Swatch #3

I got my Knit Picks Yarn in the mail yesterday, and I've started working on my Master Knitter swatches already. I'm starting with swatch #3 - seed stitch, since several of the swatches have to be knitted on the same size needles, and some people have said that they've had trouble getting the seed stitch swatch dense enough. My first attempt was pretty pathetic! Uneven gauge galore! So I tried using the Combined Purl Method on my purl stitches (i.e. bringing the working yarn under the needle to form the stitch instead of bringing it over the needle). This results in a stitch sitting on the needle incorrectly, which you then have to fix on the next row by working into to back loop of the stitch. Doing it this way helps to eliminate the excess yarn that you tend to have when forming a purl stitch. I also made sure to move the previous stitch forward with my finger when moving the yarn to the front prior to working the purl stitch - this helps to eliminate any excess yarn between the stitches. Both of these techniques helped greatly, as you can see by these photos:

These are unblocked swatches. The swatch on the left is my first attempt - I didn't knit the full 4 inches since it was obviously a piece of crap. (Halfway through I started doing the combined purl to try it out - can't you tell the difference?!) The swatch on the right is my full completed swatch. Here's a closer look:

I'm not sure if this one will pass, since the tension still seems uneven in several spots. My selvedge stitches are a little uneven as well. I'm hoping that blocking will take care of it and even everything out - we'll see. I'll probably block these tonight. Oh, yeah, I used Clover Bamboo size 6 needles on both of these. I really didn't want to go down a needle size - my stitches seem small enough as it is - I don't want to blind the committee members!

I also added to my knitting reference library with a couple of books:

I'd like to start on my research paper soon, but I have so many other things to do. Plus take care of my kids somewhere in there too! :-)

I really need to work on the second of my dad's birthday socks. The first one took me so long, I'm afraid I'll run out of time. His birthday was Oct 25 (he turned 60!), but we're going to do a little surprise party for him at Thanksgiving. We're all getting together in Pigeon Forge for a week (my mom rented a 4 bedroom cabin.) I am so looking forward to it! I hope dad likes his sock(s)! :-)

I'll keep you posted on the swatches!

Ta-Ta!