Miette 7: More on Swatches

Jo emailed me with a couple of questions yesterday, and the answers I gave her are good information for everyone I think.  So I'm copying them here!

Here was Jo's question:

I had this article in my bookmarks: 
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring03/FEATswatchout.html 
It says to block your swatch after you knit it.  Thoughts?

Of course I have thoughts!  Don't I always?!  Here was my answer:

I never wash and block my swatches.  BUT: I also don't wash my sweaters (I dry clean them).  Also, a lot of people put together their sweater and then wet block the whole thing - completely soaking it in water, then squeezing the water out and letting it air dry.  I don't do any of that either!  I almost always block my knits with my steam iron, and if it's made in pieces, I block each piece before sewing the sweater together.  Even if I'm doing a sweater all in one piece, like we're doing, I still steam block.  On the rare occasions I do wet block, I pin my pieces to their measurements on a blocking board, and then spritz with water until they're soaked.  Then I let them air dry.  Again, if the sweater is made in pieces, I block each piece before sewing them all together.

So I'll let you decide whether or not you want to wash or block your swatch.  If you are going to be (wet) washing your sweater, then it's probably not a bad idea.  Just remember that a whole sweater has a lot more bulk and weight than a swatch, and can easily get stretched out when washing whether or not you've washed and blocked your swatch.

Jo had another question I'll put here as well, because some of you are very beginners, and may not yet know this:

Oh, and to get this straight - the cardigan is knit on circular needles, but it isn't knit in the round?  So I guess you just go back and forth like normal knitting, but the circular needles are there to help hold your long cardigan more easily?

And my answer:

As for the circular needle, yes, we're going to be knitting back and forth, not in the round.  We use a circular needle for this because we'll have so many stitches (and eventually so much bulk and weight) on the needle at once.  Having a flexible needle makes it a lot easier to manoeuvre.  So really it's going to be just like knitting with straight needles, but with a flexible cord connecting the ends of the needles, to which the knitting will fall.

Just a few more things for you all to keep in mind.  As if you don't have enough already!