Presumably you have read the KnittingGuru tips on knitting swatches and are now
convinced that you should always knit them. Now the problem is what do you do with the
three shoeboxes full of swatches that are accumulating?
First of all, congratulations on your diligence! If you really have three boxes full you
might consider sewing or crocheting them together to make an afghan. Just make sure
that the swatches are made from the same category of yarns: all wool, all cotton, all
blends, and so forth. This is so you will be able to launder your blanket. If you crochet
many swatch colors together with a uniform, contrasting yarn you can
probably effectively pull together colors you never thought of combining. Another
effective way to pull various colors together is to knit bands to go between the squares.
If all else fails, you can over-dye the afghan. This will make even wildly disparate colors
blend beautifully and is an effective strategy to use for sweaters and coats as well as for
afghans.
Now, if you do not have boxes full of swatches, but are still wondering what to do
with the squares you have, here is a modest list of ideas for
Bags Made From Knitting Swatches.
You will likely come up with more ideas yourself. This is just to jump-start the creative
process. I hope these bags give you some ideas and help you see what a treasure trove
these swatches are for making wonderful accessories and home decorating items.
On the other hand, serious knitters really like to accumulate swatches for their own sake and to use for reference every time they knit a new project. You can keep them in boxes, in picture albums, or organized on big metal rings that you can find in office supply stores. Our Knitting Swatch Cards are extremely useful to attach to each swatch indicating the yarn source, needle size, and stitch pattern you used. Some people enjoy making swatches so much that they find it hard to get around to producing garments! Consider your swatches an important part of your history.
For more ideas on using swatches see next week's KnittingGuru Tip: What You Can
Do with Knitted Swatches -- Part 2. Please check back every week for more helpful
Knitting Tips from the Guru.