Swatching Stage Two

I'm learning a lot by making swatches. I already understood the need to check the gauge and things like that--that's not new for me. But what I'm learning while I'm trying to design this sweater is the value of using the swatches to try out different ideas. At the moment, I have three swatches that have survived the initial testing phase.

I tried a couple of different kinds of cables, including the braid here with only two stitches instead of three in the cables, and a simple 3-3 divide for a cable that looks like the ones on the hat half way down this page.

The two-stitch braid was supposed to be a more "delicate" version of this one, but honestly, it was only delicate the way that thirteen and fourteen year olds can appear when their bodies start stretching unevenly. I didn't save that swatch; I didn't even show it to Carl.

Carl didn't like the simple 3-3 divided cable; he said it was too boring.

So in these swatches, I have been playing with needle size and the number of cables I could include in a panel. The top swatch, the first one I did, was done on size 11 needles. It's really too loose, and I'll be ripping that one out. The middle swatch, to the left here, was done on size 10s. The fabric feels nice, but still a bit loose. It might work, though, so I'm going to wash this one to see how it comes out.


At this point, I think both Carl and I are favoring the bottom one, done with size 9 needles. The fabric is a little stiff but not impossible, and this will be a cardigan. I don't know if I'll really be able to get two cables into the pattern when I complete the design, but I will try. When I hold this panel up against Carl right now, it's really about wide enough, but the cable would get cut short at the sleeve. I'll have to figure out how to avoid that in the pattern if I want to get two of them in the pattern. Unless there's a lot of shrinkage.

These will be the front of the sweater and each is nearly the width I expect the front panels will be ultimately. However, they haven't yet been washed, and I need to find out what the gauge looks like once they are. I also need to do two other swatches of just plain stockinette stitch, one size 10 and one size 9, so I can see how the gauge on the back of the sweater will work out. I should be able to do those later today or tomorrow.

I find my attitude toward all of this swatching interesting. I am the kind of person who resists waste, and in the past, I have considering swatching a potential waste of both yarn and time. If you look closely at these, you'll see that the bind-off edge is looped, not knotted and not cut, so I could rip it out. This temporary approach is how I have done swatching in the past, and once I determined that my gauge was in line with the pattern, it was frogging time. I have never washed a swatch before now. Now, I'm not only going to wash these two, I'm making two more, at least 8 inches wide each. But I don't see these as a waste of yarn or time. It's part of the learning, and I'm loving it.

I'm Back and Swatching

It's summer, so what am I doing? Playing with wool. Yes, this makes a lot of sense.

Spring semester was brutal, and I simply couldn't find time when I wasn't too exhausted to pick up this design project. The current stage takes thought and experimentation and some level of endurance. If someone had told me that I had to do one more thing I was going to scream.

Screaming time is over now, so I am ready with scrap paper in front of me and wool between my fingers. Today was spent figuring out what yarn I really have and doing my first swatch, as well as finding out what sweater elements my husband actually likes.

I bought the yarn from the Natick Community Organic Farm. It's made from sheep raised on the farm and spun in Maine; I'm not sure where the dyeing takes place. Based on wraps per inch, the yarn is probably "very bulky" but I'm treating it as just "bulky." It's a bit thicker than I want to be working with for this project, but do you have any idea how hard it is to find burgundy and gray variegated yarn in any weight, let alone worsted? This yarn has enough of the natural wool color in it that it counts as variegated, at least for Carl--not that you could tell from the photograph below.

So now I'm making swatches to give him a sense of what the sweater will look like and me a sense of what it will be like to knit up. My first swatch was done on size 11 needles with 3-stitch cables. I think it's too bulky, and I think Carl agrees. His *meh* response would be a fairly good indication.

To give you a sense of scale, this panel is wide enough to cover one side of the cardigan, about 8 1/2" wide. 

So the next step will be using size 10 needles to see if the fabric gets too stiff. I'll probably also do swatches with both three- and two-stitch cables to see which he likes better.