In Defence of the Humble Swatch

Yes, I said the S word!

Swatching gets a pretty bad rap in knitting circles. I'm guessing the same is true for crochet circles. It's that boring first part of your project that slows you down from jumping into the fun part.

And depending what your project is it can seem a bit pointless. I confess, if I'm working with a yarn I'm very familiar with, in a stitch pattern I've used with it before, I have a tendency to just jump in. Especially if it's an item that doesn't need to fit someone, like a shawl or blanket. Or a tote bag. If these are bit larger or smaller than the designer's measurements, they're still useful. Scarves fit in this category too.

However if you're not familiar with the yarn or haven't used it  with a particular stitch pattern, it's usually best to try it out. This gives you a chance to try the stitch pattern without committing to the full project. Or check if a color combination really looks like you hope it will.

Someone once said to me that as a designer it must be nice not having to swatch. I laughed. 

As a designer I do far more swatching than you'd probably imagine. Do these stitch patterns look good next to one another? Will I have weird floats if I pair stitch pattern X with V and W. Is there enough contrast between Color C and Color D? Do I prefer the single color version or the two color version? This doesn't look "right" in fingering weight, but what if I try it in worsted? I've never tried this technique, *grabs a ball of yarn and some needles, proceeds to teach self new-to-me thing*...

I have a lot of swatches around from my various experiments. And where my back isn't in a good place the last couple days, I'm working on yet another one.

This probably looks a bit familiar to you if you've followed me for any bit of time. It's 3 color 2 pattern double-knitting which I tried out last year with this swatch:

Last year's swatch was to familiarize myself with 3 color double-knitting, both knitting it without creating a tangle and charting it effectively. I used yarns in my stash that happened to be all the same brand and yarn line (Bernat Satin if you're curious) in a worsted weight yarn. I find worsted weight perfect for experimenting like this. It's light enough that carrying several strands doesn't feel cumbersome. At the same time I can see the pattern without straining my eyes or it feeling too delicate to examine.

My current swatch is also yarn from my stash (Briggs & Little Sport) which I'd describe as a heavy fingering/sport weight as that's the weight I want to use for the eventual pattern.

There are other design elements that will be in this swatch as I work on it that I want to see knit up. Having a chart you like doesn't necessarily mean that it looks how you want it to when it's knit. I think this swatch's chart might be included in the pattern as the test piece so it can be used for color selections and to familiarize the knitter before launching into the main project. Double-knitting requires a decent amount of contrast between the colors and that can take playing a bit to find a combination you like and that works. Especially when using 3 colors.

I'm also playing with colors a bit. Not necessarily a color combination either; on that I'm not 100% settled yet. I'm considering if I want to use a variegated for one of them, for instance. I want to see how much of each color is used compared to the others. I'm guessing I'll use more green and purple than yellow, but how more? Will the green and purple be more or less equal in use? Or will there be a clear "this color uses more than the other 2"?

Which of course leads to gauge. How many stitches and rows am I getting to the standard 4 inch (or 10cm) square? And by comparing yarn usage to the gauge and the total stitches in my charts, I can figure out how much yarn this whole project will take. I have a rough idea already, extrapolating from a standard 2 pattern double-knitting design of mine. Is that a  reasonable assumption for 3 color 2 pattern double-knitting? I don't know yet!

And so, I swatch. 

Are you swatching today? Or jumping straight to casting on something new? I've admitted I do it, so absolutely no judgement here :)

Yours in yarn and swatching,

Síle