Summer knitting marches on. I am working through the increases of Eavesdrop and I am pleasantly surprised that this experience knitting with linen is not as painful as I imagined it to be. Sparrow is a lovely yarn. But, knitting on size 3 needles is slow going as you would expect. However, I managed to start my second skein last night.
Yes, it was Knit Night last night where a huge discussion happened around swatching. Do you “waste your time” swatching or do you swatch. I was surprised that not everyone swatched! In fact, only half of us there last night did this “phenomenon”. Why this big discussion? Well, one of the knitters was starting a sweater sans swatching. The swatchers in the group wondered how she knew what size to knit. It was quite a lively discussion. What about you? Which camp do you fall in?
On a less controversial note, my yarn from Denmark arrived yesterday as well! Thank you, Holst Garn, from your amazing customer service and speedy shipping! I ordered the yarn on May 12 and it arrived here in 10 days! I highly recommend their customer service – I got emails every step of the way. Maybe I can even manage to do some swatching for a Uniform sweater over the long weekend.
My reading is in sort of a holding pattern right now. I did manage a couple of finishes this week, Caroline Kennedy’s poetry compilation She Walks in Beauty (which I really enjoyed) and The Death and Life of the Great Lakes (which I also loved!).
I have two books that I want to use for Summer Book Bingo, so I can’t finish them until Saturday. So, I have set aside The Baron in the Trees as well as Snow Falling on Cedars, which are both likely be finished Sunday.
But, I have started Lev Grossman’s The Magicians which I will listen to in the interim!
What are you making and reading? And, as always, if you are joining us today – please leave your link below!
[inlinkz_linkup id=781787 mode=1]
I am a swatcher for sweaters and usually hats.
Which yarn did you purchase?
I always swatch for sweaters. Sure it’s a pain, but why wouldn’t I want to make sure that something I am going to spend so much time on is going to fit?
That new yarn looks lovely — please share details!
As you know, I’m currently dealing with my swatching not telling me what I want to hear! But I know too many people who didn’t swatch and ended up with things that are not wearable.
Granted, I don’t swatch for socks …
Oh my goodness, Eavesdrop is a lovely pattern!!
I love your orange knitting! I don’t swatch, but that’s because I don’t knit sweaters. Should I ever attempt a sweater, I will definitely swatch (and then probably ask you what to do when I’m not sure what my swatch is telling me!) I loved The Magicians, and found it to be much more than an adult Harry Potter as many reviewers were claiming at the time. Hope you enjoy it also!
I love that we’re all holding off on finishing a book until this weekend! hahahaha! I always swatch when I knit a sweater but not necessarily for other things like shawls and hats.
I LOVE Sparrow … glad you’re having a good experience with it, too! I laughed about having books to finish this weekend. Me too 🙂
I started a new shawl while I still have two on the needles (one is nearly finished!) I am reading a gamache and Still Alice. I finished The Brothers Karamazov – hip hip hooray!
Dying to find out what yarn you selected from Holst Garn. I love Scandanavian yarn companies!
As little as I knit, I do swatch, as called for… hoping to finish Armand #4 on Sat and then move on to the next…have no idea what it’ll be…need to download a Bingo card and decide how I’m going to pursue my challenge…tbc…
Cheers~
I swatch certain items, like sweaters but definitely not scarves. Socks, as I start them I can figure out the gauge usually and it’s easy to change the needle size, especially ones by Cat Bordhi, which are more custom made so the gauge has to be right – her formulas always work for me, and usually I can tell by 2 inches toe-up socks if I’m correct with minimal frogging.
You seem to go through books quicker than me, do you speed read? I do like many of your selections, they have given me lots of ideas, so an inadvertent thank you!
I’m finishing up a long novel, “Shadow of the Wind” which I do like but is taking time, and just today from the library got the Pulitzer winner in fiction “Less” by A.S. Greer.
No speed reading, but I manage to get 4-6 hours of listening time each day, which helps tremendously!
I am not a swatcher but I also don’t usually knit things that need swatching.
I swatch for sweaters. For smaller projects like mittens, hats, and socks I cast on and see how the fabric goes. I read Snow Falling on Cedars long ago and can’t remember too much about it except that I really enjoyed it and thought it was well written. Sorry to miss Unraveled Wednesday with a post. We’ve been gone and I’ve been catching up.
I am in the swatching camp because you never know if you need to go up or down in needle size based on your knitting style. Especially for a sweater or big project I like to swatch to be on the safe side. Hope you enjoy your reading! Even your holding pattern for reading sounds like a lot of reading to me! 😛 Hope you have a good week!
Im very inconsistent with swatching. I never swatch for shawls or socks. If I am working on a sweater I will always swatch. Even though I really dont enjoy it at all! I loved Snow Falling On Cedars. I maylook into caroline kennedy’s poem collection…
If you’re knitting something that must fit then a gauge is a must, even for a shawl. Yardage matters. Good to hear the linen yarn isn’t hard to work with, as my experience wasn’t a good one. I’m reading books that are long and will be finished on the weekend. I’m happy they will count. I’ve planning (to some degree) my card and hope to get a bingo or two.