I learned the importance of swatching once again! After I finished the gorgeous gradient blanket, I started this. . .
What color do I knit more than any other? All of them! I knit the rainbow, the color spectrum, Roy G Biv more than any single color. After I slowed down on knitting my survivor shawls in PINK, PINK, PINK!, I became fixated on the color spectrum. Knitting at the Coastal Cottage hasn't been any different. The first thing I grabbed to finish (could this put me on my way to being half way to completing one of my knitting goals!?!?!) was the rainbow, gradient yarn from Tess Designer Yarns. I finished it and it is beautiful. This is what it looked like when I left Michigan and this is what it looks like now. It will be even more beautiful when I can steam it. This is such an intuitive project. You are really just putting the colors in by feel and instinct. Thank you so much to Melinda for all of the help she gave me with developing a comfort for knitting on my own with no exact instructions. She held my hand and didn't get inpatient. Tess Designer Yarns has the best customer service. (When I'm done Knitting the Sky, I am going to Knit The Sunset and get the gorgeous gradient yarns from Tess Designer Yarns. Great idea!?!?!?!) The only instructions are to knit with 4 strands of this gorgeous lace weight yarn, gradually replacing one colors with another. I learned so much from this that I really want to do another and get it perfect this time. I would purchase two kits and make sure there was more color change from the orange and red and more solid color. I could review all of the rainbow treasures I have knit over the years, but I think I'll wait and do that at the end of the year when I have even more to show. I learned the importance of swatching once again! After I finished the gorgeous gradient blanket, I started this. . . I looked at the pattern which said size 5 needle. "There's no fitting with this," I thought. I didn't bother to swatch. I just took out my size 5 needles and I was one my way. You start with 3 stitches, increase 2 stitches every 6 rows until you have 95 stitches. When I had 63 stitches on my needles, I thought it looked really small. Well, it might have been a great scarf for a toddler or American girl doll but it wasn't going to work for me. Soooooooo, I ripped it out and started over. Learning for the person who almost always swatches, ALWAYS SWATCH! I still remember the survey I read where MANY people said they NEVER swatch. I get chills! Why would you buy beautiful yarn, spend many hours on something that has less than a 50/50 chance of fitting! I relearned my lesson. TTFN (Ta Ta For Now) from Sunset Beach.
2 Comments
Lori on Little Traverse Bay
1/13/2016 09:08:01 am
Jan,
Reply
Jan
1/13/2016 06:49:42 pm
Lori, Thank you for this. It will make everything so much easier, better, more beautiful.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
jan parsonThis blog is dedicated to Mary Helen Growt my first knitting teacher and the woman who changed my life. The mission of Knitting: A Love Story is to preserve, share and promote the love of knitting. Archives
April 2021
Categories |