Let's swatch

Let’s swatch

Having just cast off my third swatch of the morning, I’ve been musing about the value of these small squares of knitting and why swatching seems to really annoy some knitters. So I’m taking a break – I’ve several more swatches to do – to share some thoughts.

Today I am swatching for a variety of reasons – there’s a tension swatch for a new garment, some to demonstrate techniques for a class I’m teaching tomorrow, one to work out a new reversible cable idea I’ve had and some for design submissions I’m making to a magazine. It’s very unlikely that I’ll knit anything bigger than a 15cm square in the next 24 hours.

And yes, I’m making all those swatches because it’s my job but there are very good reasons for you to swatch too.

Ensuring your project comes out to the right size

Stitch and row tension are the key numbers I, and every other knitting designer uses, to work out the instructions in a pattern. If we tell you to cast on a number of stitches, work a number of rows etc, we are doing it to give you a piece of knitting of a certain size based on the tension our original samples came out to.

If a knitter follows the instructions using a different tension (aka gauge) their knitting will come out to different measurements. It really is that fundamental.

I regularly come across people who tell me that they never do tension swatches because their tension is fine. Then again in my role solving customer problems for a large knitting brand, I regularly have conversations with knitters where I work out that the problem is that their tension is different to one in the pattern.

You may have been lucky with your tension so far but because every single one of us have different hands it isn’t possible that every knitter out there will always get the same tension as me or you – especially as our tension can change depending on the fibres in your yarn and what your needles are made of.

So please, please, please make a tension swatch before you start a project. It’s just knitting and you like knitting don’t you.

Oh, and if you’re still not convinced – if your tension is off, you might also run out of yarn. On the other hand making your tension square won’t leave you short of yarn. Designers factor the yarn for a swatch into their yarn calculations.

Mastering a technique

A swatch is a helpful way to practice complex stitch patterns or an unusual technique and solve any problems or mistakes on a small scale – rather than when you have 200+ stiches on your needles.

I’d much rather get the technique down on a small piece before having to rip out masses of stitches.

With this swatch, you don’t always have to use the yarn for the project. For example practicing a fiddly stitch on a chunky yarn before you tackle it in a sock can help you work it out. Your bag of yarn oddments is your go to for this.

Trying out a yarn

Because I write yarn reviews for Knitting magazine, I make a lot of swatches to try out yarns. I really recommend it as a way of getting to know how a yarn that’s new to you behaves and how it feels in your hands.

If you are using a yarn for the first time or substituting a yarn in a pattern, it is worth swatching with it before embarking on a large project. A swatch can help you decide whether you like the feel, look and drape of a yarn using a particular stitch. Discovering that before you’ve knitted half a cardigan is a good call.

It can also tell you if you actually like the feel of the yarn as you use it. Hating using a yarn you’ve chosen for a blanket is no fun.

Believe me, embracing your swatches can only benefit your knitting.

Let's swatch

Let’s swatch

Having just cast off my third swatch of the morning, I’ve been musing about the value of these small squares of knitting and why swatching seems to really annoy some knitters. So I’m taking a break – I’ve several more swatches to do – to share some thoughts.

Today I am swatching for a variety of reasons – there’s a tension swatch for a new garment, some to demonstrate techniques for a class I’m teaching tomorrow, one to work out a new reversible cable idea I’ve had and some for design submissions I’m making to a magazine. It’s very unlikely that I’ll knit anything bigger than a 15cm square in the next 24 hours.

And yes, I’m making all those swatches because it’s my job but there are very good reasons for you to swatch too.

Ensuring your project comes out to the right size

Stitch and row tension are the key numbers I, and every other knitting designer uses, to work out the instructions in a pattern. If we tell you to cast on a number of stitches, work a number of rows etc, we are doing it to give you a piece of knitting of a certain size based on the tension our original samples came out to.

If a knitter follows the instructions using a different tension (aka gauge) their knitting will come out to different measurements. It really is that fundamental.

I regularly come across people who tell me that they never do tension swatches because their tension is fine. Then again in my role solving customer problems for a large knitting brand, I regularly have conversations with knitters where I work out that the problem is that their tension is different to one in the pattern.

You may have been lucky with your tension so far but because every single one of us have different hands it isn’t possible that every knitter out there will always get the same tension as me or you – especially as our tension can change depending on the fibres in your yarn and what your needles are made of.

