I always learn something from your videos whether its a "Technique Tuesday" or a "Casual Friday"! You are a fount of knitting knowledge that you give freely from. Thank you for all the work you put into making your videos.
Reverse engineered sweater... engineering is exactly what you’re doing! You’re designing the foundation, figuring out all the specs, considering the overall look, putting all of your experience and knowledge into getting just the outcome you want. Wonderful job!!🥰
I’m getting ready to order some new yarn I’ve never worked with before and swatch to see which I prefer to make a skirt for someone. Seeing you talk about your swatches and go over why someone should swatch was very helpful to me. Thank you.
I discovered your RU-vid channel and saw you talk about interesting subjects. So I subscribed to see more (while knitting) and I became member of your Ravelry group
Thank you for another fantastic video, I have been knitting for over 60 year but I always say, there's always something new to learn, or a new way to do something. I am really interested in your reverse engineering of your cardigan, I do a lot of traditional Irish aran knitting so watching how you worked out the pattern for the pocket makes so much sense to me and it explains in terms better than I could, I have done many many swatches mainly aran cables, tree of life and other Irish stitches when I have been wanting to adapt a pattern to add a different design to it, I just wish I had kept them all so I could refer back to them. I definitely like the idea of swatches for the different heels and toes, I haven't knit socks in a long time, and the socks I mainly did knit was full length cabled socks to go along with a kilt, but I really want to have a go at ordinary socks for myself in the new year, need to get my Christmas knitting done first lol. Thank you again for all your videos and helpful tips. Stay safe, stay well, from a cold, wet miserable Scottish night 🥰
Wow, super excited, I found your channel for the first time today. I watched this video, one about cables and I'm really looking forward to watching more. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and your talent. Stay safe and stay well
Thank you for your common sense approach. I am an old very new knitter who loves to learn. Your answers always seem to have more depth. It's always great to know the"hows". Butsuper special to also know the "whys"
Hi Roxanne. Fascinating as usual! I loved hearing about how you use your swatches and seeing them! Very interesting. Your daughter’s friend is one lucky girl!
Thank you for the swatching reminder. I had never knit with pattern, but a few years ago I started challenging myself to learn to use a pattern. I always made some adjustments, but learned a lot. Now that Ravelry is not accessible, I am back to creating my own knits again. I had forgotten how much fun it is to knit a swatch to figure out what I want in the final product.
35:00 I learn so much from your videos. Wish I’d seen this bit about changing needle sizes for stranded color work in a solid background. Hope my sampler scarf blocks out ok after I didn’t do this.
It was really interesting to hear you talk about the process of figuring out how to decrease for the pocket. The bag of heel swatches was a great visual! It made me think of dumping out a big bag of candy.
I am glad that I watched this video. I am getting ready to start a colorwork pattern and the instructions state larger needle size for the colorwork portion.
Yeah, I tried registering after watching your last friday video. I emailed the organizer through eventbrite after seeing that there were no more tickets and they added more tickets. Very helpful.
I've seen people particularly complaining about gauge swatches. I guess because they feel like they're not learning anything from it, "just" finding out the numbers they need to make their project work. I've blown a bewildering number of minds by going "Ok, so use it for something." *Blank stare.* "...I mean, you're knitting a square, right? So make it X by X dimensions and you have a dishcloth, or Y by Y dimensions and you have a blanket square, or Z by Z and you have a square for a patchwork scarf..." It's always funny to see the lightbulb come on and their faces light up. It just seems so obvious to me, but I guess it isn't? And while I've had some experimental swatches where I couldn't find a use for them, my experience is that for simply trying out stitch patterns or finding yarn gauge you can easily tweak it to fit charity submission requirements. Blanket squares, baby hats, doll clothes... there's lots of options! So, if you find you hate swatching because it feels useless, see if you can turn it into a present for a stranger. 🙂
Everybody knits for different reasons and has different goals from the experience. I wonder if swatch-avoidance/distaste has to do with a knitter's position on the process/product knitter spectrum and/or whether they choose the yarn and find a pattern for it vs choosing a pattern and then finding the yarn. For example, if you are more interested in wearing an item made from a specific yarn than you are of having the pleasure of knitting a particular pattern, you might not be all that enthusiastic about swatching. I think the more a knitter learns about how knitting works, the more they appreciate the process of swatching because of what they can learn from it.
This is a good point that I hadn't consciously considered before. I knit for the process, which is probably why I've always enjoyed swatching and "mucking about" with experimental knitting that doesn't give me anything wearable. If what someone wants is the feeling of having made something tangible, ie useful, I can see why finding a use for the results would make a difference for them. Thanks for the clarity. 🙂
Video idea: Hello, new knitter here going on two months; I already love it and am trying to strategize about being methodical in advancing my skills. Any suggestions? Love your videos and your analytical approach.
Here’s a non-knitting question for you...ever since I started watching your podcasts (a long time), I always wondered what that red tube is. It used to reside on the shelf behind your head and has now popped up again. Put me out of my misery and tell us all.
Lol, I had to look at my shelf to see what you were talking about! I will make a plan to show you guys next week, if I can figure out a way to demonstrate what it does.
Pure speculation: based on its shape and the little dome at the top, I would guess that it’s a teleidoscope - a sibling to a kaleidoscope. But where a Kaleidoscope shows you pretty patterns from shards and shapes included *inside* the ‘scope, a Teleidoscope shows you patterns from *outside* the ‘scope in your environment. A knitter might use it to look at a pile of different-coloured yarns to see what they might look like together when used in a colourwork pattern. I’m looking forward to Rox’s answer to see if my guess is correct! (And BTW - there are teleidoscope apps for your smartphone/tablet that’ll do the same thing; so much fun!)
