I have a question - if you are doing this new method with two colors as in a colorwork swatch how do you incorporate the second color with this method?
I will most likely do a second video to explain this. It was a bit too much to fit in this video. You join the second color on a row where the main color is at the right hand edge. I would work the first and last stitch with both yarns, and alternate the 2 sts before the last one with one of each color. Each color will need less than the amount needed to do a full row in the solid color when you measure off yarn at the left edge.
I love this! Stranding behind always felt so messy (on top of the other disadvantages you mentioned). Definitely going to give this a try for my next in-the-round project
I have come to realize that you must be stalking me. Yesterday, I struggled with a swatch in the round for two coordinated sweaters for my grandsons. I got so disgusted that I took a chance with the pattern needle and started a sleeve, bottom up. Of course the ribbing was fine (smaller needle) but I prayed when I switched to stockinette that my gauge would be ok! Or else, rip out and begin again. I was lucky and all is well, but if I had your new swatch method it would have been better on my nerves! Thank you Roxanne for your wisdom and skill.
Yay! I've been excitedly waiting for this to come since you mentioned you were doing it in your Casual Friday podcast! This is such a brilliant technique, and I'm definitely giving it a go soon! Thank you as always for the thorough walk through of the technique!
Thank you for this technique lesson! I'd heard of this way of faking an "in the round" swatch, and had no luck finding sources on how to do it. As someone who equally dislikes wasting yarn and keeping swatches, I appreciate this method.
Roxanne, you're my HERO! I just did a swatch with this technique (twisted ribbing) and it is magic. On a whim, I added a backward loop at the end of each even row - with the top of the loop - and then worked it together with the last stitch on the next row. It seemed to help the tendency for those stitches to loosen. Love, love, love!
This is so helpful! Even just the information about knitting the last 3 stitches through the back loop will make a big difference for me. I'm swatching for my first sweater and the left side of my fake round swath is SO loose it's ridiculous. The whole things loops so sloppy I was really worried about accuracy. I'm going to try this method tonight! Thank you, thank you! :)
Perfect timing! I'm just about to start an in the round colourwork project and the idea of trying to swatch in the round has been putting me off starting!
Roxanne to the rescue! Thanks so much for showing this alternative. I can’t wait to try it. I’ve never felt like I got good swatches with the original method because it is so fiddleyfor me. Usually I just swatch flat (if there is some ease in the pattern), or knit a tube, but that takes more time and yarn. Again, big thanks!
I like this method so much! A couple of days ago, I knit a typical fake knit in the round swatch for a sweater and thought again, there must be a better way. Thanks so much for showing this, Rox!
You are a GENIUS!!!!! Thank you so much for this tutorial!! I have had so many problems with swatching in the round that I gave up and just didn't bother anymore and crossed my fingers that i didn't have to redo the yoke.
Hi Roxanne, your tutorial has given me the confidence to swatch my Susan Crawford garments. They are in my bucket list, but now I have no rational reason to delay casting them on after swatching.
What a game changer this is! I just tried this on my new swatch and it is soooooooooooo much less fiddly than swatching with all those strands across the back 😀
I do this, too! You showed it better than I ever could have. I start the yarn-backward row with a slip knot (undo it at the start of the next round) because I need the tension. At the end of the regular row, I take the loop from the previous row, twist it tightly, put the loop end on the needle, let the loop ply itself back, and knit it together with the last stitch. (The result is less than half the length and much tamer; it's like one of Cat Bordhi's "tendrils"/anemone hat.) I think it might fail if the yarn had a strong direction, such as maybe spun from the fold or from locks all going one way. The tailed swatch is fun in a fidget/comfort object.
That’s how I’ve been swatching in the round! I was getting into a real mess just stranding across the back but measuring is so much tidier and means I actually knit a long enough swatch rather than “that’ll have to do”ing it 😀. Twisting the last 3 stitches will make it even better, as you mentioned, I found I was losing 5 or 6 stitches to creeping looseness.
