making swatches
Making swatches is kind of like ironing your fabric before you cut out your pattern. It’s time consuming, boring and sure makes a difference to your finished project! How are you going to tell whether or not that sweater is going to be the right size if you don’t know how many stitches it takes to make an 4″ square?
I’ve made three sample pieces, all crocheted (but the method is the same for making swatches for knitting) using half-double crochet, all out of the same yarn, and all 10 stitches wide.
The yarn is ‘Jewel Box’ by Caron, and they recommend using a size ‘J’ hook.
Oops, I couldn’t find my ‘J’ hook so I used my ‘M’ hook. It’s not that much bigger right? Take a look at the ruler on the bottom. It’s about 5″ wide.
Now how about this swatch? I didn’t like how sloppy the ‘M’ hook made everything, so I switched to a smaller ‘I’ hook.
This was miserable to try an crochet! It’s rock-hard and I’ve actually dropped some of the yarn strands. Not pretty, and I certainly wouldn’t want to wear it. Take a look at the ruler now – the swatch is down to 3″ wide.
I finally decided that the yarn company knew what they were talking about and used the recommended size hook, a ‘J’.
It’s nice & even (my camera did something funny to the picture size, the swatch is square) and was easy to crochet. Look at the ruler now, the swatch is now almost 4″ wide.
So next time you start a project that requires sizing (or you’re designing something) try making a swatch first, pay attention to the label and see how it goes!
