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 OffVacation Knitting
I brought two knitting projects to hawaii with me: two balls of sheep shop 2 which were to become mittens, intended to be my “mindless travel knitting” for those relaxing moments on the beach, and several balls of cascade pastaza, which were slated to be a top-down raglan for Jim. I’ve so far finished part of a mitten (I stopped at fingertip decreases) and have decided that the color of pastaza that I purchased is inappropriate for a man’s sweater. So productive. It turns out that knitting in hawaii is nowhere near as fun as knitting in calgary. Something to do with the lack of snow outside. So now I’m wandering aimlessly to find a suitable project for this pastaza of mine. I’m thinking something in the “winter accessory” department…
Okay, maybe wandering aimlessly was the wrong phrase back there. I actually tried to make knitty – winter 2006’s calorimetry. It turned out okay I think, but I did have to cast on a few less stitches, and I have no idea how many short row repeats I actually did. I just kept going until it was as wide as I wanted it to be. For me, knitting on vacation means not measuring for gauge.
And hey did y’all see that the new knitty is up?
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Last week we started the baby monster on baby cereal. I tried to put it off. All the books and information online say to put it off until the baby is AT LEAST six months old because starting solids early leaves baby prone to allergies and obesity. And a host of other bad things. Maybe even smallpox. Anyhow, these same publications also like to talk about how different babies move along at different paces, and that you should not be raising your child by a calendar. So since he had been trying to steal our food at dinner for a couple of weeks already, and since he started waking up in the middle of the night hungry, something he hadn’t done since he was like a month old, I decided it was time to feed him something more than the liquid diet he’s done so well on.
As you can see, the first session went well. He didn’t make funny faces and he seemed to know exactly what to do with the cereal once it was in his mouth.
He can stay upright pretty well, but hasn’t gotten to the completely upright stage. I realize it’s only been a week.
And then we have my knitting. So many things to knit… I haven’t been keeping my photos up to date, so I’m making an attempt here. On top in pink we have a Christmas gift that I will explain after Christmas. I don’t think the recipient reads this, but just in case. The white bit of stockinette at the top is a swatch for a top-down raglan done in Cascade Pastaza. This is the first time I’ve ever even picked up a skein of this stuff. I think I’m in love though. It’s so soft, yet sturdy feeling. Amy at Make 1 suggested I use it. Of course, when she suggested it, I decided to ignore her and pick up a bunch of Misty Alpaca Merino, which was nice but didn’t knit to the gauge I was after. I went back to the store to go with her original suggestion, still not yet convinced. It wasn’t until I swatched the stuff that I realized I was dumb to have not listened to her in the first place… Sorry Amy.
The last thing on the bottom there is a sweater that’s been on the needles for months. I just can’t get motivated to finish it. It’s the Angelina from White Lies Designs. I’m knitting it in a wonderful Blue Sky Alpacas Sport Weight. It should be great once I get around to finishing it.
And last on my list: When I had Jonah I decided to keep a separate website with all the boring details of mommyhood. I didn’t want to bore the regular readers here with spit up and diapers and I figured the mommy audience would be tired of hearing about my latest knitting projects. Plus there was the fact that I wasn’t sure about posting my kid’s face on a website with a URL consisting of my real name. If ever he wants to run for office I may have already ruined his chances. It turns out that I have very little to say if not for the baby stuff, so I’m going to go ahead and smush both websites into one (this one) and get over myself and the fact that I thought having two separate websites was necessary.
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