Okay Denise had to laugh at the clean your gun comment. :roflhard: You are too funny sometimes.
I also admit I don’t swatch much but have done it a couple of times it really depends on the project for me. I also usually buy yarn with a project in mind.
I am also a cross stitcher and have a large stash of that stuff also. I am having a hard time being interested in stitching lately due to the constant desire to knit. I do need to finish a couple of cross stitch projects before Christmas though.
I usually do some kind of swatch when I get new yarn because I can’t wait to knit it … even if I am not ready to make the project. My swatches are various sizes and stitches and always become some sort of Barbie outfit for my Granddaughter’s dolls… did you know if you turn a “shawl” backwards it becomes a shirt … and move it down a bit it becomes a skirt… larger swatches are beach towels and dresses. She can get a Barbie hand through almost any gauge to make arm holes ! knitting in the round becomes hats … soup bowls, pillows,
Mostly, I just can’t resist seeing what a new yarn will look like knitted up.
Now, do I write it all down and know exactly what my gauge is when I get ready for a project …um… well Barbie needs a skirt to match that shawl … but usually I can dig through the Barbie clothes and find what I am looking for
I almost never swatch! I make sure the weight is the same and then go. Rarely do I make things that must fit though. (I have never done a sweater)
As far as yarn hording goes. I do both. I buy yarn always with a project in mind BUT I don’t at all wait until I need a project to buy yarn. And recently I have bought yarn because I liked it and had a coupon or something and just HAD to get it then. (I mean it would be irresponsible of me to pass up a discount just because I have an entire cabinet full of unknitted yarn, right?)
This topic is so timely for me! I had been buying my yarn from Michael’s and JoAnn Fabrics. Then I went to a BEAUTIFUL yarn store in my area. I was in there 1-1/2 hours just staring at the beautiful and EXPENSIVE yarn! I wanted to buy so much of it, but of course, I have no patterns in mind. It was really hard to walk out of there without everything I wanted. I restrained myself though. I am not anywhere near ready to try socks yet (I’ve only done scarves and one little purse and I’m working on a pillow) but I bought sock yarn and a pattern and double pointed needles. I also bought their most expensive circular needles (they came highly recommended! LOL). I am supposed to be working right now (bad Ronda!) but I can’t help myself from stopping in here to see what’s going on, and this topic fit so well with my own experience lately I just had to comment! I just want to buy all that yarn, but I have no idea what to do with it!
me too Ronda, I want to buy it all, but don’t have any idea what I’d do with it, plus I know about dye lots, so I’m afraid to buy several skeins and then decide to do a LARGE project, and not be able to match the dyelot.
my first knitting was a pair of socks. Well I should say one sock, as the other one hasn’t been started yet. I stopped to do my g’daughters baby blanket. I need to finish the other sock tho. LOL.
but I’m on the pullover for my husband and he’s asking if he’ll be wearing it next week. :roflhard:
I said, no but for sure this winter. LOL. I’m halfway done with the front.
Oh tigger - forgot to mention that I, too, love to cross stitch. I have not done anything for a while though. Now I’m too busy knitting to cross stitch!
I don’t wanna work - I wanna knit!!! :XX:
I’m yearning for the day when I can knit some of the beautiful things I’ve seen you all do on this site. You guys do some beautiful work - and I’m still at the scarf level! This pillow I’m doing is scaring me a bit. I’ve done a whopping 2 rows on it! I figure I’ll do a row at a time and take my time with it. I’d rather go slowly than make a mistake, get frustrated, and chuck the whole project. Once I finish the pillow, I’ll move on to bigger and better things.
OH GREAT, a another ccs’er. Do you have any fav designers?
I love shepherd’s bush, just nan, lizzie kate, bent creek, victoria sampler, linda driskell, and soooo many more.
As for knitting, doing one row and taking time sounds like a great plan.
When I first started knitting, I looked at the entire sock pattern and thought OH MY, what have I done! then I decided to take it one step at a time and it was very easy!
:cheering:
No favorites, although I do like a lot of the Victoria Samplers. They are just beautiful and I have bought one of the kits. I just haven’t gotten around to doing it yet. I used to subscribe to For the Love of Cross Stitch but I don’t get that anymore. A lot of stuff I have done has been from there. My favorite cross stitch store went out of business, so the only places I really have now are JoAnn’s and Michael’s. I’m finding that the specialty stores are the best places for patterns/yarns/etc. rather than the craft stores.
I never buy without a specific project in mind. That doesn’t mean that I get them all done, or start them all. I also tend to forget what project I bought it for in the first place, so then it becomes random stash. My stash doesn’t fill a laundry basket.
I really try to swatch. I didn’t when I started the mitten I’m currently working on and I realized that I need to use a double strand on these to get the gauge I need to felt it. :doh: Lesson learned, yet again.
Tigger I really like Lizzie Kate, Bent Creek too. The store that I buy my stuff from when I go visit family in Kansas is where Lizzie Kate has her framing done. She lives in Wichita, KS. Kind of neat and one of the girls that works there is related to one of the designers at Bent Creek. Such a small world. I also have discovered Mystic Stitch that has large very detailed patterns. The one I am working on (kind of) is going to be over 38,000 stitches by the time it is done. Hopefully it will look okay.
I buy yarn with a specific project in mind, unless it’s sock yarn, I buy it for socks, yes…just not specific socks…I buy sock yarn bc I’m addicted to knitting socks
AND [size=6]I CAN’T BELIEVE U PEOPLE DON’T SWATCH[/size] :shock: !!! I confess, I don’t swatch everything , only things I want to fit, for example if I’m making a sock or a hat, etc
when i CS i am a lizzie kate and bent creek kinda girl too! i only do about one pattern a year though. i always start a second without remembering that i get bored with it after the first project is finished!
Robin, I have seen the mystic stitch charts. very detailed. Which one are you doing?
my current projects are Celtic Christmas by lavender and lace, Homeland (bought as a kit from stitchery online and it’s so pretty. going in my americana guest bedrooom when it’s done and I’m over halfway), a hardanger table scarf by Lorrie Birmingham, and a few others.
A friend and I do lots of the retreats and we did SB in Utah, and this year did the Drawn Thread cruise. It was GREAT!
My friend did a BC retreat (I didn’t go) and she loved the sisters and their stories.
Brenda, there’s nothing like starting new projedts! LOVE that feeling.
:cheering:
This pillow I’m doing is scaring me a bit. I’ve done a whopping 2 rows on it! I figure I’ll do a row at a time and take my time with it. I’d rather go slowly than make a mistake, get frustrated, and chuck the whole project. Once I finish the pillow, I’ll move on to bigger and better things. 
, only things I want to fit, for example if I’m making a sock or a hat, etc 
