The Importance of a Gauge Swatch
Those of you who don’t knit probably don’t know what that is in the picture. It’s two legwarmers being worked at the same time, one *inside* the other. It took me several hours to cast on, and then another several minutes to get that first round going properly. But with the help of knitty’s article, Extreme knitting: 2 socks in 1″ by Kory Stamper, I got it all figured out.But then I forgot to do a gauge swatch. In fact, nevermind gauge. These are just legwarmers. All you need to know is how wide around you need them to be. And wouldn’t you know, I thought I could eyeball that. So I’ve been merrily knitting away for a couple of days now and last night I come across this: why a swatch is important. Really it’s just some knitter showing the process of “sweater planning,” but if you go on to read more you find that he finishes the most gorgeous men’s cardigan EVER, all because he started with patience and planning. I may be a convert in the world of gauge swatching.
And since I’m now thinking “hm measuring his legs might have been a good idea,” I got out the tape measure and measured. My legwarmers are an unstretched 7.5 inches. His thighs are 12″. Now that I’m clear on the technique of 2 in 1, I’m going to start again.
Filed under Knitting | Comments Offnew videos!
In addition to a bunch of new pictures being posted recently (click on the image to see them all) I just posted seven new videos!
New 8 month things
Although I have no pictures or videos to support what I’m about to announce, let me assure you that the camera is at the ready for the next time.
Yesterday he did the following things:
- Walked across the room using the highchair for support. He found the crossbar at the bottom that is just the right height, so he took himself for a little walk.
- Said “banana” in response to Jim asking him if he wanted banana. He then proceeded to eat two of them. (Really it sounds more like “nana” but he did do it everytime jim asked if he wanted more banana.)
- Signed milk. This is funny because I haven’t been all that good about signing milk. We started with eat, more, kitty, doggy, fan, milk, mommy, daddy, keys and milk. I guess he’s motivated to tell me he wants milk.
