Swatch, swatch, swatch....

Oh swatches. Knitters do seem to love to hate them. I love to swatch - I must be weird. 

What I tend to do is, while I'm knitting a current project and I have that moment where I'm either bored or a little frustrated with what I'm doing. I get a ball of yarn for my next project and make a swatch. I get to play with my new yarn and also, make sure that what I'm going to do next is going to fit.

A swatch doesn't take long to make - probably half an hour at most and I'd rather do that than have to reknit the garment. Just cus I'm lovely and a little bit bossy, I'm going to tell you how I make my swatches. Little teeny swatches aren't the most helpful of things, because they'll lie to you. A good hearty sized swatch will pay you back that bit of extra effort.

Let's say the pattern states that the gauge, that it's worked to is 22 stitches by 30 rows in stocking stitch across 4" [10cm] on 4.00 mm needles in a DK weight yarn.

What I'd tend to do is cast on about double the stitches, so something like 44 stitches (it doesn't need to be exact - I'd probably round down to 40).

Knit 3 rows. 

For the main part, every row should start and end with 2 knit stitches, to give a helpful garter stitch border (this makes it lie flat, so much easier to measure it). So my first wrong side row would be, k2, purl to last 2 stitches, k2. 

Here's a brilliant tip that I picked up from Ysolda Teague's Little Red in the City. By using yos, k2tog and p stitches you can mark what size needle you are using. I've found this really useful, for when I've done several swatches on different sizes or if months/years down the line I use the same yarn again, I don't have to do another swatch because all the information is there. So for this example ...

On my next row, I'd knit a few stitches past the border then, (yo, k2tog) four times, knit to the end. If the needle size was 3.75mm, then I would change it to (yo, k2tog) three times, then, (k1, p1) three times. Each yo represents a full mm and each purl bump is 0.25mm. Think this sounds far more complicated than it is to knit.

Knit the swatch in stocking stitch with the garter stitch border until the piece measures around about 6"  (I can be a little lazy sometimes with this and only get to about 4/5"). Knit 3 rows in garter stitch and cast off.

I always treat my swatch as I would the finished garment, which means that generally I'll wash and block the swatch. It is useful to measure your swatch before blocking, so you can check your knitting isn't going off gauge.

Use a ruler (not a tape measure - it'll be more accurate), and count how many rows and stitches you have in a 4" square. It can help to mark with pins, where you start and finish counting. Remember to count 1/4 and 1/2 stitches as this does make a difference to the size of the garment.

Generally, I'll see how far off the swatch is and alter the pattern to fit, but if you're not comfortable with that then reswatch on a different size needle to get gauge. Go up a needle size if you have more stitches in 4" or down a needle size if you have less stitches in 4".

Sometimes, if the pattern is complicated, I'll do another swatch in the stitch pattern too. It does sometimes depend on what information the designer has given you for the swatches. I always think it's a good pattern if they give you a swatch for stocking stitch and for any stitch pattern (if it's different).

Swatching can be fun (really) and take away the frustration of spending months on a project, to find it doesn't fit. 

That's the end of the teacher bit. Here's a sneak peak for a upcoming pattern:

Review: Knit Pro Karbonz knitting needles

I recently purchased some Knit Pro Karbonz DPNs.

For a start off, they are a work of art. I think they look sleek and quite unusual.

My usual DPNs are the Knit Pro Nova metal ones. I prefer the metal ones to wooden because the stitches move quicker, it speeds up my knitting and I enjoy the process more with metal needles.

I've knitted a pair of socks in the Karbonz. The pros are that I can see is they are lightweight, flexible, warm to the touch (a benefit for those with arthritis or other issues with their hands) and the stitches are less likely to drop off the needles (they have a similar surface to wood, which is a bit more clingy than metal). In general, I prefer them to wooden needles. Though lightweight, they have a better balance to them than say the Symfonie wooden range. They have the benefits of wooden needles but with the extra pointyness of metal needles. If you are a knitter that prefers wooden needles then it is seems to be a good middle ground between the metal and wooden ones.

Top needle: Karbonz
Bottom needle: Nova
Shows same size needle.

The only downside is the join between the metal tips and the carbon. Don't get me wrong the yarn doesn't catch at the join, it's a smooth join but I'm aware of the difference with how the stitches move from one to the other. I'm perhaps being a little too picky with this and it doesn't put me off them. Though, (especially with the higher purchase price), I won't be changing all my current Nova needles to the Karbonz.

I'll be quite happy to use the current set I have. I've compared them to other Knit Pro needles, as I thought this was fairest since it focused more on material than make. I have other makes of needles too such as HiyaHiya and Addi, which I've always been happy with too. Knit Pro seem to strike a good balance between quality and value for money.

 A little photo of my current WIP, made using my Karbonz.

Ravelry Project Page - Errolina

Embroidery

Not really sure what started it but I've had the needle, thread and embroidery hoop out this week.

I ordered this sampler to embroider and while waiting for it to arrive; I ransacked my supplies. It was like a very colourful bomb had dropped.

I bought the latest Crossstitcher magazine, and wanted to try a little cross stitch. I like the bird cross stitch but didn't have many of the exact colours so after much playing about and matching colours. I found suitable supplies without having to buy anything.

This is my progress so far...

I'll see how much gets done before the knitting bug bites back.

Adobe Illustrator How to: Knitting Illustrations

 I've been experimenting recently with Adobe Illustrator. It's an amazing piece of software; there are a few tutorials around on how to make knitting illustrations but I wasn't 100% happy with it as I was sure there was an easier way. I have no experience or training in Illustrator so this is amateur hour. This is what I figured out to produce the illustration below:

I'm assuming you know the basics of illustrator such as how to draw shapes and change the stroke and fill.