Hey Taylor! You forgot something important.....imagine knitting a beautiful red and white colorwork sweater and then discovering that your red yarn bleeds red dye all over and ruins it....😢 if you would have washed and blocked your swatch, you would have noticed your unstable dye and saved yourself some 😢😢😢. Not that any of your yarn had ever bled dye! Not pointing fingers at anyone at all lol.
YES! I’m chuckling right now because I had a whole segment on JUST that that was not able to be included because my audio went out and I just didn’t have time to refilm. It was so frustrating, but I told myself not to worry. One of my viewers will have me covered in the comments and you came in clutch. Thank you! I’m going to pin your comment. But alas, yes. And I actually want to do a video on how to mitigate this issue with highly saturated yarn. ❤️
I’ve seen the white yarn of someone’s beautiful sweater get dyed another color during soaking by the other color in the knit, it was heartbreaking. It was such a beautiful knit and they had worked so hard on it and there was no fixing it. 😢
Elizabeth Zimmerman freed me from swatch drudgery and opened the door to fabric freedom through swatching. It’s about finding the fabric I love - and then doing the math! :) (not everyone likes that last step!). Great video, as always. Thank you Taylor!
This was the case for me as well. I also approach swatching as the official beginning of the project. I.e if I’m swatching, I have really started the project. Mentally, that helps me think positively about swatching, rather than a chore keeping me from the new project.
approaching swatching less as a “chore i need to do to get the right numbers” and more as a “getting to know the yarn and fabric i’m gonna use” completely changed the game for me. i get so excited to swatch and discover whenever I get a new yarn nowadays
I'm actually working on my first sweater where I've picked a different size based on my gauge. I used your previous video to do the math and it's working out really well! I swatched with multiple needles and even though I could get gauge if I sized down a few sizes, I hated how dense and rigid it made the fabric. Went with my own gauge and honestly I'm feeling kind of powerful 😂
Working in a Yarn Shop, it amazes me how many people don't take the time to swatch! I always stress the importance of swatching, pointing out all the reason you mentioned in your video. I have two things I am faithful to....1) SWATCH AND WASH, 2) Life lines are your friend....this I've learnt the hard way. LOL
Took me a long time to realize why I like and wear my finished sewn garments every day but struggle to wear my hand knits and it came down to FABRIC. You're so right in that sewists have the added benefit of feeling and touching the fabric beforehand, however, with knitting we're creating fabric and constructing a garment at the same time. And while my hand knits fit they just don't quite feel right. I still haven't mastered the gauge swatch but we're getting closer since I made that realization.
I make large swatches so that I can truly understand the stitch pattern and the yarn I've chosen. Tiny swatches can lie to you. I heartily agree with your points in this.
Last year, I worked on a mystery knit along with 12 different stitches (one stripe/stitch per month). Stitches ranged from basic k/p to lacework, colorwork, and cables 😳. The gauge swatch was essential so that the finished blanket would block evenly. The designer did a masterful job of giving the makers the right information to do this, and it's my favorite blanket!
I use my swatch to find the number of stitches I need for the project in hand. As I’m Danish, and we use cm. This means that the math might not be as easy for all. If my swatch gives me 27 stitches pr 10 cm, and I need a circumference of 108 cm, the math will be: 27/10 = 2,7 2,7 * 108 = 291,6 stitches ~ 292 Now I have the number of stitches, and can read my way through the pattern, to find the nearest size, that will meet my gage.
I'm doing an improv sweater, and swatching was so important! I tried several needle sizes. There was one size that gave me fabrics I really love. I am doing cables down the center, so doing a cable swatch helped me see that it would work the way I wanted. Swatching is so important!! It helps you make sure your project will fit and be what you want it to be.
My mom taught me to swatch first, even if we had the same yarn that the pattern called for. I always thought it was a tiny piece of what I was going to knit and found it really cute. With that we helped my sister to create both of her first garments, one is a beautiful cardigan with a Misterious yarn that my mom had and a poncho made with the stitches and cables that she like. Sometimes it is a bit frustrating because you want to CO your project, but swatching is a way to ensure that your garment is going to be the way you dreamed it.
