Colorwork Knitting Miniseries #3: Swatching FAILS (And What I Learned)

[@lindarose712]

Seeing the difference resulting from changing one color (as you showed swatches to compare) was pretty mind blowing! Thank you for sharing your experience via this cool series 🧶💕🌱

[@_tonya]

This is an invaluable masterclass; it’s sooo helpful to see the little changes you made in each swatch evolution!! Your new project is STUNNING! Thank you for creating this series!!

[@veronique7094]

I very much enjoyed you colorwork miniseries, particularly this last episode . My goal for 2023 is to knit a Fair Isle pattern. Your videos are definitely inspiring and helpful.

[@irityogev2980]

Your explanations are very clear and helpful. I enjoy your series very much. Thank you.

[@christinelittle8576]

Excellent podcast, as usual. This make me want to knit more color work ASAP.

[@dashamanshina]

Absolutely love the series! I'm very excited for each video you make and happy you're making more now. I also really enjoy listening to you explaining your process and your thoughtful and thorough approach.

[@Elianaalfonso7703]

Thank you for this fantastic series. It’s so informative, just like all your videos.

[@this_skipper_knits959]

I find it so interesting how you can have an idea about colours but then put them together it looks off. I need a lesson in colour for certain. Thank you for sharing Mel!!

[@soniaboudeau2140]

Hello, j'adore vos ouvrages et les processus d'y penser. Magnifique!👍🌹😘

[@jocelynmackinnon5886]

Really great series Mel, very interesting. Thank you

[@lizwhaley9676]

Thank you! To me, swatching is SUCH. A. CHORE. but I can really see how necessary it is to make something turn out closer to what you're envisioning. Excellent series. Love your videos!

[@christineosterbuhr3264]

Thanks so much for talking through your thought process. It helps make since of color choices and the importance of switching.

[@Susan-yb3hh]

Great swatch video. Lots of experimenting but you nailed it. 🎉

[@SUSSDUE]

Thank you so very much! This mini series was so helpful to me-a total beginner in stranded colourwork. The colours in the sweater you are wearing are stunning together! It was so helful to see how just changing background from light to drk could transform a pattern so much as ypu showed in this video. I have earmarked your videos in my ” library” and will for sure use them over and over when choosing colours.

[@russellsansom1673]

Your WIP looks gorgeous! The colours are stunning ❤️

[@micheleellis3338]

Oh you do beautiful color work, thank you so much, I love watching the process. Webs is my local Yarn, shop as well. 😀👍

[@seaweedeater3104]

Wow. Your wip is absolutely beautiful. Im so completely scared to try and then massively fail. Thanks for this video. I just found your channel and would really appreciate more videos on this subject.

[@thewoollyworker]

Just wanted to say that was the most instructive video ive ever seen on colourwork and it was so inspiring. I'm definitely going to go back to this when trying to alter marie wallins patterns in the future. Thank you for much for sharing your knowledge with us !

[@elizabethmorgan5163]

I totally identify with this difficulty and admire your tenacity in finding a solution. The result is stunning. I have wanted to knit a colour work vest for several years but I couldn't find a combination I truly loved. In the end I have only used 2 colours ( a variation of Muckle Roe) and although I'm happy with the result - it's not what I originally planned. Looking forward to seeing more of this project -love it.

[@SusieP-bx4en]

thank you Mel. I am a relatively new knitter and done right in with Nordic yoke sweaters as that is what I really wanted to make. I love stranded color work but do get overwhelmed by selecting colors. your video was very helpful. Many thanks!

[@sylvieboisvert]

gorgeous work as usual. Thank you for sharing .

[@katharinewright971]

Thanks for the great mini colourwork series. I have only managed lights and darks in neutrals but you give me confidence to attempt further playing. I also find traditional colour theory doesn’t always work with knitted colourwork, but your tip on heathers and solids makes complete sense. Thanks!!! Back to my coloured pencils.

[@edinacole6382]

thought provoking. Thank you, I am knitting a lot of colorwork this winter and this was very helpful

[@streakyj2]

so much useful info abt combining colors, esp in the swatches! i was nodding along with your points :-) . your project looks terrific!

[@meganolivia6970]

I love that you're doing this series. It's making want to get colour work on my needles! Always love seeing you and learning from you ❤️😊

[@melmakesstuff]

❤️ thank you!!!

[@genier7829]

This was a really helpful episode, and I love the peek into Alice Starmore's book. Her virtual yarn website is a truly dangerous place for me to visit, and a lot of it is due to the photos!

[@melmakesstuff]

No kidding, I’ve been tempted by her website MANY times!

[@jessicatressawell5970]

WOW!!! I love your new sweater!! Stunning! It was so interesting to see the process of how you got there. I'll be watching this series over and over. There is so much to learn from it. Thank you so much for this fabulous content!!!

