One of the new yarns available for knitting is the Universal Yarn Filly. It’s a fine self-striping sock yarn with the perfect content for warmer days. It’s made up of 46% cotton, 33% superwash fine merino wool, 12% polyamide, and 9% PBT. It has good yardage too – 492yds [450m] in a 100g skein.

The self-shadowing colorway of Kite, my chosen color, features an array of various blue, lilac, aqua and pink hues. I’m trying out Filly with KNITTER’S PRIDE Mindful 80cm (32″) Fixed Circular Lace Knitting Needle – 2.75mm (US 2).

I found a free knitting pattern that I like a lot, the Blissful Tee pattern by Universal Yarn.

The pattern requires a different yarn, therefore my challenges for this project are to:

• use the self-striping yarn with open work, and
• adjust the pattern using Filly yarn and my gauge.

I need to make a swatch!

Using US 2 [2.75mm] KNITTER’S PRIDE Mindful needles, I casted on and started the swatch. The fabric will be a little bit airier using larger needles. I need to see how the open work pattern will look when using the self-striping yarn!

I worked the swatch with three things in mind:

1. I worked in stockinette enough to be able to measure my gauge and could not wait to start the open work stitch pattern.
2. I worked a few rows of ribbing to see if I needed to switch to smaller needles for the ribbing.
3. I finished the swatch, soaked it in warm water and let it dry on a flat surface.

Doesn’t the open work stitch look great in the multicolor yarn?

Next, I’ll have to decide on the pattern adjustments. Join me tomorrow, as I continue this knitting adventure using Universal Yarn Filly , KNITTER’S PRIDE Mindful 80cm (32″) Fixed Circular Lace Knitting Needle – 2.75mm (US 2) and Soak Wash in Wild Mint.

This is part 1 of 5 in this series

Go to part 2: How to adapt a knitting pattern for a different yarn

The post Knowing when to knit a swatch [free pattern] appeared first on KNITmuch.