Gauge swatches
I'm not going to bother to tell you how to prepare and use a gauge swatch. This information is easily available elsewhere, including on some of the links I've given in previous posts. If you want to know more, there is a great article on Knitty about 'swatching'. Knitty is a pretty good resource I haven't mentioned before, I should probably do a post on it in the future.
I'm not going to do a post on the importance of gauge swatches and how you should always start by preparing one before every project, unless you've already got one from a similar project before, of course, because, again, you must have heard or read this one before.
I'm just going to make a very short post emphasizing important information that you can read in the Knitty's article, but curiously enough, it is often not mentioned in other sources like books, tutorials, etc. And believe me, I've learned it the hard way. So here we go:
I can tell you of another reason to swatch. A perfectly beautiful stitch you see in a photograph may not look as good in real life. This is particular true if you're using a different yarn with a different colour. Instead of casting on a large number of stitches and discovering after several long rows that you don't like the look of that stitch, you can do a small swatch and save yourself some hours of work. This has happened to me.
I'm not going to do a post on the importance of gauge swatches and how you should always start by preparing one before every project, unless you've already got one from a similar project before, of course, because, again, you must have heard or read this one before.
I'm just going to make a very short post emphasizing important information that you can read in the Knitty's article, but curiously enough, it is often not mentioned in other sources like books, tutorials, etc. And believe me, I've learned it the hard way. So here we go:
- Always prepare your swatch in the same stitches you'll use in your project. If you'll be doing something 'complicated' and are lazy about doing a swatch with cables or fair-isle, for example, be warned: cables and fair-isle are a good example of the need to swatch in pattern, because they always have a completely different tension than regular stockinette stitch. Fair-isle in particular is considerable more tense (more stitches per inch/centimetre) than regular knitting.
- Always wash and block, and generally treat your swatch the same way as you'd treat the piece you'll be knitting. I learned this the hard way when a cowl I knitted turned out to increase by 50% after washing. Yes, that is 50% and that is a lot. Had it been a hat I wouldn't have been able to keep it in my head while nodding. Thank god it was a cowl, no harm done really, I can now comfortably wrap it twice around my neck.
- Even after taking the above precautions be prepared to discover that the piece will still stretch and change with wear. Yes, that is unfortunate and impossible to predict, but it is unavoidable. Some yarns are more problematic, I hear cotton can be quite tricky. A rule of thumb is that the larger the piece the bigger this problem is. There is a simple reason: it is mostly its weight that will make it stretch with use. So this is a problem with sweaters and larger items. To be on the safe side don't cheat when 'swatching': work the pattern stitches, wash, block, hang it... do whatever it takes to get the most accurate measure of your tension.
I can tell you of another reason to swatch. A perfectly beautiful stitch you see in a photograph may not look as good in real life. This is particular true if you're using a different yarn with a different colour. Instead of casting on a large number of stitches and discovering after several long rows that you don't like the look of that stitch, you can do a small swatch and save yourself some hours of work. This has happened to me.
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