A while ago, the owner of Hircus Filati received an email from a customer with a question and a suggestion. Before quoting it, I want to thank the kind lady because all customer suggestions are valuable support that allows us to improve our services. Here is the email:
Good morning,
I'd like to offer a suggestion because I really like your website and I promote it, but I can't always buy from you because those who work with knitting needles to follow a pattern need to know, first and foremost, the correspondence between the yarn and the swatch.
Have you ever thought about the possibility of indicating for the different yarns the number of stitches and rows needed to create a 10 cm swatch? (...)
In this last order, for example, I would have preferred cashmere (as always), but I bought merino precisely because I was looking for a yarn that had a correspondence with the reference swatch (...)
Providing this information for all yarns is difficult, considering that many of them are only sold periodically and the quantities of yarn are limited (these are true opportunities not to be missed).
However, there are also fine yarns that are always for sale: I'm talking about
Ecocashmere, a quality yarn at a truly affordable price. For this type of yarn, the information suggested by the customer will certainly be a valuable help.
It seems necessary, however, to emphasize that the numbers of stitches and rows in a 10 x 10 cm swatch are approximate. This swatch should not replace the swatch that the customer will need to make. Why? Because the yarn tension can change, depending on the knitter's hand – some knit tighter, some looser. So it is important that each customer chooses the needle size suitable for their own hand. The dimensions of the swatch, after washing, might also be different.
For making the swatch, another piece of information is important.
Less experienced people think that it is necessary to make a swatch with precise measurements, i.e., 10cm x 10cm. Absolutely not. The swatch to be made should be larger, like the one you see in the photo. Only then will the number of stitches and rows in 10 cm, measured within the swatch, be valid support that will allow us to accurately calculate the number of stitches to cast on.
By clicking on download, you can download a free PDF document in which you will find a table of swatches made with Ecocashmere.
click here to open/download the
ecocashmere-swatches-table
I hope it will be helpful for your next purchases.
Alicja Kwartnik for Hircus Filati
