What Do You Do With a Swatch?

I was sorting through my bits ‘n’ bobs basket this morning… you know, the place where you keep the leftovers from your projects? That one.

I found a few swatches shoved in there that had yet to be unraveled. These were “idea swatches” where I was testing some stitch patterns before casting on for a pair of socks. I haven’t yet made the socks, so the swatches were still in evidence. Otherwise, they’d have been pulled back into the yarn from which they came.

What? Does not everyone unravel their swatches as soon as they deem them no longer useful?

I feel like yarn has purpose, even if that purpose hasn’t yet been met. So even unknit yarn feels useful. But a swatch to me is an impermanent object. Its purpose is to show me something, or let me test something, or help me learn a new skill, or to tell me why something is a wickedly bad idea… but a swatch does not have a permanent purpose, in my mind. So once I’ve finished knitting something, (and occasionally even before that) the swatch gets ripped.

The funny thing about one of the swatches I found this morning, though, was that one of the stitch patterns I was playing with might be the answer to another project that’s bouncing around in my head. So maybe keeping it wasn’t a mistake.

Should I start saving swatches? Do you? If so, why? Do you ever “do” anything with them?

Gosh, this might mean I have to start binding them off.