Friday, July 30, 2010

Eye Candy Friday- Swatch It Edition

I'm not really a big fan of swatching.  I usually avoid it as much as I can. I don't swatch for socks or most small projects.  But for sweaters I feel it is a necessity.  Its especially important here since I'm planning to cast on for a sweater without a pattern.


I actually kind of enjoyed making this swatch.  I learned that I should go down a needles size from what I was planning.  I want this to be a pretty warm fabric, suitable for say walking a dog in chilly Autumn weather.  I think the slightly denser fabric from the size 7s is better for my purposes here.

I also tired out a few different rib variations in an effort to duplicate a ribbing I like from a store bought sweater.  I had fun playing but I just don't think this yarn has enough stitch definition to make anyone appreciate the differences between brioche rib, fisherman's rib, and a few variations I made up at the tipy top.  They all look pretty much the same in this yarn, and not really any better than plain old rib.  I was intrigued by the slipped rib near the bottom so I cast on another swatch to continue to play with it.


I wanted a more pronounced rib so I experimented with it some more. On the right is the 'right side' and on the left my 'wrong side.'  I like the left one better since it looks neater than the right side and the other ribs I tried.  It also creates a thick squishy fabric. As I was working I realized that this is basically just a plain old slip stitch rib.  How wonderfully simple is that?  I don't know why I didn't think of it when I was working on the first swatch.  Its not exactly the same as what I originally had in mind, but I like the look of it in this yarn and its close enough.  I'd really like to make this in a variegated yarn now as those always look so nice in slip stitch patterns.  But we're moving to a new apartment in a few weeks so I really, really should not buy any more yarn since that just means more stuff to move.  I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm suppose to be using up stash with this project not acquiring more yarn.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Almost there!


This picture captures what I've been up to recently pretty well: bar review, reknitting the somewhat cowl, and dreaming up a new project for that brown yarn.  Come Thursday I'll be done with the bar and can toss those green books in the trash (or return them to get my deposit back and use it for wool).  Actually I'm ready to toss them now as I don't think I could possibly learn any more law at this point.  The bar exam starts tomorrow and the only appropriate thing to do at this point is get a nice dinner with my beau, head to bed early, and hope for easy questions.

Good luck to my fellow bar examinees out there!