Some of my crocheted swatches, destined to be turned into a cushion cover

This last week I’ve been green with envy hearing all the feedback from everyone at GayRomLit (next year I will be there!), so have attempted to distract myself by tidying and sorting my workroom–okay, my side of the bedroom, but humour me here. In the process I discovered a bag of all my old swatches and abandoned projects I’d been saving. I couldn’t throw them away–the hoarder inside me wouldn’t let me. Instead, I decided to turn my weakness into an opportunity, and set about turning those scraps of knit and crochet into new items.

But first, why even bother with swatches? So many people don’t, and their stuff turns out all right, doesn’t it? Well, maybe…

Swatchers and Pantsers

The knitting world seems to be divided into two camps: the obsessive swatchers, and those who still wouldn’t make one if you sat them down at gunpoint. Those swatch -voiders are the pantsers, who just want to get going no matter the risk of knitting a garment only a giant could wear. I used to be a pantser, I’ll admit, and I reckon many knitters start out that way. However, there comes a point where if you want to make clothes that fit, you’re probably going to need to swatch. I can think of at least three projects I’ve made (and one rather recently, I’m ashamed to say), where I didn’t swatch and lived to regret it.

The zen of swatching

It’s all about getting into the right mindset. After all, I love knitting and crocheting, so making a swatch is doing something I love, right? I have to tell myself that I’m not wasting my time or my yarn. I’m spending it doing my hobby which should make me happy. I don’t think I’m ever going to be one of those bizarre knitters who enjoys swatching purely for the sake of playing with different yarns, like this knitter does, but I totally respect her dedication to the craft. Strangely enough though, I can happily doodle away making circular crochet motifs that I have no particular use for, yet tell me to knit a square and I rebel. Maybe it’s the whole back and forth thing. I’m much happier working out from the middle.

But there are other reasons for swatching instead of ensuring you match the gauge, as Julie Theaker outlines in her fabulous article here. What about the drape of the fabric? Will your cast on method work? How will the yarn behave in the washing machine? If you look on swatching as an essential learning journey, it becomes more fun, or so the theory goes. I’m getting there, slowly.

When you can get away without swatching

Scarves. What is a scarf, anyway, but a really long swatch? The same goes for dishcloths (although Chris is the only person I know who admits to knitting her own dishcloths!), and smaller, fit-as-you-go-projects. Most hats worked from the top down should be fine too, as you can simply stop increasing when you’ve reached the right size. Triangular shawls which work out from the centre are usually safe too, but just make sure you have enough yarn! This was my most recent disaster: a shawl I didn’t swatch and didn’t even bother measuring as I was crocheting it up. If I had, I’d have seen I needed to get down the yarn shop, pronto. However, as I wanted to wear the shawl at Eroticon which was only a week away, I really didn’t have time to make it larger. Annoyingly enough, swapping up a hook size at the beginning would have solved everything, and not left me with a shawl so small I have to pin it to get it stay together.

My philosophy now is that I won’t bother swatching if I don’t mind frogging the beginning of something if I get it wrong. Everything else gets swatched, though.

Swatch makes–beyond the sampler blanket

Not that there’s anything wrong with a sampler blanket, but I was keen to find some other ideas for my collection of swatches and scraps. I combed the web and found some wonderfully creative makes from other knitters, such as bangles, scarves, bags, phone cosies, Christmas decorations, and even plant pots!

Of course, the very simplest swatch makes involve doing very little at all other than weaving the ends away. If the yarn and stitch are suitable, you then could have yourself a coaster, a washcloth, a lens cleaning cloth or a doll’s blanket. A row of blanket stitch or a crocheted edging will take it up a level, but still be simplicity itself (unless you can’t crochet, in which case you need to learn now!)

So, here are a few pics of my swatches, and what I’ve done (or plan to do) with them.

These leftover granny squares looked perfect for making a mug cosy. I like my tea piping hot, so I really would use one of these. The cosy itself was simple to make, and the instructions are all over on Ravelry.

The following pieces all fall into the colour spectrum for my ongoing piece of freeform crochet (as inspired by Renate Kirkpatrick’s Freeform Crochet and Beyond), so I’m going to try to work them into it in some way. I might turn the largest of the pink broomstick crochet swatches (centre picture) into a phone cosy for my mum, though.

You can see what I’ve made so far in the picture below. I’ve now decided I’m making a bag (probably for my daughter, as I don’t like pink), and have cut myself a template so I don’t make it too big by accident. Freeform crochet is great fun as it feels like doodling again, and you can experiment to your heart’s content.It’s also a great way of using up small scraps of leftover yarn:

The following pics aren’t even my swatches. These were in the knitting bag I inherited from my gran. I haven’t been able to part with them for sentimental reasons, but they definitely aren’t doing anyone any good sitting in storage. I think the larger, stripe textured swatch could be made into a small purse–perhaps a make-up bag if lined.

As for the garter stitch squares? I couldn’t stand the aqua colour so I gave those to my daughter to use as doll blankets. The cream one is going to be used as a base for some yarn embroidery (inspired by the examples below), and then possibly used as a coaster or turned into a bag for my daughter.

And finally, this is my very first piece of knitting (unless you count the doll scarf I made as a child). I want to use it in some way, but I’m stuck for ideas. It isn’t a colour I’d want to wear or use in accessories, so what could I do with it? Any suggestions, peeps?

Of course, when inspiration fails, you could always use your swatches to indulge in a bit of lighthearted yarn bombing, and brighten up your locality:

So what about the rest of you: swatchers or pantsers? And has anyone else got into a pickle when they didn’t swatch, or do you have any nifty repurposed swatch projects you want to share?

Josephine Myles first learnt to crochet when she was eighteen. After making one beret that turned into a teacosy and frustrated at the crappy choice of yarn in her local shops, she decided the craft just wasn’t for her. Fast forward ten years, and having a bun in the oven prompted Jo to pick up her hook again to crochet some teeny-tiny baby things. Fortunately, by this time the world had caught up with her and there were all kinds of sexy yarns out there to indulge in. A few years later she taught herself knitting and dressmaking, and she hasn’t looked back since.

When she’s not busy with yarn or sewing machine, Jo can be found with her head in a book, pottering in the garden or running around after her daughter. She should probably get back to writing the steamy manlove novels, shouldn’t she?

Jo’s website and blog: http://josephinemyles.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JosephineMyles
Facebook author page: http://www.facebook.com/josephine.myles.authorpage
Ravelry profile: http://www.ravelry.com/people/Anna-Jo


Posted by in Knit and Crochet Tags: , , ,