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.