Swatching: Good Times

Swatching for the Celtic Knot Cardigan consumes my every thought:

In a comment she left on Ideaphoria, Gail, one of my workshop students captured the whole swatching experience perfectly:

My Special Moment [in the workshop]: When you told our Fearless Feral Knitter: "There are some parts of this swatch I really like"....AHAH!

I got it! Swatching Is A Process! Suddenly I saw swatching as a circular motion, like a whirlpool, focusing in on what works, discarding what doesn't work, moving in and in until you find what you have in your mind's eye. Your comment illuminated the whole process for me.

I'm circling and circling, trying different combinations of the colors I've chosen to work with. I'd like to have this done by the time I leave for Knitting Camp in mid-July....

Hey, I Could Use Your Help!

A local yarn shop has asked me if I'd be interested in teaching a series of Fair Isle classes for knitters new to the art--What has your experience been? What worked? What didn't? Do you like having a little project to show for yourself? I'd appreciate your feedback.

Look What Came Home With Me

Luscious Hand Maiden Sea Silk! The memento of a special belated Mother's Day outing to Bainbridge Island, along with this wonderful card:

Comments

[CarolineF]

I know it sounds dorky when you first think about it, but the teddy bear sweater I did as my first fair isle project totally got me through all the mysteries of it - stranding 2 colors, cutting tiny steeks, picking up around armholes - it was wonderful. As a beginner I wouldn't have been ready to design my own, but to get a little kit with a pattern and some yarns and do the whole process in miniature was perfect.

[Maia]

Do you swatch just the colors until they are sorted out and then add the pattern? Interesting. Is the body done and waiting for the Celtic Knot yoke?

On classes, it probably depends on the students. I want to learn the things I don't already know like how to put colors together and maintain a coherent pattern. Showing example swatches of what works and doesn't work would be helpful. I don't need a lot of help with garment design, but there are always good tid-bits to be gleaned from a good teacher. A project is definitely a good thing. Seeing is one thing, doing is another.

[Elizabeth]

I loved doing the hat for the Madrona and it gave me a complete project that didn't take that long. I really could have done more "swatching" on the hat, now that I think about it, so I would suggest to people to have it in mind as a swatch and possibly a charity project at the same time.

And that pile of yarn? Yummy! What wonderful colors.

[vanessa]

unlike caroline, the bear sweater didn't work for me. too fiddly on the dpns, too small for my beginner brain. next i joined wendy j's fearless faor isle group. knit the body part of the sweater, blech, i hated my tension. but got rid of the fear ;-)

then i grabbed a book, picked out 3 flower patterns with the same amount of sts, cast on for a circular bag, knit a checkerboard border, then one flower, then a peerie, flower, peerie...
i-cord bind-off with a loop in the middle for a button closure.

it was the perfect beginner project for me, no shaping, and enough sts on a 16" circ so that i didn't feel cramped. plus i got to play with the pattern combos. rebecca loves it :-)

[Karen]

The swatch that's on your needles in the lower right of the photo looks like it is the one most approaching that special glow that Fair Isle work should have. And it looks like you are going for changing foreground and background colors -- ? If so, hooray! And let me say again what a great idea the speed-swatching is!