[@KnittingWithCatHair]

Hi Mel. I'm very much enjoying your colourwork mini-series! I have yet to come up with my own intricate colourwork colour palettes as I haven't felt confident in my abilities to do so, but hearing about your thought process alongside seeing your swatch examples has been extremely helpful! Thank-you so much for sharing! Your Chestnut-inspired sweater is looking gorgeous 😍 Happy Making 🤗💕

[@melmakesstuff]

Thank you so much Nikki! Your Chestnut inspired me to start this latest project for sure 🥰

[@vijayasullivan2887]

Hi Mel: Thanks for taking the time to make your colorwork series. I love this series and it makes me want to start swatching. Lookiing forward to seeing your Chestnut. I am definitely inspired!

[@tiateri541]

Loving this series!

[@ryoknits]

Thanks for this awesome series! I actually thought that swatch with the black and red and green was very cool, in a Western wear kind of way. There is a Venn Diagram of Fair Isle and indigenous American motifs that I am very into.

[@Leigh1131]

I’m a new subscriber and just getting started at choosing colors. Thank you for educational tips. I am realizing how much swatching I have we to do to be successful in FO knitting and I have to decide on whether I can handle slowing down and taking the time to do it. I’m realizing it’s worth the effort. Thank you!

[@marybethirwin9684]

Hooray! Your hard work swatching and studying most definitely paid off. Thanks for sharing the fails. Love this series!

[@melmakesstuff]

❤️❤️❤️

[@TrudySchwartzBurrill]

Hi Mel, I watched this series. I have only done intarsia, and slip stitch color work. I think I could do it. But still am fixing sizing. But you are enjoyable to learn from thanks so much. Intarsia was my second project. I didn’t know people feared it. I just liked a pattern and was learning everything so I looked it up and learned it, and enjoy it.

[@valturner2151]

I love seeing how you think through the color process and your deliberate attention to your own learning. Very inspiring!

[@melmakesstuff]

❤️❤️❤️

[@TheElliephant89]

oh no, I feel myself wanting to make a more complicated colourwork garment than I have experience with after watching this! Luckily I have some holst garn coming for a couple of Boyland Knitworks patterns that I have had in my library for a while. If those go well then I might take the leap for a Marie Wallin or Gudrun Johnston pattern in the new year

[@elynapege6467]

Thank you for creating this color work series! After a few years of knitting, I am slowly warming up to the idea of knitting color work. It's really great to see your thought process when choosing colors that suit the motifs in the pattern. Can't wait to see the next installment!

[@emilythomas6776]

Wonderful tips!

[@deborahhawkins1197]

I so enjoy your videos. They are worth their weight in gold yarn for the quality and analysis of your teaching. I learn more from you than I do In splurging for vogue and knit stars instructions. Thank you so much. Here’s something odd. I can’t find in your videos the Japanese knitting No 2 video. Odd! Cheers. Deb

[@melmakesstuff]

It’s still in the works! Thanks so much for your message Deb, I appreciate it 🥰

[@maureencapotosto9257]

This is so informative. Thank You

[@annparsons6238]

Another very interesting podcast. So helpful as substituting colours is definitely not easy !

[@karenbochinski]

Excellent

[@Clubkidknitter]

If you have a computer or even your phone, take a picture of your yarns you have selected and then use the "colorblind" method. Convert your color photo of your yarns to "grayscale." By doing so, you are able to see all the shades of gray between white and black. White and black represent the ultimate with regard to "contrast." Pair the darker contrasts with the lighter ones. Do not pair similar contrasts (grays). For example: don't pair the dark grays with one another. Similarly, don't pair the light grays with one another.

[@kameliapandaklieva2453]

I love this series. I am not that experienced with colorwork and I definitely find that choosing the right color combinations is not as straight forward as I assumed. I really appreciate your effort in sharing what you've learned along your journey. Super informative and also super interesting. Thank you!

[@cindyveaudry6996]

😍😍😍

[@joanarnold82]

Hello! I'm just now coming to your videos, and just Wow! I may not have the same aesthetician than you, but you are just such a fantastic crafter that to ignore your experience is just very silly. I do have a question about swatching in the round. I have tried several times to swatch in the round and I cannot keep the stitches on the edges either with the rest (ie the tension is just ...... so off), or they come apart when I cut the back in order to test the gauge. How oh how do I keep the edges of the swatch together, and thus getting an accurate gauge? Is it an issue with the yarn that I am using, possibly? I'm at a loss. Im usually very lucky that I get gauge with the recommended needles, most times. But I want to be able to test out colors in colorwork patterns properly.

[@melmakesstuff]

What I usually do is add 2 stitches to the cast on number for the swatch, and then knit the first and last stitches of the swatch with both yarns held together. If you snug them up as you go, that might help keep everything a bit more organized!

[@joanarnold82]

@@melmakesstuff ok! I'll have to try that. Thank you for responding to me!