I have been so burned by swatches that I don’t trust them anymore 😅 the first sweater I made, I swatched and washed and measured etc and met gauge. Little did I know that I should’ve washed the swatch again, as the FO itself grew everytime it was washed! It was also acrylic so there was no way to get it back to the way it was. I am currently now re-making in SW merino, at least I can put it in the dryer. Now I only swatch to check if the yarn is itchy to wear, but I don’t trust it for gauge at all
thank you so much for this video! I feel like this needs to be said more often. A lot of new knitters or even more seasoned knitters seem to be relying so heavily on patterns and seem petrified to even stray a little from what is written. Having been there myself I can totally understand the feeling of fear that you might end up with a garment that doesn't fit. But if you learn what to look out for and how to adjust based on your specific knitting style and yarn etc. as well as your own body then knitting becomes the ultimate tool for tailored clothing. And I actually do understand now why many old knitting patterns seem so rudimentary to us today and also why so many Nordic knitting patterns are "infamous" for not being clear or "hand-holdy" enough. They give you a recipe which you can use to knit your personal item, not a precise cut-list to get the replica of the designer's item. And I love that about knitting... no matter how closely you follow the pattern, you will always end up with something that is uniquely yours.
My pleasure! I’m so glad that this resonated with you and the points you make about the rudimentary nature of older patterns or Scandinavian patterns is so true. A knitting pattern is a framework that you have to use only to the extent that it’s relevant to you and then you need to make adjustments accordingly. It’s a STARTING point. Not the endpoint. It will not satisfy ALL your needs, obviously, but it will give a great roadmap. ❤️
I can tell that you are so excited about the new idea for knitting a swatch where the yarn is at the same end. I love it too and I am pleased that you are spreading the word. Gauge Swatching is not a dirty word, that would be too easy.
I always make gauge swatches. I learnt it by myself: a little time spent on gauge-swatching spares you of many frustrating hours of knitting and frogging your work.
I’m just reading Patty Lyons book, which I can highly recommend for further learning about this topic. Thank you Taylor, for another great episode (like so often). By the way, I needed to try out Roxanne’s in the round swatching method immediately after watching your last video 😂
I’ve made the mistake of going down needle sizes for a sweater and knitting a sweater with no drape. One way to use a gauge swatch if you don’t want to do math is to knit a fabric you love, measure the gauge, then look for patterns that have that gauge.
I hate doing swatches, but I understand that they are necessary and I would rather find out something doesn't work on a small swatch compared to a final project.
No matter what I try, my length is always short by 4-5 rows! I can’t follow a pattern that has a horizontal type design bc it’ll end up too short for me and I am not a short person. I already struggle to find shirts long enough 😂
This is a BIG struggle for some and I really want to dive into this more to figure out how you can adjust for this without having to completely rewrite a pattern. 🤔🤔🤔
I find that not hitting row gauge for a pattern (most folks don't even if they get stitch gauge) is fine most of the time unless it's these types, aka a colorwork sweater with a deeper yoke. You need to know the intended yoke depth and if you need to separate the yoke early (and then figure out how to continue the pattern on the sleeves) or conversely add length to make it longer! I think it would be useful for folks to learn when not hitting row gauge could lead to issues and to proceed with caution and when they are safe (ie knit to x inches)
@@WOOLNEEDLESHANDS That would be great and helpful bc I am not that experienced yet so I couldn’t figure out how to make changes. Looking forward to hear what you learn and come up with!
My gauge swatches have a tendency to lie - for me even a large swatch just doesn't have enough volume to account for the fact that I'll need to use 500 - 600 grams of yarn for a fingering weight sweater. Since I knit with roughly the same yarn weight and needle sizes regularly - I'll often cast on a project, knit about 50 grams worth of the project, then put the project on waste yarn or tubing and block to get a better sense of my gauge - if I don't like it, it might be a few hours of time wasted - but I actually wear my FOs from this method because they fit better and feel better.
Hi Taylor, will be visiting Las Vegas. Would you be able to refer me to a local Yarn store. I know you are in the Henderson area. It doesn’t matter if it’s in that area. I looked up on Yelp which wasnt very helpful. Thanks in advance.
