Swatches LIE - ?

Dr. House - "Everybody Lies"

One of the many compicated things about being a knitter is that no two expert knitters seem to give the same advice on anything. They don't agree on what material needles you should use, what shape of cable needles are best, what fibers are best (acrylic, anyone?), circs or straights - what's a knitter to do?

"Imperfections are how you know it was handmade!"  Has anyone ever fed you this line of #*>&?  I'm pretty sure artists from Rembrandt to Nicky Epstein have never subscribed to this theory.  "There is no one right way."  I love this line too, because it completely ignores the fact that there are thousands of wrong ways.  You can make a row of knitting that looks okay to you, but is, in fact, wrong, and going to screw up the row above or below it.  There is, sometimes, one right way.

But my all-time favorite bit of knitting "wisdom" is "I never swatch.  Swatches LIE!"  My response is, "Not if you raise them right." 

Like an errant child, misbehaving swatches need to be corrected.  Why do we swatch?  To learn specific details about how our garment is going to look, brush up on techniques, discover how much yarn we'll need, and so much more.

Here's how to make a swatch that works:

1.  Use the same yarn on the same needles.  If you're going to knit your project with Cascade 220 on US 6 addi Turbos, don't swatch on US 6 bamboo straights.  It does matter.  Every needle has a different finish, which affects the size of each stitch.  Remember, across 25 stitches a difference in guage seems small.  Across 150 stitches, and 100 rows, any difference magnifies to several inches too small or too large.

2.  Row gauge matters most of the time, so make sure you get it right.  Yes, it does.  I don't care what you've heard.  If you have the correct stitch gauge and the incorrect row gauge, change needle surfaces.  In general, bamboo will give you the shortest stitches, and nickel will give you the tallest.  If your stitches are short, switch to needles that are slipperier.  If they're tall, choose something stickier, like plastic or bamboo.

3.  If you're going to knit in the round, swatch in the round.  Yes, really.  Everyone purls more tightly than they knit, and knitting in the round tends to create slightly taller stitches.  You'll still need to make a swatch that's 4-6 inches wide, meaning it will be 8-12 inches in total circumference.  Yes, it takes longer.  The round one will be accurate.  The flat one won't.  Make the round one.

4.  Swatch until you achieve a fabric you like.  If you don't like it when it's 6 inches square, you won't like it when it's a full garment.  If you hate it small, substitute yarns until you find one you like, and make a fabric you'll love to wear.  Remember, no matter how good the picture looks, you'll be wearing this, not the model.  If you can't achieve a fabric you love with the pattern instructions, that's not the pattern for you.

5.  Read the whole pattern, and swatch each part.  I know, maybe the instructions told you to swatch over stockinette only.  Groovy.  I've never known two people to knit lace or cables or pretty much any significant stitch pattern in the same gauge as their stockinette.  The pattern author doesn't have to wear the garment.  You do.  Swatch the design elements.  You'll do a better job with them in your garment, and your garment will more likely fit.

6.  If you're knitting in colorwork, swatch in colorwork.  Yep.  I know.  But there isn't really any point in arguing with me.  Not only am I unable to hear you, I'm right.  Most people have a very different gauge in colorwork.  Just do it.

7.  Once you've achieved a swatch you like, launder it according to the instructions on the ball band, and block it.  Very small differences in gauge can easily be corrected in the blocking phase.  In particular, design elements (stuff that isn't plain stockinette) rarely lay properly until they're blocked anyway.  And this is the time you'll find out if your colors run.  Nothing ruins a great colorwork project like one color running all over another.  If your swatch doesn't launder well, seriously consider starting over in a different yarn. 

This is how to make a swatch that doesn't lie.  If you make a swatch and break any of the above rules, don't complain about the finished product.  You've been warned.

Yarn Tasting How-Tos

Yarn Tastings are popping up everywhere.  What are they?  What do they cost?  What do you bring?  Can you throw your own?  Let's jump right in.

The goal of the whole endeavor is for knitters to use or collect a "taste" a variety of yarns and fibers, without the financial investment or commitment of buying a whole skein. This is particularly handy with the more expensive fibers.  Sometimes specific yarn manufacturers or distributors host their own tastings, and all fibers involved are from that single outlet.  Other times, the sky is the limit in what you may discover.

This is some info on how the most frequent tastings work.  When a yarn shop has samples made, there are often ball ends remaining.  These are weighed out and labeled in 1oz skeins, or 20yds, or some standard size, and saved.  Sometimes distributors and manufacturers supply sample skeins, or offer new yarns at an attractive introductory price.  These skeins are sometimes broken down into tasting skeins, too.

The party invitations go out, in one of two common formats: either it's a fixed price for a certain number of "tastes", or each taste has a very distinct price based on its cost to the shop.  When you arrive at the event, there are usually a few activities, sometimes a speaker, and the tastes are distributed, often by price level.  Certain ticket prices access certain "taste" levels. 

The highest priced yarns are often the hardest for a shop owner to sell, as they represent the biggest investment per yard.  Cashmere, camel, and suri alpaca are all lovely to work with, but how do you know if they will work with your project?  You need to swatch, and at $25 - $60 a skein, how many swatches can you afford?  With a yarn tasting, you can afford to make more swatches.  Is there a sock or lace yarn you've always wanted to try?  Tasting is a great way to meet new yarns that require a large amount of yardage to complete a project.  And it's a great way to test out novelty yarns, and see if they're a good fit for your next project.

Can you throw your own?  Sure.  Save and thoroughly label your ball ends from your projects, and encourage your friends or knitting club to do the same.  When you feel like you each have some interesting ball ends (say three or four that many of you haven't used yet) plan to get together over some coffee or a glass of wine.  Usually the rule in the informal tastings is "one in, one out".  That is you can take as many ball ends as you bring to the party, within whatever rules chosen by the group.  (If one person brings 15, and everyone else brings 4, it ends up a little strange!)

You don't have to do this formally.  You can just save your ball ends and exchange them with a friend without involving other people.  You don't even need to have a project in mind.  Just remember to label your finished swatches with the yarn and needle info, so when you're ready to use the yarn in your project, you remember exactly what you used!