In Which the Pirate Swatches.

Here we have the twenty-five yards of my very first attempt at a woollen longdraw, knit into a twenty-six stitch swatch. I started first on size 10.5 (6.5mm) needles, decided after a few rows that it was far too loose, and went down to size 9 (5.5mm) for the rest of it. That’s why the bottom of the swatch appears to be flaring out; it actually is slightly bigger! After deciding that the size 9s were just about right in terms of how the fabric felt, I experimented a little bit with a few cables and a little patch of seed stitch. I wanted to see how much definition I would get with the textures, and the answer is “very little.” I’m relieved, as if they’d stood out nicely I would be tempted to knit a cabled sweater! Instead, I can plan for plain stockinette with a bit of ribbing for shaping, which should be a quicker project.

After the swatch had soaked and lightly blocked – just stretched into shape, no pinning – I measured 14 stitches to 4 inches, which puts the yarn solidly into the bulky/chunky range. The fabric isn’t next-to-skin soft, but that’s okay for the kind of sweater I’m thinking of knitting. I’d like to see if I can get down to more of a worsted weight yarn, though. More test-spinning and swatching will certainly be required! I have enough of this roving to do as much testing as I need, and still have plenty remaining.

The only issue (which isn’t really an issue) is that testing takes a lot of not-spinning time. Spin the singles and give them a day to rest. Ply them, soak them, and give them a day or two to dry. Knit the test swatch, block it, and then wait for *that* to dry. Meanwhile, the Tour de Fleece is starting in two weeks! I’ll need to know exactly what I’m spinning, if I want to make this roving into my TdF project. It’s looking like I’ll end up doing a bit of this, but also working on some of the pretty dyed top I have in the stash – which I won’t mind doing at all.