I would love it if the hank or skein or cake etc came with a swatch worth of yarn...for example yarn hank $20 swatch $5 I have no idea how much a swatch takes but I buy the yarn for the yardage I need and making a swatch takes away from that so I end up needing to rip out the swatch ...yuck Hank with Little Minnie ....lol get it? 😅 or...Little Minnie with Hank ....OK I'm done I don't buy hanks to be honest, but I definitely would if these were available
I totally know what you mean. Yarn mini skeins are great for this and need to be touted less for their scrappy uses and as heels and toes of socks and more for the fact that they can be used as swatch fodder.
I don’t mind swatching at all but I do mind using up my project yarn and not being sure if I bought enough without over buying. More experience will help I suppose.
I know 2 people (at least) who won't make garments because they "can't make gauge and will NOT, under any circumstances, make a swatch." Well ok then. Oh, but "how many stitches do I need to cast on with this needle to get 18 inches?" Well I don't know. You knit tighter than me. Where's your swatch? "I didn't f-ing make one and you know it." (We're sisters - cussing at each other is part of our regular vocabulary, not anger). I've also gotten to the point where I can tell how the fabric will feel knitted up by feeling the skein because I've swatched a lot of yarn types!
Not sure exactly what you mean. Grams is a weight in the metric system (used in Canada, Europe, UK etc,). It can be converted to ounces (imperial system used in the US) by dividing by 2.5.
I really enjoy your videos, however the background music was so annoying I couldn’t finish watching. I don’t know why there needs to be music playing when presenting information. Really good information but I couldn’t finish watching because it was too much sensory overload. 😢
I know what you're talking about. Try turning the sound down and using closed caption. You might need to slow the video, or rewatch parts, but you'll get the info.
Hey Taylor! You forgot something important.....imagine knitting a beautiful red and white colorwork sweater and then discovering that your red yarn bleeds red dye all over and ruins it....😢 if you would have washed and blocked your swatch, you would have noticed your unstable dye and saved yourself some 😢😢😢. Not that any of your yarn had ever bled dye! Not pointing fingers at anyone at all lol.
YES! I’m chuckling right now because I had a whole segment on JUST that that was not able to be included because my audio went out and I just didn’t have time to refilm. It was so frustrating, but I told myself not to worry. One of my viewers will have me covered in the comments and you came in clutch. Thank you! I’m going to pin your comment.
But alas, yes. And I actually want to do a video on how to mitigate this issue with highly saturated yarn. ❤️
Wow, never think of that. I hate makeing swatch but nie I really ser a purpose.
Color catcher sheets are your best friend! I throw a couple in the blocking water the first time I'm soaking anything that's highly saturated!
I’ve seen the white yarn of someone’s beautiful sweater get dyed another color during soaking by the other color in the knit, it was heartbreaking. It was such a beautiful knit and they had worked so hard on it and there was no fixing it. 😢
Elizabeth Zimmerman freed me from swatch drudgery and opened the door to fabric freedom through swatching. It’s about finding the fabric I love - and then doing the math! :) (not everyone likes that last step!). Great video, as always. Thank you Taylor!
This was the case for me as well. I also approach swatching as the official beginning of the project. I.e if I’m swatching, I have really started the project. Mentally, that helps me think positively about swatching, rather than a chore keeping me from the new project.
approaching swatching less as a “chore i need to do to get the right numbers” and more as a “getting to know the yarn and fabric i’m gonna use” completely changed the game for me. i get so excited to swatch and discover whenever I get a new yarn nowadays
Yes! That’s when it all comes together. That was me last year. 💪❤️
I'm actually working on my first sweater where I've picked a different size based on my gauge. I used your previous video to do the math and it's working out really well! I swatched with multiple needles and even though I could get gauge if I sized down a few sizes, I hated how dense and rigid it made the fabric. Went with my own gauge and honestly I'm feeling kind of powerful 😂
Yes! I love it!! Preach it! (Ok I’ll sit down now…😅)
Swatching is extremely useful!!
Working in a Yarn Shop, it amazes me how many people don't take the time to swatch! I always stress the importance of swatching, pointing out all the reason you mentioned in your video. I have two things I am faithful to....1) SWATCH AND WASH, 2) Life lines are your friend....this I've learnt the hard way. LOL
Great way to reframe the importance of swatching. I'm converted!...maybe.
