Swatching do over.....

Really I don't mind swatching. What I mind is when I know I have swatched a certain yarn and didn't take proper notes on swatch results. Ravelry is perfect for recording all notes about a project including swatching. I have a yarn bought from eBay a couple years ago where I have a few skeins leftover. I decided to use this yarn for knitting the Jubilee.



Molly and I are knitting this pattern together and will be casting on later today together.

I have developed my own "protocol" for how and when I swatch. When I have a new yarn for a garment I swatch to obtain the gauge designated in the pattern. When knitting a garment it is very important to obtain the gauge specified, unless you are adapting, if you want the item to fit. Now if the pattern sizes doesn't strike your fancy you can adapt the sizing by "playing around" with the gauge and/or yarn weight.

Now when I am going to knit a shawl/scarf/stole, normally lacy, I generally don't concern myself with the pattern specified gauge. I am more interested in the way my chosen yarn looks when it is knit into the lace pattern. I will swatch to see what size needles will produce the stitch I will enjoy and be able to live with.

So this morning I went out to my project on Ravelry where I used this yarn and wouldn't you know I didn't make note of my swatch details. I really really hate when I have to swatch a yarn a second time. It is such a waste of time. So here I am getting rid of my frustration and sharing my lesson learned. Here is my swatch detail from this morning. YOU can surely bet this detail will be going into my Jubilee Ravelry project notes this time around. :-)

I will be using size 7 needles (the bottom lacy row was knit with size 5 and it is to tight for my liking). The yarn is Yarn Treehouse in a soft green. It is 40% Alpaca and 60% Merino and it is pretty soft.