Like most things in the world, knitting has a set of agreed upon rules and conventions. As you grow as a knitter, you find yourself breaking more and more of them. You have a choice to either decide not to care and brag about it or stress yourself out so much that knitting just isn't fun anymore and becomes a chore.
Thankfully, I'm part of the former and have decided to share my own knitting confessions about the conventions I break. I guess I was never good about keeping to the status quo.
Knitting Confession #1: I don't swatch in the round.
For some reason, the way I knit is very even no matter if I knit flat or knit in the round. Because I knit in the "throwing style" instead of continental, it means my tension on both of my knits and my pearls are very even. I don't row out on my pearl rows and I don't knit overly tight.
I discovered this when I was working on my fiance's pair of Library Socks. I had just received a couple of new pairs of socks needles from Knit Picks and noticed that I had ordered them in a half size and decided to take a break and swatch them. When I got 9 stitches per inch (SPI) on those needles, I took gauge on the socks and discovered that I was knitting them at 10 SPI. I was a little skeptical because it was a flat swatch vs a round swatch, so when I made my Juice Box Socks with the Knit Picks needles, I took the gauge on them as well. They were still 9 SPI.
This means that I just don't feel the need to swatch in the round. What's the point if I am one of the lucky ones who has a good tension that doesn't change if I knit flat or in the round?
A big thank you to Brandy from the Stitched Up in Toronto blog for starting this link up. I will be doing my list of knitting confessions on Mondays and I don't know how many I will do, but feel free to go over to her blog and join in on the fun!
I never swatch! Never ever! I'm no good at maths, so making a swatch (and not getting gauge) would let me stand in front of a mountain of problems. My solution is not swatching. ;) I'm knitting in a common tension, it seems, so mostly it comes out very well. ;)
ReplyDeleteI've actually gotten a lot better at math ever since I started caring more about fit. Lol! I understand where you come from though. I never liked swatching much either and still don't really care for it. I would rather be knitting my item! But I've gotten burned enough times that I will make a swatch for some items.
DeleteI have never yet swatched!! I am about to start a super expensive sweater though, so I will do for that. What pattern did you use fo these socks? They are adorable!
ReplyDeleteThey are the Yarn Over Cable socks out of Sensational Knitted Socks. I really like them and will have to make a pair for myself.
DeleteI also despise swatching and will only do it if the things is supposed to fit me. This is a new development since I just started knitting things to fit me :)
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