Knitting a Gauge Swatch

Let's get the knitted gauge swatch sorted

Whether you realise it or not there's yarn in your stash that you just won't knit with because you don't understand it. Perhaps it was a random purchase so you don't have a suitable pattern, maybe it was given to you by a friend without a label so you're not sure if it's DK or 4ply. To understand it better you need to knit with it. That's where swatching can really help. And as we discussed in the last two weeks, swatching can be helpful to get to know a yarn, so you don't start knitting with it and then want to abandon the project.

There are so many reasons this might happen.

You might find that you want to give up because it's too itchy or it shreds fluff as you knit with it. It could even be that once you've knitted up a swatch you realise the colour is totally unsuitable, or the self-striping effect doesn't work how you'd hoped, but you couldn't tell that just from the yarn wound up in a ball. Swatching is also used as a tool when you're starting a new project and you want to check that you're knitting with the right sized needles to get the right result. Some knitters just knit more tightly or more loosely, it's one of those things. By swatching you can find out if you're a Goldilocks knitter, or not. Pick out the first yarn from your stash that you want to test - it's a perfect opportunity to see what that yummy hand-spun tweed wool will do - then find some suitable matching needles, and let's get knitty. To subscribe to the Knit With Hannah YouTube channel click here For the video for two weeks ago, to help you calculate the stitch and row count, click here See all the yarn declutter replays and tasks, which dropped all through April here.