"Ease"-so what is this ease?
Simply put it is yarns ability to stretch or lack thereof. Sometimes you'll
hear people talk about negative or positive ease-all it means is: a yarn
stretches very little or not at all (negative ease), or stretches quite a lot
(positive ease).
What is a knitter to do with an unknown yarn? How will I know how much this stuff is going to stretch (ease)? Well the proper way to find out is to swatch it baby! A swatch is 4"X4" sample of the pattern/stitch that you want to use. Make sure to write down the dimensions before washing so you can compare it to the finished swatch.
However if you are going to do a garment & the yarn is new to you-the best policy is swatch. There is nothing worse than finding out that your lovely new top has gone from a medium to tent size in one washing!
What is a knitter to do with an unknown yarn? How will I know how much this stuff is going to stretch (ease)? Well the proper way to find out is to swatch it baby! A swatch is 4"X4" sample of the pattern/stitch that you want to use. Make sure to write down the dimensions before washing so you can compare it to the finished swatch.
I'll let you in on a little secret....I
HATE swatching-really dislike it! I don't know about you, but once I've got my
mitts on some luscious new yarn and have a concept in mind I just want to dive
in and make it. Who wants to sit around making silly little squares-plus
it always feels like a waste of perfectly good yarn. Impulsive, yes, but can
you fault a yarn addict really?
However if you are going to do a garment & the yarn is new to you-the best policy is swatch. There is nothing worse than finding out that your lovely new top has gone from a medium to tent size in one washing!
To show you what I mean-let's look at
this scarf I made in from a single skein of "sock" yarn. It was the
last one in the store and a fingerling weight which I thought would be perfect
for a nice lace scarflette (small scarf overlapped and secured w/a button or
two). I did a few repeats of the stitch with different sized needles until I
got to a laciness that I liked; no swatch here for this lady.
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| Unwashed "scarflette", 32"X 6 1/2" |
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| Unwashed "scarflette" 32"X 6 1/2" |
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| His Royal Fuzziness critiquing my photography skills. |
....and then I washed it and lade flat to dry. At the time
I thought maybe it would ease 5". Nope. Note even close. My
darling scarflette was now a full size scarf-that darned thing had eased
a whole 15"! My little scarf grew from 32" in length to an amazing
47"; yarns can fool you my friends.
To be honest, I was secretly pleased that the scarf had finished
itself and wouldn't need any buttons. Can you imagine if I had made a top
out of that yarn-what I pickle I would have been in?!
The lesson of day is: always do a test swatch AND then wash & dry it. Happy Knitting!
