The stitch count however is not fluid, so for this piece my stitch gauge is more important. If it were a color work piece both would be important and I would have to play with needle size and possibly my knitting method to make the gauge be what it needs to be.

To make a proper swatch, it should be 4" x 4", at least. It should be cast on and bound off in the method you will be using in the actual piece. It should then be blocked as the piece will be. This will tell you how this yarn is going to hold up to being a sweater, sock, shawl, piece of lace, if it blooms too much, too little or won't stretch the way you want it to. This can save a lot of heart ache and time down the road.

Swatching also shows the drape or lack thereof of the fabric. If it is too stiff go up a needle/hook size or two. To floppy, go down a couple. This will help you to decide if this is the right yarn for the project. It can also show you how the colors are going to play if you make a swatch using the stitch pattern. Many patterns include a gauge swatch to be worked in pattern. If not it is simple to figure one out. I have put an example on this PAGE.

Honestly I did not wash any of these swatches. As you can see I didn't even bind them off. I worked them with a frame and a couple of rows around the area I was interested in measuring. I didn't wash these swatches as I am familiar with the yarn and how it behaves. I know it will bloom a little when I block it the first time and will fill in any space between the stitches.

That's another advantage of swatches, they can tell you the story for a different project. Keep all the swatches you make or at least notes and pictures in case you decide to use the yarn in a different project, part of the work is already done.

Notes to keep with a swatch

Yarn weight

Fiber content

How much of it do you have

Needle/hook size

Number of stitches cast on

Number of rows worked

Pattern swatch is worked in

I keep my swatches in a baggy with left over yarn from the finished project in case of repairs. My swatch notes are kept in a note book. I keep the swatches of unfinished projects in a baggy until the project is either finished or ripped. I currently don't have any swatches other than these three because all the yarns I have been working with are familiar for the projects I have been making. My swatch for the Bubble Shawl was ripped out because I will need almost every bit of my yarn for the shawl. I always swatch for a sweater, no matter the yarn or the designer. Which is another thing, I have worked other Stephen West designs and gotten gauge no problem with the needles called for. So don't think that just because you were fine last time with this designer that you will be again, you might not...

Mom's shawl is finished but not blocked.  I lost the yarn chicken battle.  I have decided to use a different color to finish the top.  It will take almost 3 weeks to order and dye more yarn.  It is a light pink to go with the peach. I think it is nice.  It would have made a nice border but I'm about a year too late for that...

I can't wait to see if it is too big for the blocking table, which is 6' x 6'.  If it is I think I will figure out how to fold it into quarters and block it.  I am planning to give it to her on the 16th when we go out for Mother's Day.

I have decided that I am NOT a Portuguese knitter.  It is great for dishcloths for me to keep in practice but not for these mittens I want to make so they have been completely ripped out.

I will begin them again later this week.  I will practice the Annetarsia method of using 3 colors in the round so that I am ready when I get there.  For those wondering the yarn is Knit Picks Palette in Mist, French Lavender and Cosmopolitan.  The pattern is Calaveras Mittens by Jenny Penny.

I am learning not to settle when I don't have to.  For example I want a knitted, cabled hoodie.  I have a pattern for one, I just can't find it...  While looking for it I found a pattern for a cabled cardigan.  I took it down and thought "this'll do".  I looked it over and decided no, I want the other and I need to find the pattern and not settle for this.  Just like with the mittens, I want to do what is needed to get the desired end product.  I'm looking to apply that to others areas of life as well.  I'll let you know how that goes.

I tried casting on the Bubble shawl again and for some reason that just wasn't the day to do it.  I'll try again tomorrow.

I did finished another couple pairs of baby socks.

These are made using Hedgehog Fibres yarn in the Piggy Bank color way.

It was some that mom had left over after making a pair of adult socks.  She gave me all of her left over sock bits so that I can make these baby socks.  I have about 5 months worth of yarn now.

These are made from Leadingmen Fiber Arts Love You To Pieces color way on their mcn base.

