Episode 27: Love Them or Hate Them - Tension Tests

July 12, 2023 Gemma Adeva

For more than one person, this episode is going to be terrifying ... and the fact is that displays of tension send shivers down the spines of many knitters 😂 I admit I'm not a big fan, but when I have to do them, I do them with pleasure.

Knowing how to knit a swatch correctly (and understanding them) is essential to being a good knitter, and in this episode I'm going to tell you how to knit them, when you shouldn't skip this step (and also when you can do without them), what to do with your swatches, what I do with mine, and a whole lot more.

NOTES FOR THIS EPISODE

Sections: On my needles.

– You can now sign up for this year's sock club ! You have until July 16th to reserve your spot and spend three months knitting awesome socks with others. If you'd like to see all the patterns I've published for the club in previous editions, click here . This year, with the switch to acid dyes, I hope to surprise you with the colors I've prepared 😃

– I haven’t had time (or much desire) to knit the ⁠ Year’s End ⁠ but I’ve finished the ⁠ Ingrid Top! ⁠ By the time you’re listening to this episode I’ll probably have already started knitting it, lol. I don’t recommend the pattern for a beginner knitter; it’s a bit confusing and short on instructions, but I’m happy with the result. While I’m still waiting to take photos and publish a post with all the information about the project, I haven’t made any modifications except for when casting off the neck and waist stitches (I used a different technique than the one indicated by the designer, which seemed very confusing to me). As I mentioned in the previous episode, I’ve fallen in love with Drops Belle for summer projects. It’s thin, doesn’t stretch, and doesn’t lose its shape.

– My long project is the ⁠ Jelly Roll Blanket ⁠ , as many of you already know. I knit it by combining a strand of white fingering yarn with another strand of leftover projects of the same thickness.

– ⁠ This ⁠ is what I meant when I mentioned how to mark what number of needles we have used to knit the tension sample.

– ⁠ A curious ⁠ and beautiful way to store tension samples.

I'd like to remind you that all the skeins dyed with natural dyes I have in stock are 30% off. The discounted price is shown directly to you; you don't need to enter a code.

And you, do you love or hate knitting tension patterns? 😉