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.
![balls of yarn in different colors and sizes in a green plastic basket](https://i0.wp.com/deviousknitter.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IMG_4418.jpeg?resize=960%2C696&ssl=1)
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.
![knitting swatches in different colors and stitch patterns](https://i0.wp.com/deviousknitter.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IMG_4412.jpeg?resize=960%2C720&ssl=1)
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.
One Comment
Steph
I’m with you – as soon as my swatches have served their purpose, they are then pulled out and knit into the project. I like the idea of making a patchwork blanket with them, but the reality is that I don’t think I could be bothered.