Sneaky Friday fell off a cliff
So last Friday fell of the cliff into the ocean and sank to the bottom. I’m sure of it. It was Thursday, then all of a sudden it was Saturday. Because Friday is a sneaky one.
But two weeks meant there was lots of shawl progress. From this
to this.
A post about swatching, loving it, hating it, and taking the shoulds out of it.
I adore swatching, but I think that’s because I use it as a way to play and experiment with my knitting. I don’t see it as something I have to do, or something I should do. Swatching is just another tool to learn about your knitting. I don’t knit a million swatches for every project or design. Hell sometimes I don’t even knit one swatch before I start a design. Sometimes I just wing it, and hope that what I’ve learned from previous projects and swatches, (and the ability to rip it out if it goes wrong) will get me to the end of the shawl.
I also added a page outlining the Shawl Geometry Series of books. Shawl Geometry I, is here now. Shawl Geometry II is done and being made available to the people on the Announce! Announce! list this afternoon!Then it’ll be available to everyone next week. I’m getting ready to send The Map to test readers, maybe this weekend if I sit down to write the conclusion, and I’m getting ready to swatch for the Mutant Edition.
So if you want first access to Shawl Geometry II, sign up for the Announce! Announce! list here. Otherwise you’ll need to wait till next week.
Love swatching because it’s awesome, not because you should.
Every knitter knows they should swatch.
We know we should swatch to get gauge.
We know we should wash and block our swatches.
We know we should use swatching to try out new techniques.
We know we should embrace swatching for these, and a million and a half other reason.
Seriously, we get that we should like it (or at least embrace it.)
But most of us don’t.
And I suspect most of us don’t love swatching precisely because we should.
Tell me to love something because I should, and watch how quickly I don’t.
And I suspect I’m not the only one.
The thing is,
I adore swatching.
love it, love it, love it, love it, love it.
But not because I should.
And not because it tells me my gauge.
I love swatching because it’s awesome, and because you can’t screw it up.
With a project you’re knitting towards a finished object, and there are plenty of ways to mess that up.
But with swatches you’re knitting towards an idea, and the only way to mess that up is to not get it perfect this time. But there’s always next time.
Swatches are about playing, and experimenting, and exploring.
Swatches are a space to play in. They give you the freedom to explore, and the permission to experiment.
If your shawl (or garment) is a canvass. Then swatches are pages in your sketch book, the sketches that aren’t the final piece, and may not resemble the final piece at all, but are just as important precisely because they’re not the final piece.
There is no wrong in swatching. There is no “not good enough.” There are no catastrophes. There are now blow ups.
There is no such thing as a “failed swatch,” because there is nothing to fail. It’s just a swatch.
There are no shoulds in swatching.*
Which is precisely why I love it.
There are no shoulds in swatching.
Swatching is about playing, experimenting, and exploring.
*including, whether or not you should swatch for any given project.
“This post is part of the Exploration Party – a celebration of our inner explorers, led by Tara Swiger of Explore You. You can find other tales of adventure from artists, crafters, writers and biz smarties – and share your own story – right here.”
Shawl Geometry: Conclusion
Three and a half moths of shawl shapes. 16 posts.
That’s a lot of shapes. But the craziest thing is that it’s just the beginning. Seriously.
I’m in the middle of editing a second ebook with 18 more shapes for shawls. Because you can always explore deeper and play more.
So do it. Take these shapes and play! Experiment! Design stuff!
The beginning of the series is here, with links to all the posts.
And if you really loved the blog series. Buy the ebook. Get all the information in one place, and help ensure that I can create more “teachy” blog posts.
Or sign up for the Announce! Announce! list. And be the first to hear about Shawl Geometry II when it becomes available.
