Hey Taylor! You forgot something important.....imagine knitting a beautiful red and white colorwork sweater and then discovering that your red yarn bleeds red dye all over and ruins it....😢 if you would have washed and blocked your swatch, you would have noticed your unstable dye and saved yourself some 😢😢😢. Not that any of your yarn had ever bled dye! Not pointing fingers at anyone at all lol.
YES! I’m chuckling right now because I had a whole segment on JUST that that was not able to be included because my audio went out and I just didn’t have time to refilm. It was so frustrating, but I told myself not to worry. One of my viewers will have me covered in the comments and you came in clutch. Thank you! I’m going to pin your comment. But alas, yes. And I actually want to do a video on how to mitigate this issue with highly saturated yarn. ❤️
Elizabeth Zimmerman freed me from swatch drudgery and opened the door to fabric freedom through swatching. It’s about finding the fabric I love - and then doing the math! :) (not everyone likes that last step!). Great video, as always. Thank you Taylor!
This was the case for me as well. I also approach swatching as the official beginning of the project. I.e if I’m swatching, I have really started the project. Mentally, that helps me think positively about swatching, rather than a chore keeping me from the new project.
Took me a long time to realize why I like and wear my finished sewn garments every day but struggle to wear my hand knits and it came down to FABRIC. You're so right in that sewists have the added benefit of feeling and touching the fabric beforehand, however, with knitting we're creating fabric and constructing a garment at the same time. And while my hand knits fit they just don't quite feel right. I still haven't mastered the gauge swatch but we're getting closer since I made that realization.
approaching swatching less as a “chore i need to do to get the right numbers” and more as a “getting to know the yarn and fabric i’m gonna use” completely changed the game for me. i get so excited to swatch and discover whenever I get a new yarn nowadays
I'm actually working on my first sweater where I've picked a different size based on my gauge. I used your previous video to do the math and it's working out really well! I swatched with multiple needles and even though I could get gauge if I sized down a few sizes, I hated how dense and rigid it made the fabric. Went with my own gauge and honestly I'm feeling kind of powerful 😂
I make large swatches so that I can truly understand the stitch pattern and the yarn I've chosen. Tiny swatches can lie to you. I heartily agree with your points in this.
Last year, I worked on a mystery knit along with 12 different stitches (one stripe/stitch per month). Stitches ranged from basic k/p to lacework, colorwork, and cables 😳. The gauge swatch was essential so that the finished blanket would block evenly. The designer did a masterful job of giving the makers the right information to do this, and it's my favorite blanket!
thank you so much for this video! I feel like this needs to be said more often. A lot of new knitters or even more seasoned knitters seem to be relying so heavily on patterns and seem petrified to even stray a little from what is written. Having been there myself I can totally understand the feeling of fear that you might end up with a garment that doesn't fit. But if you learn what to look out for and how to adjust based on your specific knitting style and yarn etc. as well as your own body then knitting becomes the ultimate tool for tailored clothing. And I actually do understand now why many old knitting patterns seem so rudimentary to us today and also why so many Nordic knitting patterns are "infamous" for not being clear or "hand-holdy" enough. They give you a recipe which you can use to knit your personal item, not a precise cut-list to get the replica of the designer's item. And I love that about knitting... no matter how closely you follow the pattern, you will always end up with something that is uniquely yours.
My pleasure! I’m so glad that this resonated with you and the points you make about the rudimentary nature of older patterns or Scandinavian patterns is so true. A knitting pattern is a framework that you have to use only to the extent that it’s relevant to you and then you need to make adjustments accordingly. It’s a STARTING point. Not the endpoint. It will not satisfy ALL your needs, obviously, but it will give a great roadmap. ❤️
I can tell that you are so excited about the new idea for knitting a swatch where the yarn is at the same end. I love it too and I am pleased that you are spreading the word. Gauge Swatching is not a dirty word, that would be too easy.
I use my swatch to find the number of stitches I need for the project in hand. As I’m Danish, and we use cm. This means that the math might not be as easy for all. If my swatch gives me 27 stitches pr 10 cm, and I need a circumference of 108 cm, the math will be: 27/10 = 2,7 2,7 * 108 = 291,6 stitches ~ 292 Now I have the number of stitches, and can read my way through the pattern, to find the nearest size, that will meet my gage.
No matter what I try, my length is always short by 4-5 rows! I can’t follow a pattern that has a horizontal type design bc it’ll end up too short for me and I am not a short person. I already struggle to find shirts long enough 😂
This is a BIG struggle for some and I really want to dive into this more to figure out how you can adjust for this without having to completely rewrite a pattern. 🤔🤔🤔
I would love it if the hank or skein or cake etc came with a swatch worth of yarn...for example yarn hank $20 swatch $5 I have no idea how much a swatch takes but I buy the yarn for the yardage I need and making a swatch takes away from that so I end up needing to rip out the swatch ...yuck Hank with Little Minnie ....lol get it? 😅 or...Little Minnie with Hank ....OK I'm done I don't buy hanks to be honest, but I definitely would if these were available
I totally know what you mean. Yarn mini skeins are great for this and need to be touted less for their scrappy uses and as heels and toes of socks and more for the fact that they can be used as swatch fodder.
Hi Taylor, will be visiting Las Vegas. Would you be able to refer me to a local Yarn store. I know you are in the Henderson area. It doesn’t matter if it’s in that area. I looked up on Yelp which wasnt very helpful. Thanks in advance.
Not sure exactly what you mean. Grams is a weight in the metric system (used in Canada, Europe, UK etc,). It can be converted to ounces (imperial system used in the US) by dividing by 2.5.