Took me a long time to realize why I like and wear my finished sewn garments every day but struggle to wear my hand knits and it came down to FABRIC. You're so right in that sewists have the added benefit of feeling and touching the fabric beforehand, however, with knitting we're creating fabric and constructing a garment at the same time. And while my hand knits fit they just don't quite feel right. I still haven't mastered the gauge swatch but we're getting closer since I made that realization.
I make large swatches so that I can truly understand the stitch pattern and the yarn I've chosen. Tiny swatches can lie to you. I heartily agree with your points in this.
This was sooooo incredibly helpful and insightful
For today, I'm just dropping some inspiration and motivation for embracing gauge swatching. Enjoy! ❤
Last year, I worked on a mystery knit along with 12 different stitches (one stripe/stitch per month). Stitches ranged from basic k/p to lacework, colorwork, and cables 😳. The gauge swatch was essential so that the finished blanket would block evenly. The designer did a masterful job of giving the makers the right information to do this, and it's my favorite blanket!
I use my swatch to find the number of stitches I need for the project in hand.
As I’m Danish, and we use cm. This means that the math might not be as easy for all.
If my swatch gives me 27 stitches pr 10 cm, and I need a circumference of 108 cm, the math will be:
27/10 = 2,7
2,7 * 108 = 291,6 stitches ~ 292
Now I have the number of stitches, and can read my way through the pattern, to find the nearest size, that will meet my gage.
I'm doing an improv sweater, and swatching was so important! I tried several needle sizes. There was one size that gave me fabrics I really love. I am doing cables down the center, so doing a cable swatch helped me see that it would work the way I wanted.
Swatching is so important!! It helps you make sure your project will fit and be what you want it to be.
My mom taught me to swatch first, even if we had the same yarn that the pattern called for. I always thought it was a tiny piece of what I was going to knit and found it really cute. With that we helped my sister to create both of her first garments, one is a beautiful cardigan with a Misterious yarn that my mom had and a poncho made with the stitches and cables that she like. Sometimes it is a bit frustrating because you want to CO your project, but swatching is a way to ensure that your garment is going to be the way you dreamed it.
I have been so burned by swatches that I don’t trust them anymore 😅 the first sweater I made, I swatched and washed and measured etc and met gauge. Little did I know that I should’ve washed the swatch again, as the FO itself grew everytime it was washed! It was also acrylic so there was no way to get it back to the way it was. I am currently now re-making in SW merino, at least I can put it in the dryer. Now I only swatch to check if the yarn is itchy to wear, but I don’t trust it for gauge at all
I love to knit „off gauge“ because most of the times I‘m only looking for the general style in a pattern but want/ need a more dense fabric.
thank you so much for this video! I feel like this needs to be said more often. A lot of new knitters or even more seasoned knitters seem to be relying so heavily on patterns and seem petrified to even stray a little from what is written. Having been there myself I can totally understand the feeling of fear that you might end up with a garment that doesn't fit. But if you learn what to look out for and how to adjust based on your specific knitting style and yarn etc. as well as your own body then knitting becomes the ultimate tool for tailored clothing. And I actually do understand now why many old knitting patterns seem so rudimentary to us today and also why so many Nordic knitting patterns are "infamous" for not being clear or "hand-holdy" enough. They give you a recipe which you can use to knit your personal item, not a precise cut-list to get the replica of the designer's item. And I love that about knitting... no matter how closely you follow the pattern, you will always end up with something that is uniquely yours.
My pleasure! I’m so glad that this resonated with you and the points you make about the rudimentary nature of older patterns or Scandinavian patterns is so true. A knitting pattern is a framework that you have to use only to the extent that it’s relevant to you and then you need to make adjustments accordingly. It’s a STARTING point. Not the endpoint. It will not satisfy ALL your needs, obviously, but it will give a great roadmap. ❤️
I can tell that you are so excited about the new idea for knitting a swatch where the yarn is at the same end. I love it too and I am pleased that you are spreading the word. Gauge Swatching is not a dirty word, that would be too easy.
I always make gauge swatches. I learnt it by myself: a little time spent on gauge-swatching spares you of many frustrating hours of knitting and frogging your work.
