Swatch and learn – Stitch swatches

Hello you gorgeous woolly people! And even if you’re not woolly you’re probably gorgeous so hello to you too!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. My resolutions are to be more honest about how I’m really feeling, to eat healthier (a classic, I know!) and to travel more. What about you? Let me know down below what your resolutions are, we can achieve them together. Or laugh about how people actually took us seriously when we said we really would try kale and how a whole box of Ferrero Rocher is far too much for ANY human being anyway. (SPOILER ALERT: It isn’t)

Anywho, this post is all about stitch swatches and how you can use them to your advantage, so let’s get started.

A practice swatch can help to test out a particular stitch. You can see how a few rows works up and decide how you like the stitch from there. If you find you don’t like it you can either frog it and use the yarn for something else, or  simply tie off and add the swatch to your collection.

A swatch can help you see what a particular yarn looks like with a particular stitch. Make sure you have a vision in mind for the finished project and that’ll make it so much easier to achieve as you try out your different yarns. If you find you don’t like the combination, no harm done because you’ve only tested a small piece.

I tried the crocodile stitch with Hayfield Breeze in the colour Embers and as I’m sure you’ll agree, it was just the look I was after for a fantasy-inspired dice bag.

You can use stitch swatches as samples for when you’re discussing commissions with potential customers. The best way to secure a commission is having something for the customer to see, feel and choose from. So when you’re approached to make something for a customer, wowing them with your collection of pretty stitch swatch samples is sure to seal the deal.

They’re a great learning tool. As someone who teaches at crochet club, I find it so helpful to have beginners make their own swatches of the beginner stitches – double crochet, treble crochet and half-treble crochet. These can then be referred back to at a later date to make sure you’re doing it correctly.

And last but by no means least, as you can see from my little hoard, stitch swatches are just aesthtically pleasing to look at, to me anyway. I love seeing all of the gorgeous stitches I’ve tried and succeeded at, it just makes my heart happy. So I keep them all in a little bag and take them out and stroke and coo over them because, well, I just do, stop judging me.

That’s all for now, I hope you gleaned some helpful info from my post, I’ll let you all know about the Ferrero Rocher, and what I’m sure will turn out to be a stitch swatch situation at a later date :).

Toodles!

#wordpress #blogger #Crochet #featured #stitches #crochetblog #craftblog #reads #handmade #wordpressblogger #crochetstitches #crafts