Swatches

As a member of AKD (Association of Knitwear Designers), I get to participate in making up swatches for the GWOY (Great Wall of Yarn) for TNNA(The National NeedleArts Association) convention that meets in January. Trendsetter Yarns sends me a box of usually 8 different yarns, and I get to make swatches so that people in the industry can see what the new yarns look like worked up. The majority of the yarns in my box this year were novelty yarns, something that I rarely, if ever, work with. Making the swatches in these yarns was a challenge.

So, here are the swatches I finished yesterday.


A Nylon/Cotton/Rayon blend in a colorway that I found a little sickening, but physically, it was a nice yarn to work with: a ribbon yarn alternating with a matte, almost suede-like yarn.



A sock yarn that is 100% merino--I could knit a pair of socks in this and then felt them just like I did this weekend with another pair. Honestly, this was a very nice yarn, much more to my liking than the novelty yarns. And since I'm currently in a sock craze/phase, this was right up my alley.


A blend of Silk/Viscose/Microfiber, this felt a little creepy on the skein but actually felt very nice knitting up. Very clear stitch definition.



Not to dis this yarn company, but I think the term for this yarn is "clown barf"--too many different yarns tied together in a jumble.



This absolutely the worst to swatch in. A very fine Rayon yarn with sequins strung along it, finer than sock yarn, I guess lace weight would be the closest? In any case, the sequins catch and pull and I have no idea what use this yarn would be except to carry it along with a heavier, smoother yarn. Beats me.



Yet another joyful mess of a yarn: a curly rayon yarn with big fat slugs--I mean slubs-- in it. Again difficult to work with as the slubs kept catching and being difficult about being made into stitches.



When Allie saw this yarn, she said it looked very Renaissance Faire-ish; maybe the colorway should be called Huzzah.



This one was hard to knit and hard to scan. It's a ruffle and the yarn is cotton/rayon/metallic. Yet another of the My Little Pony yarns that I had to knit up.

I'm interested to see what yarn I get next time.