Swatch It To Me!

As I've grown as a knitter, I've grown to appreciate the act of swatching. I, too, used to be one of those knitters who hated to swatch. "Swatch! I want to start on my project now!"

But, all those things they say about swatching is true:

- If you're using a pattern, you must know if you're knitting to gauge. I've made one too many hats that are big enough to fit a two-headed circus freak (which I am not). Plus, if you substitute yarn (which I often do to accommodate my budget), a swatch is the true test to see if it's really up to the substituting challenge.

- If you're designing your own pattern, then swatching is a definite requirement. How else would I know how many stitches to cast on to make the cute sweater I'm envisioning?

Which brings me to the swatches I recently knitted up for my new wrap sweater. I've been picturing this boucle wrap sweater for many moons, and I've finally decided to bring it to fruition.



The large swatch is a brown tweedy boucle yarn (Bernat Soft Boucle) I'm using for the body and sleeves of my sweater, and the little swatch is a chocolate brown chunky yarn (Lion Brand Wool Ease Chunky) I'm using for the ribbing around my sleeves and ribbed shawl collar.

I've started on the back tonight . . . and I better get crackin'. It's almost the end of January, and spring will be here before we know it! (Here in Chicago, we call that wishful thinking.)