I’m just reading Patty Lyons book, which I can highly recommend for further learning about this topic. Thank you Taylor, for another great episode (like so often). By the way, I needed to try out Roxanne’s in the round swatching method immediately after watching your last video 😂
Thanks for the motivation it is definitely freeing!! Math is a powerful tool 😆
You had me at "how your gauge swatch helps YOU" :P
I’ve made the mistake of going down needle sizes for a sweater and knitting a sweater with no drape. One way to use a gauge swatch if you don’t want to do math is to knit a fabric you love, measure the gauge, then look for patterns that have that gauge.
Thankyou Taylor. Always informative.
My pleasure Jan!
Thanks for another great video. Very helpful.😊
You are so welcome! Thank YOU.
I hate doing swatches, but I understand that they are necessary and I would rather find out something doesn't work on a small swatch compared to a final project.
No matter what I try, my length is always short by 4-5 rows! I can’t follow a pattern that has a horizontal type design bc it’ll end up too short for me and I am not a short person. I already struggle to find shirts long enough 😂
This is a BIG struggle for some and I really want to dive into this more to figure out how you can adjust for this without having to completely rewrite a pattern. 🤔🤔🤔
I find that not hitting row gauge for a pattern (most folks don't even if they get stitch gauge) is fine most of the time unless it's these types, aka a colorwork sweater with a deeper yoke. You need to know the intended yoke depth and if you need to separate the yoke early (and then figure out how to continue the pattern on the sleeves) or conversely add length to make it longer! I think it would be useful for folks to learn when not hitting row gauge could lead to issues and to proceed with caution and when they are safe (ie knit to x inches)
@@WOOLNEEDLESHANDS That would be great and helpful bc I am not that experienced yet so I couldn’t figure out how to make changes. Looking forward to hear what you learn and come up with!
I’m literally knitting a swatch rn haha
💪💪💪
My gauge swatches have a tendency to lie - for me even a large swatch just doesn't have enough volume to account for the fact that I'll need to use 500 - 600 grams of yarn for a fingering weight sweater. Since I knit with roughly the same yarn weight and needle sizes regularly - I'll often cast on a project, knit about 50 grams worth of the project, then put the project on waste yarn or tubing and block to get a better sense of my gauge - if I don't like it, it might be a few hours of time wasted - but I actually wear my FOs from this method because they fit better and feel better.
I get stitch swatch but never row gauge. How do I correct? I usually simply knit enough rows to get inch length for garment. Any other ideas please?
Hi Taylor, will be visiting Las Vegas. Would you be able to refer me to a local Yarn store. I know you are in the Henderson area. It doesn’t matter if it’s in that area. I looked up on Yelp which wasnt very helpful. Thanks in advance.
I would love it if the hank or skein or cake etc came with a swatch worth of yarn...for example yarn hank $20 swatch $5 I have no idea how much a swatch takes but I buy the yarn for the yardage I need and making a swatch takes away from that so I end up needing to rip out the swatch ...yuck Hank with Little Minnie ....lol get it? 😅 or...Little Minnie with Hank ....OK I'm done
I don't buy hanks to be honest, but I definitely would if these were available
I totally know what you mean. Yarn mini skeins are great for this and need to be touted less for their scrappy uses and as heels and toes of socks and more for the fact that they can be used as swatch fodder.
I don’t mind swatching at all but I do mind using up my project yarn and not being sure if I bought enough without over buying. More experience will help I suppose.
I know 2 people (at least) who won't make garments because they "can't make gauge and will NOT, under any circumstances, make a swatch." Well ok then. Oh, but "how many stitches do I need to cast on with this needle to get 18 inches?" Well I don't know. You knit tighter than me. Where's your swatch? "I didn't f-ing make one and you know it." (We're sisters - cussing at each other is part of our regular vocabulary, not anger).
I've also gotten to the point where I can tell how the fabric will feel knitted up by feeling the skein because I've swatched a lot of yarn types!
I’ve swatched several patterns and still don’t get the right size. Can anyone explain grams when dealing with yarn?
Not sure exactly what you mean. Grams is a weight in the metric system (used in Canada, Europe, UK etc,). It can be converted to ounces (imperial system used in the US) by dividing by 2.5.
I really enjoy your videos, however the background music was so annoying I couldn’t finish watching. I don’t know why there needs to be music playing when presenting information. Really good information but I couldn’t finish watching because it was too much sensory overload. 😢
I know what you're talking about. Try turning the sound down and using closed caption. You might need to slow the video, or rewatch parts, but you'll get the info.