The Knitting Fiend

Ok, the swatch looks hilarious. I knit it that way out of pure laziness. When I test “new to me” stitches, I just start working the stitch pattern using the swatch I began a while ago. Can you believe every section of that swatch is between 26 and 28 stitches across? And I used the same needle diameter to knit every stitch? Every now and then, I increase or decrease a stitch to fit the stitch pattern, but I don’t make any other changes.

The dramatic changes in swatch width are due to the tendency of some stitches to spread or draw in.

Look at the width of “Four Row Elongated Garter Stitch!” Did you know normal garter stitch usually spreads wider than stockinette? Obviously adding the elongated row caused it to spread even more. I’ll admit, I wasn’t exactly surprised by that.

In contrast, Twilled stripes, shown second from the right, really draws in; that’s not surprising since it’s a decorated 5 x 2 ribbing, and ribbing always draws in.

Ok, I don’t have much more to say about this silly looking swatch. But, I did want to show it because I may refer back to it from time to time when I discuss designing things.