So please, please, please make a tension swatch before you start a project. It’s just knitting and you like knitting don’t you.

Oh, and if you’re still not convinced – if your tension is off, you might also run out of yarn. On the other hand making your tension square won’t leave you short of yarn. Designers factor the yarn for a swatch into their yarn calculations.

Mastering a technique

A swatch is a helpful way to practice complex stitch patterns or an unusual technique and solve any problems or mistakes on a small scale – rather than when you have 200+ stiches on your needles.

I’d much rather get the technique down on a small piece before having to rip out masses of stitches.

With this swatch, you don’t always have to use the yarn for the project. For example practicing a fiddly stitch on a chunky yarn before you tackle it in a sock can help you work it out. Your bag of yarn oddments is your go to for this.

Trying out a yarn

Because I write yarn reviews for Knitting magazine, I make a lot of swatches to try out yarns. I really recommend it as a way of getting to know how a yarn that’s new to you behaves and how it feels in your hands.

If you are using a yarn for the first time or substituting a yarn in a pattern, it is worth swatching with it before embarking on a large project. A swatch can help you decide whether you like the feel, look and drape of a yarn using a particular stitch. Discovering that before you’ve knitted half a cardigan is a good call.

It can also tell you if you actually like the feel of the yarn as you use it. Hating using a yarn you’ve chosen for a blanket is no fun.

Believe me, embracing your swatches can only benefit your knitting.

Swatches and Squishiness

How has your week been?

A lot of mine has been about swatches and bundles of yarn – so that’s pretty good.

Swatches are an enormous part of a designer’s life. When you answer a magazine’s call for submissions for example, you need to swatch your stitch patterns in the right type of yarn.

Each design submitted will include a sketch, pictures of the swatch or swatches, a description and suggestions for the yarn and colours to make the item in – all brought together on a single page.

Recently I’ve submitted ideas to number of calls which has resulted in a pile of new swatches.

Over the past two or three weeks, I’ve had commissions come in from those ideas and agreed the actual yarns and colours to be used.

This means I’ve needed to sort out all the swatches for the commissioned designs and collect them up with the sketch and notes for each one while lovely swishy parcels arrive.

Now, I need to reswatch in the lovely yarns pictured before I start creating the patterns and samples. I need to know exactly how the final yarn choice behaves before I start the calculations for how many stitches I need etc.

But it is good to stop and admire all the fab yarn I’ll be working with. There are some old favourites in among the yarns pictured as well as some brand new items that I’m excited to work with. Some are so new they aren’t on the market yet – but they will be by the time the designs appear in magazines. It is a great privilege to be able to work with these.

I will share some in progress pics when I can but for now you are going to have to guess what I might be making from these swatches and yarns.

Mittens and the wonder of wool

Last week in Kent in turned very cold so it was time for the full DK mittens. I wear 4ply fingerless mitts a lot in winter even when out for a walk and find they keep my hands comfortable most of the time. But when the temperature drops I turn to handknit gloves or mittens.

 

Mittens from my Birdie cloche and mitten set using DK yarn.
Find the pattern on Ravelry and Payhip

Pure wool DK mittens, especially these from my Birdie pattern (they’re named after a great aunt), are increasingly my favourites. I have seen plenty of advice saying mittens are the best choice for warmth if dexterity isn’t a priority and my experience agrees.

According to at least one active wear website, mittens are warmer because your fingers share body heat and there is less surface area on a mitten than a glove. But I don’t need high-tech fabric to help keep my fingers cosy because there is wool!

The amazing temperature controlling properties of pure wool, along with my fingers snuggling together for warmth, means cosy hands even in last week’s chill. Plus, I can fit a pair of 4ply fingerless mitts under this pair if it gets even colder.

Funnily enough I have another Birdie set on the go already in some lovely Bluefaced Leicester from West Yorkshire Spinners. The hat is done and when I get a chance, in between design deadlines, I am ready to start the mittens.

 

Tip of the week: Check out your yarn labels, they are a fount of info

I'd like you to take a look at your yarn stash and read some labels. Quite often when we start a project we just discard the labels or leave then to languish in the bottom of the project bag, but they have a lot to say.

