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Showin' some love to the sheer awesomeness of homemade gifts



Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Knitting, Crochet, and Swatching! Another WIP Wednesday

Yup, that's right.  Swatching!  It used to seem like a waste of time, but as I've been knitting more involved projects, it just seems worth the effort.  So in between other already in progress projects, I started a stockinette swatch for the Myrtle cardigan.

The swatch is from a recycled Talbot's sweater in a wool/cotton blend.  (For a pretty nifty tutorial on stashing on the cheap by recycling sweaters, check out this site.)

I followed some advice in a recycled yarn group on Ravelry, where the more seasoned recyclers suggested not bothering to straighten the yarn before knitting with it.  So I washed the sweater, unraveled it into balls, and knit straight from the balls.  The yarn, at this point, is pretty kinky and the swatch stitches are a bit sloppy.
However the Myrtle pattern calls for larger needles and a lacy pattern that will require aggressive blocking.  So I'm reserving judgment on the kinky yarn until I tackle the lace swatch and *double gasp* block the swatch.  The yarn may very well straighten out with blocking, so we'll see.  *Fingers crossed*

And much overdue is a birthday owl:


It looks like a bowl at this point, but the top two stripes already have some decreases for the neck area.  For some reason my crochet rounds never line up, are they supposed to be this far off?...

Finally, the Amazing mitts are excruciatingly close to being finished.  Just a thumb and a half to knit and some ends to weave in!

Here's the rest of the WIP Wednesday posts!

4 comments:

  1. Wow, not only are you making a swatch, but you're blocking it too! That's dedication! I can't wait to see the finished owl. I love the colors you are making it in.

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  2. YAY for swatching. It's long and painful but so helpful. I have a sweater I bought to recycle the yarn but I'm still nervous about unraveling it. Looks like you had a full success.

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  3. Seriously impressed with your intentions to swatch and block. I always intend to, then somehow get too impatient to cast on. Love the colors of your mitts.

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  4. I have learned the hard way that it is sooo worth it to swatch! good job! I love the Amazing mitts. : )

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