knitabit

Swatch out!

All of my knitting time this weekend (well, except for that sock repair that took about a minute) was devoted to swatches for the TKGA master knitting level 1 program. The knitalong at Sarah's blog actually starts tomorrow, but I wanted to get a head start since I'll be going on vacation soon, and I don't think knitting swatches is how I want to spend vacation!

If you haven't heard of the master knitting program, you can read more about it at www.tkga.com (and by the way, if you accidentally type in tgka.com, you go to a really skanky college girl webcom site.) TKGA publishes Cast On magazine, and there's information about the program in just about every issue.

Basically, you do a bunch of sample knitting, answer some essay questions, write a report or two, and turn it all in for scoring by a judge. There are three levels to the process, and I'm just now embarking on the first one. I'm doing it because it's a challenge, and I like challenges.

But I didn't think I'd learn so much three swatches into it! I've discovered all kinds of tension problems in my knitting, and I think I've figured out how to eliminate them. First of all, my selvedges have been really ugly; and I found all you have to do is knit the first two or three stitches of every row a bit tighter than normal, and loosen up the last two or three stitches of every row ever so slightly.

I also discovered that my purl stitches are a touch too loose also. This is especially noticeable in ribbing - and also in straight stockinette, leading to a stripey effect. To even up my knitting, I need to give an extra tug when I purl - specifically, I tug just a bit right after I insert the needle to make a purl stitch but before I wrap the yarn. The extra tension at just that point elimates that little bit of looseness in a purl stitch. I learned much of this from an excellent article available in the members-only area of the TKGA website: "Tension Problems" by Arenda Holladay.

I made, ripped and re-made swatches all weeekend long until I got it right. It wasn't all that much fun, but I could see that all the trial and error was doing me some good. So here's what I've got to show for myself:

(Sorry, pretty much all the knit texture is washed out in this flash photo. Also, I haven't hid the ends or blocked them yet; the center swatch has edges that are curling under.)

The swatch at left demonstrates a 2x2 rib and garter stitch. The center swatch demonstrates 1x1 rib (I did a full twisted rib) and stockinette stitch. The swatch at right demonstrates seed stitch. As it turned out, all of these ended up being knit at a higher tension than I otherwise knit at. Yet the swatches don't seem at all stiff or puckery or anything. Hmmm, that's kind of a revelation. I wonder if knitting in the round tends to "spoil" a knitter. Many of these kinds of tension problems wouldn't show up in circular knitting.

The next batch of swatches will demonstrate increases and decreases.

I might stick with this at a pretty steady pace here over the next few weeks and I might postpone taking on some projects for a while; I'd really like to get Level 1 done and out the door.

Comments

I think it's neat that you are doing this certification thing. When you've completed it, you'll feel like you've accomplished something, and grown as a knitter. A much more satisfying feat than completing an ordinary simple knitting project I would think.

Posted by: Lisa at January 5, 2004 06:04 AM