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Swatching Tips I Wish I Knew 10 Years Ago
In this article, I’ve documented 11 points that I wish I knew before I knit my first swatch. Knowing these tips 10 years ago would have helped me avoid much wasted time, frustration, and ill-fitting knitting projects.
Hello everyone!
As a knitter, there’s a very crucial task that occurs often in my life. Unfortunately, I haven’t always given this task the attention, care, and enjoyment it deserves. Can you guess what I’m talking about?
I’m talking about gauge swatching for my knitting projects.
Last year, I spent some time deep diving into the details of how to knit and take measurements on a swatch as accurately as possible.
Here are 11 tips I’m now applying to my swatching process.
Swatch with the Same Needles
In her book The Principals of Knitting, June Hemmons Hiatt notes that knitting with needles that are of different materials can have an effect on gauge.
Occasionally, I would grab wooden double pointed needles to swatch for an item that I really intend to knit with my Chiaogoo stainless steel needles.
Also, I wonder if using a different style of needle can have an affect on gauge.
Often, I’m more nervous about my stitches falling off the ends of double pointed needles than when I’m knitting on a circular needle. My tension is likely to differ when knitting with double pointed needles from circular needles.
The lesson I’m learning is use the exact same needles for swatching and knitting the item.
Prepare Swatches as Instructed in Pattern
Most of us who have been knitting for a while know to treat our swatches as we intend to treat the final knitted item.
Often, this involves blocking the swatch. Yarn can transform so much after it has had a bath and been introduced to water.
In certain patterns, it’s instructed to forgo blocking. If so, the swatch should forgo this traditional bath too.
It’s always best to prepare my swatch as the designer instructed instead of going my own way unless I’m making major modifications.
Don’t Switch Hands
Mostly, I knit English style, but when my hands are tired, I will sometimes work Continental style.
I can hold the yarn in my right hand (English style) or my left hand (Continental style), but if I switch between the two, I’m likely to experience changes in my tension which will affect my gauge.
I’m trying to stick with one knitting style from swatching to binding off a project. If I think I may want to switch hands during a bigger project, like a sweater, I want to start switching hands during swatching too.
Mind How Different Stitch Patterns Will Affect Gauge
A sweater with various stitch patterns will often have different gauge measurements depending on if you measure in the cable section or the stockinette section.
Though crucial to understand when designing, I didn’t give this much thought as a beginner knitter.
Gaining this simple yet influential understanding helped me understand how stitch patterns play into knitting a garment that fits even if I wasn’t designing the pattern.
Mind How Projects with Multiple Yarns
I really like colorwork knitting! Fair Isle to be more specific. I’m a happy knitter with 2 colors of yarn draped over my fingers as I knit.
As I try to use yarns from my stash first, I have different brands of the same weight of yarn being used in particular projects.
Using different yarns can really have an effect when knitting a project with larger blocks of color.
Imagine a color block sweater pattern that calls for 2 different colors of worsted weight yarn in similar quantities. I have 2 contrasting colors that are of worsted weight but are from different brands. I swatch in the color that is used for the chest portion of the sweater, but skip getting gauge from the other color that is used for knitting the cross back section and arms. If my gauge was different with the 2 yarns, the cross back width and upper arm circumference could be wildly different in size than the designer intended.
It may be worth knitting multiple swatches for different yarns used for certain patterns.
Create Swatches with Unrestrained Edges
Most cast on and bind off techniques create tight edges that are quite restrained even if they can be stretched slightly.
Learning the Right Twist Start, Stranded Cast On, and Stranded Cast Off techniques were so helpful for this process!
These methods keep the edges of the swatch unrestrained.
Having swatch edges that move around more easily can help more accurate measurements to be taken.
Test Before Gauge
When reading The Principals of Knitting, I was introduced to a very profound yet simple idea.
Instead of casting on a large swatch to measure the gauge, first knit a test swatch.
A test swatch is a much smaller square, maybe 10 or 15 stitches casted on, with the goal of observing the drape, thickness or thinness, appearance of the stitch pattern, and more to see if it looks pleasing.
How many times have I casted on 30 stitches and knit 10 rows to learn the cables are too loose and the gauge is off?
Working a small square with the selected yarn, needles, and stitch pattern, can save much time and frustration.
Bigger Project, Bigger Swatch
I used to knit the smallest swatch possible to save time.
This gave me little area to actually take my gauge measurements and see differences in my gauge throughout the swatch.
From now on, I try to cast on at least 30 stitches for worsted weight yarn. Do you get the idea?
Measure in Multiple Locations
I confess!
I would slap down a swatch, lay a ruler down, quickly count the stitches and rows per inch in 1 spot, and say it was good enough.
What if the 1 spot that I calculated my gauge from I knit while stressed, my gauge on the main project when I’m relaxing on the sofa will be much looser.
Learn from my mistakes and measure gauge in different spots around the swatch.
Knitting Flat vs. Circular
I used to knit a swatch flat when I was going to knit the hat in the round.
I’ve put away that bad habit.
Now, I swatch flat for projects knit flat and swatch in the round for projects knit in the round. I highly recommend it!
Enjoy the Process and Give Your Swatches Purpose
If I plan to knit for the rest of my life, my future holds a lot more moments of swatch knitting.
How can I make this process more enjoyable? I want swatching to be a treat and not a chore.
To transform my time spent swatching will involve intentional changes.
Maybe, it’s making a special drink, sitting in a favorite chair, listening to an audiobook or knitting podcast, or going to my favorite place away from home.
Intentionally, I need to reframe my mind to look at swatching as enjoyably meeting my materials and preparing for the coming project instead of an annoying roadblock and waste of time.
Look for ways to repurpose your swatches. My favorite way is to use my swatches as dish cloths. Since I mostly knit with wool yarns, these swatches felt in the wash and dryer creating fulled, or felted, dish cloths.
Conclusion
It would brighten my day to hear your opinions! Were any of these tips new to you? What is your favorite swatching tip?
Have a blessed day, friends! I will be back with more to share soon.
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