Swatch This!

I have been swatching a lot lately.  I will be submitting design ideas to four different magazines over the next month, so I have been swatching like crazy.  Swatching use to be my least favourite part of the knitting process, but then something happened (I am not sure what) and now I love swatching.  I have become a swatching machine!

Some recent swatches

I love the instant gratification from I get from swatching; in one afternoon of swatching I can have 6 swatches completed.  I also love the mindlessness of it.  If I make a small mistake, it's no big deal.  I just acknowledge it and keep going.  I do make sure to not use the part of the swatch with the error for gauge measuring purposes, but since I'm not going to wear it or photograph it for a pattern, mistakes aren't a big issue.  

more recent swatches

I usually swatch in the round (because I make so many socks) but do not want to cast on the number of stitches it would take to actually swatch in the round, so I cheat by using DPNs and pushing he swatch back and forth to simulate knitting in the round without all the extra stitches.  This method results in large floats on the wrong side of the swatch, so I cut them before I block the swatch.  All those loose ends you see in the photos are the floats that have been cut.  I do not need to weave them in or tidy them up because it is just a swatch - another fun thing about swatching - no weaving. 

even more swatches

One of my designs will be published in the April 2016 issue of I Like Knitting magazine.  I am excited about this one. The design is different than anything else I have designed before.  I have made a mini version, so I know it works.  The publisher has picked a beautiful yarn for it and I am itching for it to get here so I can start knitting.  

I am out of my wrist brace.  My wrist is feeling much better.  I have a physio appointment this afternoon to stay on top of it and not let it get that bad again.