Really Truly
Once in a while, I get a message from someone saying their hat or sock or mitt ended up a surprising size. I know how disappointing this can be, and I always feel bad for folks when this happens. I usually write back and ask if they got gauge when they swatched. Nine times out of ten, they didn't swatch. Now I know swatching can feel like a waste of time. I totally understand the urge to just start knitting. But all I can say is that the more I knit, the more I realize just how much time is [...]
Today’s Lesson
You know how all the instructions in every knitting book ever strongly encourage you to block your swatches? Yeah. I'm here to remind you of the same thing. This time with a demonstration. You see, I'm working on a little cowl. It's a lovely fabric, open without being lacy, structured without being stiff. I'm rather taken with it. The yarn was new to me (Handmaiden's Silk Twist), so of course I swatched. And because I'm lazy and only want to knit it once, I blocked my swatch. It's a good thing I did, because the swatch grew by about 50% [...]
Back On The Needles
The drought is over. After my unaccustomed knitting holiday, I finally got some yarn on the needles last night. Of course you will have to take my word for it, because what I knit was a swatch. Well actually a couple of swatches. More than that, they are swatches for a proposal for someone else's project. That means they must remain secret. That also means doing a real and proper swatch. A full on, knit it, *decide 'huh, that part would be better if I did this other thing,' rip it, reknit it with this new idea incorporated, repeat from [...]
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