I did start a new pair of socks this week.  They are idiot socks that I put together to work on during Avengers: End Game.  I made it 30 minutes into the 3 hour and 2 minute movie before I messed up enough that I couldn't fix it in the dark.

The yarn is Rockshelter Sock from Yarn Rehab in the Blacksmithing color way.  I really like the way they are coming out.  I nearly finished the leg yesterday during a large game of Magic the Gathering.  There were 7 of us at the table.

The test knits are moving right along.  I have cast on the third one and bound off the first one.  The 2nd is just about half way done.

The second on is being worked from 2 balls at the same time as you can see in the picture.  This is because while the skeins were dyed together, the color strike was very different on them.  Switching yarns every 2 rows makes the colors blend well together, where as working one skein through and then adding the other would make a lighter side and darker side.

I noticed this past week that I have really slacked on food pictures.  I think trying to get back in the swing of it all after surgery I just forgot.  I am cooking again and even canning.

Here is some salmon that I baked this past Friday.  It was just black pepper, crushed red peppers and some lime olive oil.  The black pepper is the Bourbon Barrel Black Pepper from Savory Spice Shop.

We made it into salmon tacos.

Here is some BBQ sauce I did last week as well.

I hope that Spring is good for you and that if you garden it grows well.

Happy stitching everyone!

Diligence and a New Adventure

One of my recent goals is to be more diligent and focused in all parts of my life, including my fiber arts. Because of that I am purposely setting time aside each week to work on new skills. Be that a new stitch or knitting method or even a new skill set completely such as weaving.

For this last week I have been working on weaving on my 4 harness loom. While I was at Interweave's Yarn Festival last month I had the opportunity to see a beautifully, fine woven piece. It was woven in fine silk thread. I want to weave better than I do now, not quite that fine and detailed but more than what I'm doing now. I didn't know where to start to learn to weave that way but I did know who to ask.

The keynote dinner where I saw this lovely piece of work was Friday night. As I said in my last post my husband and I stayed 3 nights in the same hotel as the festival. So as soon as the market opened on Saturday morning I went to see Redfish. Redfish Dyeworks is in California. I love her tiny little silk threads. I have knitted with them a couple of times and it takes forever to finish a project. Here is one. She weaves with them though. I want to too! She knows a bit about me and that I do have some weaving experience. I told her that I have only woven on a ridged heddle loom, but that I have a 4 harness sitting in my studio that I am scared of. She assured me that now is the time and that the 4 harness is the next step. I thanked her for her advice and walked over to Eugen Textile Center. 

At ETC they have a lot of books on weaving and they weave as well. ETC is in Oregon as you might expect. They are some of the most helpful people I have come across both in person and through email. Rob is the one who helped me that day and I explained what was going on and that a couple of days before I had bought a DVD from them about 4 harness looms. He said okay that is a good start but you're going to need a class. I told him that classes just aren't possible. It is around 100 miles to the yarn shop that teaches weaving on larger looms... Okay then you will need this book.

Boy was he right. I started the book about 2 weeks ago. It details everything so far. It has pictures and drawings to show you what she is talking about. I feel very confident that I will be able to tame my 4 harness beast by the end of the summer. The book is laid out in a way that you can work at your own pace. I'm stuck in the middle of lesson 2, warping. Not because I'm scared, which just a month ago I was, but because there is a piece missing on my loom and I have to wait for my hubby to make it. Then I will warp it. Here is my loom.

The pictures promised in the last post are here below. The first picture is of the March blanket that I stopped working on, because I was having an allergic reaction to the acrylic. I'm still on the fence but have almost decided to give all my acrylic away and not go back to it. We'll see.

These are the 3 mini skeins that I bought Leading Men Fiber Arts. They will become a pair of mitts.

Here is another picture of my minis from 100 Ravens.

This is the necklace and stitch markers that I bought from Stunning String Studio. I love them, especially the necklace, I can see having more than one...

 

This is the little shawl that I made from the minis that I had wound at the show. I added the crocheted picot edging. If I make this again, which is a good possibility, then I will start with a picot cast on. This design starts at the bottom and works up to the neck.  The pattern can be found here.