What the yarn is made of: The more you knit the more you learn about how different fibres behave so the fibre content listed can give you clues about how the yarn will be to knit with and what sort of fabric it might make.

Recommended needle size and tension: This doesn't mean that you must use these needles or that this is the tension that you will get in a particular pattern. Rather it is the average tension the manufacturer has found for that yarn on that size of needle. But this does give you clues to what range of needles this yarn will work best with.

The amount and length of the yarn in the ball or skein: Labels will often tell you how many metres there are in the ball as well as the weight. Some patterns will tell you how many metres of yarns are used in a project, so this can be very useful.

Washing instructions: Very useful - if I am giving a knitted item to a non-knitter I will often include a yarn label so they have official washing instructions.

Getting on the right side of your knitting

In the various online knitting spaces I frequent I’ve come across a couple of interesting discussions on what “right side” means in a knitting pattern.

It’s a tricky one because the phrase can be used in two separate ways – in terms of the outward facing part of your finished item or it could refer to the right hand side of a garment (which can be tricky in itself -see below).

Right and wrong sides, and front and back

In knitting patterns you will often see rows referred to as “right side” and “wrong side” rows. Usually this means the side the pattern is intended to show on and the side that would be on the inside of a garment or reverse of a scarf.

This is easy to understand if you are doing stocking stitch (the smooth side is the right side) or Fair Isle (the strands or floats are on the wrong side) but can be harder to see in other stitch patterns. And if you are doing a stitch pattern that is effectively double-sided, you may need to decide that the right side is facing you either when working the odd or the even numbered rows and put a marker in place to remind you.

The right side of your knitting in not the same as the front in most patterns. Front usually refers to the side of your knitting facing you on that particular row. In other words if you are told to bring the yarn to the front, you want it to be between you and your knitting. If it should be at the back, the yarn should be behind your knitting as you hold it at that moment.

Right-hand side

Then there are the times when right side means the right hand side of the finished item. Sounds simple but it can be confusing. If you are knitting the front of a garment is stocking stitch, when you are on the knit row (ie with the smooth/right side facing), the stitches to the left of your work will be the ones forming the right hand seams of your finished piece.

Yep, now your brain is feeling the strain.

My approach to working out what the right hand and left hand parts of your piece are is to think about where sleeves will attach. Your right arm will go the right sleeve so the side where the right sleeve will attach will be the right-hand side of the body. So if you are ever feeling confused, spread your work out so you can see the shape and think about where your sleeves would go.

These discussions have really made me think about how much I use these terms in patterns and how to make what I mean as clear as possible.

Your goldilocks cast-on and other options

Do you have a favourite cast-on? The one that’s not too tight, not too loose, with a bit of elasticity (but not too much) and gives an edge you like. Just right like Goldilocks and the bears’ porridge.

Some people’s goldilocks cast on is the first one they ever learned. It works for them and they don’t have a good reason to change it. Other knitters will have tried several or have strong views on why they use the cable cast on rather than long tail or vice versa. Personally, my cable cast on is neater than my long-tail so that’s my “just right” option. But that doesn’t mean it will be yours – we’re back to different options suiting different hands again.

 

While your goldilocks cast-on will be great for most of your projects there will be times when you need something a little different. With 30 to 40 cast on methods to try. It can be worth experimenting with a few specialised ones – there are plenty of resources including books and videos to help. I'm a fan of a useful little book called Cast On Bind Off by Leslie Ann Bestor

Swatching your cast on

When (if) you make a tension square or swatch a knitting idea, do you think about your cast on at all?

It’s most likely that you give the cast on little more thought than as a way to getting to the gauge test. But if you are working on a new stitch or type of project, or trying a new yarn, it can be useful to knit a few rows in the edging pattern to see if your cast on is right. For example, some cast ons could be too tight or loose for the ribbing on a sock. Or pull too tight for a lace section.

When do you need a different cast on?

Among the times you might need to test and change your cast on include the neck of a top-down sweater, the cuff or a sock or a shawl that starts with a lace section that will be blocked.

The first two examples, the neckband and the sock cuff, are times when you might need more stretch in your cast on than usual. Luckily, there are plenty of stretchier cast-ons, including “alternating” versions for both the popular long-tail and a cable cast ons. These are versions where you cast on in rib, alternating the usual “knit” version of the cast on with a purl variation.

