late sweater knitters

Hello All,
I'm new to this and I'm getting a late start on my sweater here. I have my yarn picked out and here - basalt gray with cumulus shimmer. I've started my swatch and having been reading many of the treads in this group. I read a bunch about swatches and have a couple of questions: Some of you wash and block your swatch and then measure for gauge. It seems to me that the pattern would assume gauge for an unwashed piece. Can anybody tell me if there is a "right" way? I have never steeked before and I read that someone else used their swatch to pracitice this! I think that is a great idea! But that goes back to this washed thing for me - I assume that the sweater is not washed before being steeked - so I would not want to wash the swatch either, right??? Any help here would be great. I'm terrified of the steek and am trying to prepare myself for the idea of cutting all that work...... Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by J J Tucker on September 17, 2009 at 7:10am: Hello and welcome Wendy,

I too was scared of cutting my fabric and having all those lose ends and having to knit the bindings for the fronts. So, being the chicken that I am I marked where the cut would be with sewing up the center stitch with a contrast yarn and just using a running stitch. I also sewed the lines two stitches from the center with a sewing machine and a walking foot so that I wouldn't get ripples. Now, ready to cut. NOT! I picked up the stitches that I would have picked up after the cutting and knit my both front bands. After these were knit and ready to be sewn over the cut edges I did my cutting. At least that way I didn't have any loose yarn edges and I was able to quickly enclose the edges in the binding. Worked Great and this is the way I'll do it again.

As for the swatch, I had some problems with that so I just bit the bullet and knit accoding to directions and all worked out in the end, but I usually knit to guage on everything else so I took a leap of faith. I can't wait to knit another project using the same yarn doubled as I really like the feel of the fabric after it is completed and then washed (blocked).

JJ
At a corp of engineers campground at Rend Lake, IL. Road trip to Herrin to the Yarn shop there. Anyone know of others in the area?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by pinkknitting on September 17, 2009 at 10:43am: The reason you wash the swatch is so that you can see what the yarn does after washing. You can measure your guage before and after but the measurements are based on the stiches per inch. So if you never plan on washing your sweater you would want to measure it unwashed but if you plan on washing it you want to measure it washed. It doesn't really matter what it was based on when writing the pattern it matters what will happen after you wash it.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Janet Carroll on September 17, 2009 at 12:55pm: Wendy, I also just received the same yarns, and I have to get some needles. Don't despair. You and I can work together. Right now I am knitting a pair of Paw Tracks socks in Tofutsies yarn, and thus won't be starting too soon.
Janet in WI; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by cherylbwaters on September 17, 2009 at 2:17pm: Wendy, I started to reply earlier and got sidetracked. If you are terrified of steeking you might try Melissa's Mystery KAL (it's a thread withing the Colorwork KAL) It's a small project we are doing over 8 weeks (tomorrow we get week 2 info). It will be steeked. Perhaps a small project like this won't seem as daunting to steek.

As far as washing your swatch goes, different yarns react different ways to washing. By washing your swatch you can see how it will react to the wash. Plus, it is best to swatch in the way you are knitting, such as in the round, doing colorwork, etc. Swatching and washing can give you an idea how the yarn will drape, etc.

Or if you swatch in the round and steek the swatch, that might help overcome your fear of swatching. Though I'm one to talk. It scares me to death. That's one of the reasons I'm doing Melissa's Mystery KAL, so I can overcome this fear.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Peggy Stuart on September 17, 2009 at 4:30pm: Wendy: I knitted my swatch in the round and then washed my swatch. I got the right st/in but more rnds/in. It worked out, though. I just allowed a little more between decreases in the raglan shaping. I was scared of the steek, too. No more. Just follow the directions and go for it. If I were just starting now, I would steek my swatch. That might give me confidence. Read all the posts about people steeking. I even copied NoKnitSherlock's "steeking badge" for my page. Let us know how it goes. --P; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by wendy carlsen on September 17, 2009 at 7:39pm: Thanks for all the comments - and support. Janet - I'm glad that somebody else is starting late too! I'm hoping that it will turn out well enough to be a Christmas present for my mom. Did most of you use the stabilizer/ribbon inside, or just the stitching? I think I will try to steek the swatch and see how that goes. I didn't knit it in the round, but I think it will give me an idea of what is going on. I like the idea of picking up stitches before the actual cutting too. I guess I'm getting a little ahead of myself, since I'm not started yet....; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Peggy Stuart on September 17, 2009 at 8:17pm: I only used stitching, and I did mine by hand. I made sure the sts went through the plies of the yarn. I cut mine first. Check here. I showed each step of the actual steeking process. (Scroll down, and you'll see it all.) And scream for help if you need it! :-} --P; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dennine Dudley on September 18, 2009 at 7:39pm: I just got my yarn this week.
Shadow Oregon Coast and Shimmer Sunkissed.

I just finished winding the yarn and am going to start swatching tonight.

While I was winding I've been reading through the previous discussions - thanks everyone for all your helpful comments!

As a result I'm intending to use 2 strands throughout the project and make sure the cardigan hits me mid hip.

This sweater is making me nervous because I've never used such fine yarn before. Even my lace has been on sock weight! I'm hoping the double stranding makes up the weight :-)

I've done steeks on fair isle sweaters and love it as a technique, but worry that this fine gauge will be less forgiving.

One thing I wondered about was whether people noticed a consistent difference when they washed the swatch
(not many people posted their results in the comments I saw).
I was intending to just use a sleeve as a swatch but think I'll behave and do it right :-)
But I do still wonder. Does this yarn stretch? Shrink? Puff together but maintain gauge?

Glad to know I'm not the only one late to the party.
Looking forward to knitting a long.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Peggy Stuart on September 18, 2009 at 7:57pm: Dennine: Good news! This sweater will be as if you were knitting with sport-weight yarn, not lace-weight! After washing, my gauge was slightly tighter. I used fairly warm water to wash it. You should wash it the way you'll wash your finished cardi. This knit is fairly forgiving. You can have negative ease (stretches to fit) or positive ease (bigger around than your chest measurement). People prefer different fits. Think about whether you want your cardigan to stretch, to hang loosely on you or just fit. I think it's worth doing the swatch right. If you can't get gauge, though, you can take the sts/in you get, multiply times the number of inches you want your finished cardi to be and see if there's a size that has close to the number of sts for CO. I enjoyed working on my cardigan, and I LOVE the finished product! I'm making a skirt and a shell to match when I get done with some UFOs! (And recover from the upcoming thumb surgery!) Happy knitting! --P; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dennine Dudley on September 19, 2009 at 8:20pm: Thanks for the encouragement Peggy.

Even sport weight is small for a sweater for me!

I washed my swatch in fairly warm water, and love the way it came out.

I got stitch gauge with 3.5mm, though my row gauge is off (I'm going to need a lot more rounds)/
I was off by 1 stitch with 4mm and the row gauge was bang on, but I like the fabric better on the smaller needles (though will probably kick myself at row 400 bazillion :-)

I can't wait to see your ensemble!
I might do a tank top to go with my cardi too.

I'm looking at surgery later this fall and am hoping that I have the concentration to knit during recovery.
- at least it's not my hands! Good luck with yours!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Peggy Stuart on September 19, 2009 at 8:28pm: Dennine: Unless you're really tall (and long-waisted), you will be finished long before row 400 bazillion! --P; ▶ Reply to This