I want to talk about 2 projects before I share my new adventure with you.

I started these mittens a very long time ago. It is sort of sad. They have thus far been worked using the Portuguese knitting style. For me it is slow, even with one color, let alone two. I have knit and ripped and knit and ripped, I'm not sure how many times. I'm wanting the flower on the head to be in a third color is part of the problem. I read Franklin Habit's blog when he made Rosemond's Super Woman outfit and learned about this book.

After some reading and a bit of experimenting I thought I had it figured out. It got put away again and forgotten. When I picked it up last week I didn't like the way my "seam" looked and I found that I had missed some stitches in the color work on round one... So I ripped yet again.

I still haven't decided if I am going to continue working in the Portuguese style or if that is just something I need to cut off. I don't really have a "need" to work in that style. As a true left handed knitter, who tensions yarn in the left hand, my hands, and the rest of my body move very little to begin with. I know enough of the Portuguese style to teach basics and get someone going and then know resources to refer them to for further instruction. I'm not sure yet. I do know that I want these mittens for next winter, it's time to get them off the needles!

The other project is the one where the yarn was pictured with my new project bag in the last post...

It is my Make It With Wool 2019 project. I chose the Bubble Shawl by Stephen West. I am using yarn from Leading Men Fiber Arts. 2 hanks of the Nevermore color way in Soliloquy and one in the All the Way to the Bank color way. I am pleased with my yarn choice.

Glory and I cast on our MIWW projects next to the fire pit in Southlands Mall in Aurora, Colorado on April 19, 2019. You can see her progress on her Ravelry page user name is NijahG. Or watch my InstaGram posts, Azariahs1982.

I cast on, on a US size 5 and was doing well. I reached the bubble stitch and it wasn't bubbling. I tried a couple of different things to make it bubble better and it just wasn't working. I messaged Stephen West through Ravelry and asked if there was a video. I got a reply that there is and that often gauge is not tight enough to get the stitches to behave. I watched the video and actually thought that mine was too tight. When I got home, pulled it out and tried again being careful to drop the ladders correctly. Still no change.

I took the first 30 stitches and did a gauge swatch. My knitting was too loose. This is why swatching should happen, even for a shawl. This would have told me that the texture wasn't going to work. For how loose it was I decided to go down two needle sizes to a US size 3. This is what I got.

I am very pleased with how it looks. It has bubbles! I am looking forward to casting it on again soon.

Now for my new adventure! I am test knitting now. I have made, written and published about a dozen of my own designs, but this year other people's designs are catching my eye and I am test knitting 3 of them right now. These are for indie designers like me. All three of whom I learned about on IG. I love IG! I will tell you about the m in the order I am doing them.

First is the All Things Spring Shawl from Annie Lupton. She is bohochicfiberarts on IG. This is a 3 color shawl, worked in sock weight yarn. It begins with a garter stitch tab at the neck and works to the point. There are flowers that will be embroidered on after blocking. I used Knit Picks Stroll sock yarn. Dove gray, pea pod and the purple I dyed.

Next is the Mauve and Dangerous wrap from Wendelika Cline. She is littlewoollythings on IG. This is a neat wrap also made using sock weight yarn. I dyed Knit Picks Stroll bare in my newest color way, which still remains nameless at the moment. There is a cable along the length of the wrap and a ruffle. I will learn to make pipa knots from I-cord and attach them to the beginning and ending points.

Third and final for the moment, until I finish one, is the Creu Sweater from Gina Baglia. She is inorgaknits on IG. This sweater is made from the bottom up, new to me, with raglan sleeves and a somewhat open neck. It is knit from worsted weight yarn. I chose Knit Picks Palette in worsted as I am familiar with this yarn and didn't want any surprises for my test knit. I chose the onyx colorway as it will go with anything. The sweater has some eyelets along the bottom and a large cable cross in the back. That's pretty much it so nothing to get lost in the darker colorway I chose.

I am loving the test knits and looking forward to doing more and getting to know some other designers.

Happy stitching everyone!