Hi there Roxanne, what a lovely surprise but don't wear yourself out. I haven't seen the second method you did before, its very interesting and might be worth a try next Swatch I do. My friend gave me a Ball Winder in exchange for knitting her daughter a jumper, great deal. The knitting is on hold while I wind, its great fun. Thank you for your visit, catch up next time. Take care.
This is a great idea Rox. I was only thinking last week as I knitted my swatch with long strands over the back, was there a way I could do it using two balls of yarn. I quickly realised that wasn’t going to work. This idea is great, I can’t wait to try it out. ❤
Yea!! A better way to make a swatch and to save the yarn! I always have issues with the last stitches and fight with tightening it all the time. I will I use this for the next swatch waiting for me already!! Thanks so much.
What a clever technique - thank you! I never liked the long dangling strands approach. For my last project I knit the swatch in the round using magic loop and cut so it would lie flat for measuring. Your way would allow me to reclaim the swatch yarn if necessary.
Thanks for the demonstration. A teeny bit apples to oranges with the very different types of work in the swatches. I know the 'old swatch' wasn't the point here and it's probably the fault of my perception but i'm gonna try both ways to see the difference. Great to have options! Welcome back to Tuesdays.
There are a few tricks to keep in mind when doing this with stranded colorwork. It was too much to include in this video, so I will have to do a follow-up that demonstrates that, if there's interest.
Veryyyyy interesting! I’ve always disliked the long floats in the back of in the round swatches, so I have just knit a tube wide enough to measure 4”. If I have multiple stitch textures to test out, I just make panels of those in the tube. But this is definitely a new way I would like to try out
I’m confused about something. Wouldn’t every row have to be done with the extra length of yarn? I’m sorry, I must be missing something. (Confused when you start row 2.)
When the yarn is attached to the left edge and you measure it off, you are working from that measured off point, starting at the right edge, and then using that measured off length to knit the row. You then end up with a short loop of what remained at the left edge. The yarn attached to the ball is at the right edge at this point, so you can now use that yarn to work the following row.
I am so happy technique Tuesdays are back ! I love to learn from you Roxanne, you are so clear and concise. Is it the same pattern as for the palm tulips mitts ?
This is genius. I had pretty much given up on the other way as the strands in the back were messy, I never estimated enough, and it was just awkward. I love this way! I had one question about changing needle size mid swatch. That makes it seem like you did not wash and block, you just measured midway and changed needles if needed. Is that right? Also, any tips on how to use this method for swatching stranded color work would be great! Thank you as always.
You should swatch as you would in any situation, which is that you might need to try different needle sizes, and then after you note your gauge for each of those needle sizes, wash the swatch and compare the final gauges. I don't typically experience a gauge change after washing, so because I was confident that size 7 was the correct size, I transitioned into swatching the stitch pattern for its gauge.
It's so funny how many videos on this are popping up since Patty Lyons wrote about this in her book a year ago (right down to the twisted stitches). I think it's nice that she credit's others when she learns a tip from someone else. I found your video when posting a comment on the same video on Laura Nelkin's channel (who did say she first learned it from Patty)
I didn't learn it from Patty. I heard this technique described several times by another very experienced knitter, in very general terms, but I hadn't ever seen it demonstrated or fully explained. Another friend of mine told me she has used this for years, but couldn't remember where she'd learned it (thought maybe it was a blog). I worked out how to do it as a Continental knitter almost right away, but it took me a while to figure out how to do it when using an English knitting style. The twisted stitches was something I thought would be useful when I noticed that the left edge of the swatch was loosening up.
As I am new gauge and switching needle sizes for some reason is just not clicking when other much more difficult things/techniques are... If I have more stitches than the pattern calls for I go up in size? Right if I need more stitches, I don't have enough, I go down a size? Is this right? If so then I might have it finally. If not then I at least can write it out now, opposite what I did here and have it to go by. Thank you ❣️ I tried this fake method BTW, works fantastic. TFS!!