For the lace project, it may be worth swatching your pattern with your normal cast on and with one that can come out a bit loose such as the thumb (or backward loop) method or the basic knit on cast on. I find these cast ons can be a bit loose compared to my knitting tension so on a garment they’d give me an untidy edge but for a section of lace I am going to aggressively block out, that slack could be useful.

Other cast on types

Provisional cast ons – for example the crochet cast on. These are cast ons that allow you to “release” stitches from the start of your work to be knitted later. They are useful in lace and in some top down projects.

Decorative cast ons , such as a picot cast on and the Old Norwegian cast on, can give a different look to the edge of your work.

Multicolour cast ons create braided or contrasting edgings – great options for colour work hats and gloves.

Once you start building your cast on repertoire, you will find lots of interesting options but this doesn’t mean you will abandon your original goldilocks cast on. This is workhorse choice that will still be a good choice for much of your knitting. But you’ll have more choice and more confidence about knowing when your cast on is doing what you need.

New magazine pattern: Anika yoked top

Knitting magazine issue 227 is out and it's all about texture.

I've a couple of patterns and tutorial in it but today I'm just showing you Anika.

 

This short-sleeved 4-ply top is worked bottom-up in the round on the body and sleeves which then join for the yoke (don't ask about working out yoke shaping for 10 sizes!).

 

It features a slip-stitch texture pattern which is easy to work but very effective. I used Cascade Yarns Heritage for this which means a vast range of colour combinations - and as mention above the pattern offers 10 sizes. But any nice plain 4-plys would work for this - or perhaps a variegated for the contrast.

 

I'll share the other design later in the week.

Tip of the week: Use your previous cables as a guide

Once you have decoded your cable instructions and established the first few rows of your project, you have already knitted yourself a quick cheat sheet.

If you reach the next cable in your pattern and have a sudden blank about whether your cable needle needs to be held at the front or the back, look down your work at the cables below to find an equivalent one. Look at the cable you are about to knit - if you have the cable needle at the front, will your stitches cross in the same way as before? If yes, your cable needle is in the right place. For visual learners, this can be a lot more help than reading the cable instructions again.

In general, look at the patterns you cables form at you knit - they make a clear picture on your work, so it should be easy to spot a mistake like the one picture above. Also once your cable pattern is established compare it to the pictures in your pattern. 

This idea of stopping, from time to time, and looking at how any pattern is developing is a good idea for any project. If it doesn't look right, it may well not be.

Tip of the week: Decoding cable patterns

When I talk to people about why they are intimidated by starting a cable project the answers is often that the terminology or abbreviations seem so complicated. They seem surprised when I say that all cables use the same basic steps:

1. Put a given number of stitches on cable needle.
2. Hold the cable needle to the back or front of the work as instructed.
3. Knit or purl a given number of stitches from your main needle.
4. Knit or purl the stitches from your cable needle.

The result is a set of stitches that cross each other.

 

The key to cable knitting is understanding the number of stitches that go on the cable needle, whether it goes to the back or front and what you knit or purl for each type of cable in the pattern. This can seem like a massive puzzle because there are so many different ways that cables are written in patterns.

However, whatever coding system has been used the pattern abbreviation key should tell you what to do for each one. To be honest, it there isn't a key telling you that, I would be inclined to find a new pattern.

There are lots of cable notation systems. My preferences is for the version that includes writing the abbreviations for example as C8B and Tw4F. Here the the "C" generally indicates that you are working all the stitches in your cable in the same way, the number is how many stitches in total are used in the cable and the B means the cable needle is used to the back. Tw means you will knit some stitches and purl others and F is holding the cable needle to the front.

So C8B could be written as "place 4 stitches on cable needle and hold to the back, knit 4 sts, knit 4 from cable needle". BUT even if you think it means that double check - it could mean place 5 stitches on cable needle and hold to the back, knit 3 sts, etc.

Tw3F is likely to be "place 2 stitches on cable needle and hold to the front, purl 1, knit 2 from cable needle. You can see this type of cable on the upper right of the diamond in the picture above. As you can see it slopes to the left which is why you may see it abbreviated to Tw3L.

If your pattern uses a notation you don't like, it is worth writing out a translation list where you note down how you would think of each cable so you can refer to it until you are sure you are getting your pattern right.