Good Morning, and what a lovely one it is.
So last night I completed module 5, I smashed module 4 btw ;-). This module was quite an interesting module as it covered tension and pattern reading. Which has posed a question to you lovely lot straight away.
Who makes a tension swatch before starting a project?
I can honestly say I never have, and after reading through this module maybe I should start? Never felt the need too before as never really made any clothes and always believed this was its main importance, apparently not.
There are more factors to a tension swatch than I realised, it’s not just about the size of the piece, but the hook size you should be using, the yarn weight are all factors for a tension swatch.
However I can see why we as crocheters don’t do them, because it’s so time consuming. Not only do you have to keep making one with different hooks and yarn if it’s not the adequate size, you have to block it properly by wetting it, pinning it, drying it then measuring it. Then if it’s not right you have to start the whole process again till you get the right hook and yarn weight ratio to the pattern specifications.
Jeeze, we just want to get started right?
So, who does this every time? or is everyone as eager as me just to crack on with a new project?
A great tip was given though, every tension swatch you make, keep, sew them all together and make a tension swatch Afghan, now what a fabulous idea this is. Come on someone out there has done this right? Please show us because in my head I can imagine some fantastic colourful blankets using these swatches.
The module also covered pattern reading, remember when you first looked at a crochet pattern? That string of abbreviations, numbers and letters, and you were thinking to yourself I need a degree to understand this, and now it’s just like reading a magazine. OK you might have to read through some a few times still but you do actually understand what it’s telling you.
Thats a skill in itself isn’t it?
It also listed all the common abbreviations that we read daily, and was very proud that I recognised all of them, Yes! I can do this ha ha. I won’t list them all on here today as there are too many but look out for future posts I may just cover them.
It also covered following a chart provided a table of what all the symbols represented which was quite handy for myself as I have never really followed a chart so I might try this method and see. It did both UK and US terms also which is handy for me as I do switch between both quite a lot.
Who prefers a chart to written patterns? if so why
Anyway thank you for reading, enjoy this beautiful day (UK) and the long weekend.
Take Care
Marie (Cosy Crochet) x
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