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Sunday, January 13, 2019

Swatching Flat for In-the-Round

Happy New Year!  

I'm getting ready for Modern Daily Knitting's Bang Out a Revolution, a KAL that begins the first of February, in which we are making 
a top-down cabled yoke (sweater) using one of the many pieces of 
Norah Gaughan's in the brilliant Field Guide no9 Revolution and/or Interchange patterns.


The yarn I've chosen is the rich and gorgeous Hektos from Julie Asselin in the color London. 
Yes, yes, another grey sweater - but really - it's not just grey.  
There's a sweet layer of teal in there plus a little red and green and even a tiny bit of pink and purple.


Swatching Flat for In-the-Round

To begin to swatch cast on at least 26 stitches
onto the circular needle that you would use for the project
Knit across.


*Measure off 1-inch of relaxed yarn per stitch and make a slip-knot at that measurement.
Slide the stitches to the other end of the circular needle, place the slip-knot onto the right-hand needle, and knit across using the looped end of the yarn.
Slide the stitches to the other end of the needle, remove the slip-knot, and knit across.*












 


As you can see, the left-hand side of the fabric is very wonky
and should not be measured for your gauge. 
However, the right-hand side is firm and perfect.  
This is one of the reasons that I prefer this method over pulling the yarn loosely across the back (which results in both edges being distorted).  Also, it lays perfectly flat.
I did steam the fabric for the last photo but will bind off and wet block to confirm that I'm achieving my target gauge.

Follow along at the MDK Lounge for an already lively discussion. 

I'm making the Calligraphy yoke as a pullover and will begin with a provisional cast-on.  Stay tuned for how and why!



PS.  I've been wearing this fab Wool & dress - made of a merino/nylon knit -

with POCKETS 

each day for a 100-day challenge.  
Follow me on Instagram and check out the tag to see!

I did not receive a free dress but chose to purchase and participate.


4 comments:

  1. Oooo, that London really is colorful in a subtle way! Very pretty;) I'm gonna try swatching this way when my Hektos arrives. I may have questions! Karyn (kcknits)

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  2. This is ingenious! I've never been very happy about knitting gauge swatches in the round, but this is a whole new ballgame. Thanks very much for the tip!

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  3. Such a great tip. I am so happy I found this tutorial.

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