Question: Do you also work in the back loop of the last 3 stitches for the regularly knitted rows? Great tutorial! I will definitely be using this method the next time I need an ITR swatch. Thanks so much!
The loop is connected to both rows, so I think it's worth doing on both rows. You can experiment with doing it vs not doing it to see what difference it makes, if any, in your own swatch.
Wouldn't the length of yarn needed to do a row depend on the needle size you're using, rather than the "4x or 5x" for every case? Since you're using up more length of yarn when making bigger stitches, and less when making smaller stitches (which doesn't necessarily give the same difference widthwise with the stitches snug together on the needle)?
YOu use more yarn per stitch if the yarn is thicker and the needles are larger, but you have fewer sts. The amount of yarn needed is the same, regardless of yarn weight (within reason--at the extreme ends of the yarn weight spectrum, things might be different.) If you think of a stitch as a circle, the circumference of the circle is about 3x its width (based on the idea of pi x diameter = circumference). So regardless of how large or small the sts are, the total amount of yarn needed to create the circumferences of all the sts is 3x the resulting width. You need more yarn if you are working the same number of sts in each row, but that results in differing widths.
Your video tutorials are just brilliant. Thank you! I have a question, if the pattern begins with knitting flat and then later on moves to knitting in the round, would you suggest making two separate swatches? And would it be ok to change needles if the gauge is different?
I would just do one swatch. Start out flat, and then switch to knitting in the round (or fake knitting in the round). The goal is not to use a specific needle size, the goal is to get gauge, using whatever needle size you need. If you need a different needle size for working the purls flat, or for knitting in the round, change the needle for those sections accordingly.
@@RoxanneRichardson thank you. Do you have a video on how to improve/increase purl tension? I'm a continental knitter and have been experimenting with norwegian purling, and it's a little better than continental purling, but still significantly looser than my knit stitches.
Well, you won't need to, then. You can just start working from the other end of the needle. You might want to consider using a dpn that's longer than the swatch is wide, though, so that your sts don't fall off one end or the other.
Portuguese style knitters may not find the fake methods feasible. If a knitter prefers knitting in the round over using one of the fake methods, that would be another reason. There's no single method that's going to work in every situation. Often, it's just knitter's choice.
Question: I believe in one of your earlier tutorials you recommend doing the garter rows at the bottom and top a few stitches greater than you will end up using in the main body of the swatch to get a more accurate measurement, and then reducing as you start the stockinette or whatever pattern is the main portion… or did I dream this? If true, would you still recommend doing this with this method?
Ah! I found it… but it’s from 3y ago… perhaps you’ve moved away from this technique in the intervening years. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7MKhaQh7HdQ.htmlsi=LBNeI6EklvmSZbkY
Great tutorial, thank you! I've been knitting for ages but just realized a few months ago, that (like probably for most of us) my gauge knitting flat is not the same as knitting in the round.... 😅 I knitted my gauge swatch yesterday with your suggested method and it turned out great except that my first three stitches on the right side edge were too tight (just opposite to the left), so my gauge got a bit wonky and I couldn't count them for gauge measurements. Do you maybe have any suggestions on how to knit the first stitch to avoid that problem?
Avoid including the first few and last few edge sts when measuring your swatch. You can get the gauge by dividing the sts that are all the same size by the width of those sts. So if you have 24 "good" sts, and the width is 3.75'', just divide 24 by 3.75''. If you want to be able to measure a wider amount, plan for your stitch count to be 6 or 8 sts more than what you want to measure.
I’m going to try this next time - thanks for the demo! One thing I’m curious about - your knit stitches, instead of looking like a V, one leg is straight and one is angled. Do you know what causes that? I have one particular yarn I knit with that looks the same. Was wondering if it has to do with the twist of the yarn or something else.
You probably can't, in any way that would be practical. Not every technique is feasible with every knitting style. It took me a while to figure out how to make it work with an English knitting style.
