Life With Wool
Hold Me Closer, Tiny Blanket
Greetings from Maine.
My mind is in autumn but the cold weather isn’t here yet. There’s just enough chill in the mornings to think about pulling out the thicker cardigan, but then it warms up and we’re back to September. So I sit on the porch, protected from the last flesh-biting bugs of the season, and I content myself by knitting little squares.
Technically you’d call them swatches. But they aren’t the kind that most knitters think of when they hear that word. My little squares have no relation to gauge or measurement at all. They serve as morning stretches, moving meditations, a universe in and of themselves.
These swatches ground and center and satisfy. They give me permission to play without consequences. They keep my fingers nimble, they give my mind room to roam. Best of all, they will never become burdensome UFOs. The Rule of Swatchtopia is that you cast on, you knit until you’ve had your fill, and then you bind off. All done, all in one sitting.
My swatches also serve as turbocharged dopamine machines. The first hit comes when you cast on. The next, when you reach the zone with your stitches. Then, when you bind off. A fourth hit comes when you finish darning the end, and a fifth when you drop that tiny blanket into a relaxing bath of warm sudsy water. Another drip of dopamine comes when you admire your washed swatch, gently tapped into shape and relaxing on a towel.
Here comes a forced waiting period that’s rare and vital in this era of instant gratification. We cannot, we should not try to speed up the drying process, especially when wool is involved. Wool and moisture have secrets we mere mortals cannot hear. No, we must set out our swatch and step away.
Inevitably, we forget about our swatch until later in the day. Another shot of dopamine! There it sits, like a frosted cake under glass, just waiting for us. It’s all puffed and smoothed and rinsed and dried and done.
Lest you think that knitting a small square is a waste of time, especially when you have that birthday present and Rhinebeck sweater to finish, I offer an alternative perspective. Taking ten minutes to make a tiny blanket is no less of a waste than Czerny exercises to a pianist or stretches to an athlete. If anything, they make you a better knitter by keeping your fingers nimble. They bring your hands and mind back into calibration before you set about forming any stitches of consequence.
But what about the yarn? How can we possibly waste yarn on something so pointless? We’ve all been trained to think about knitting primarily in terms of what it produces. We can’t just knit a mindless square for the pure pleasure of knitting a mindless square. It has to become something—a fingerless mitt or pincushion or glasses case or lavender sachet, a piece for a quilt or a pillow. Anything!
Beware the trap. The minute we start thinking about our swatch in terms of what else it could become, it ceases to be a meditation and becomes a task.
That said, I do have one compromise. It’s something I didn’t even whisper in my upcoming Knit Stars Season 10 masterclass about swatching, that I’ll share with you now. During the transitional month of October, when the mind craves the coziness of winter but the weather won’t support it yet, my swatches bridge the gap by becoming tiny blankets.
Who couldn’t use an occasional tiny blanket at this time of year? These swatches are just big enough to fit in your hands, small enough to be finished in one sitting, substantial enough to satisfy your autumnal wool urgings, and insubstantial enough to keep you from overheating.
Should my left knee feel a slight chill while I’m out on the porch waiting for autumn to arrive, out comes a tiny blanket. Should my rubber ducky catch a chill by the window, out comes a tiny blanket. Doorknob starting to bristle at the draft from that open porch door? Tiny blanket. Tub faucet needing a boost before the heat comes on? Blanket.
How about that cup of tea? Or that soft-boiled egg? Or that duck with a broken beak that sits by the fireplace, waiting for the first fire of the season?
The more you look, the more you’ll discover a world that could benefit from a tiny blanket.
The rest of the year, you get to enjoy the distinct pleasure of piling your washed and plumped swatches higher and higher and higher. There they sit, ready for that inevitable day when all motivation is gone, when you can’t even stomach the idea of swatching, much less figuring out that half-finished sweater you abandoned two years ago.
When this morning arrives, you can pull out your pile and flip through the swatches like a magical deck of cards, letting all the colors and textures and memories of mornings past refill your spirit with the urge to cast on once again.
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I love this!Knitting just for the joy of it. And the magical creatures that come out at night might need a tiny blanket every now and then !
Wonderful. All of it ! ♥️
Wonderful
Just knit for the love of knitting!
Love this. Those tiny blankets gave me inspiration. I can just imagine admiring my own pile of tiny blankets.
Amen.
I love this! Such a good reminder that it is okay…no, wonderful! to knit just for the joy of knitting. We get too caught up in usefulness and productivity. Thank you!
I love the idea. I’m having trouble with my hands and am forced to stop knitting for a few months. This could be a good way for me to start up again. But, I’m so product oriented that I would probably sew a blanket together out of the tiny squares.
Very well written, inspiring
In fact they might already be sneaking the blankets out at night and then tucking them back before we wake up. Anything is possible….
I so love this. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Birgit!
What a wonderful idea! Thank you.
My pleasure, Paddy!
To echo previous comments, I love this! I am in need of “hospital knitting” these days, but my mind has been too overwhelmed to think about following even the simplest of patterns. But, a tiny blanket; I can do that!
I love this concept! I have been in a knitting slump for months and knitting a tiny blanket might be just the thing to rekindle my knitting spirit. These would be perfect fairy blankets.
This is absolutely the kind of knitting for you right now. May it bring all that you need to get back to center. ❤️
Last year I was in Suzanne Bryan’s bootcamp I, II, and III. For a year I studied knitting and we made swatches to learn techniques. The swatches went into my binder to keep order to them. But besides the weekly class with homework, I needed small projects to keep me busy, so I began knitting hats. I didn’t want a big project – but just a project that I could pick up and keep busy with. The whole year I knit hats and they began to pile up in my house. So near the holidays I brought a big bag of the hats to my dentist’s office and told the front desk person to have everyone try on a hat and take one. While I was having my teeth cleaned, I heard giggles from the bathroom. Everyone was trying them on and laughing. That was fun. But I still had a lot of hats left. So I went to Marshalls and purchased a very nice wicker basket and I placed it on a table in my living room. I put the remaining hats in the wicker basket and the colors just flowed. They look so nice in that basket and they are a gift just waiting to happen when someone is in my home and needs one. I’ve decided that for this season hats will continue to be on my needles. That basket will overflow again. Your swatch pile reminded me of my hat pile. You may want to head over to Marshalls for that wicker basket. Those swatches would simply look beautiful in a nice wicker basket displayed for the everyone to see.
What sort of hats?
My mobile knitting bag usually has a hat in it (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/morning-walk-hat). I’ve made more than ten. You can use DK weight or double up fingering weight, which is my favorite as one can mark. The pattern is mindless-once you’ve cast on and started, you can just knit and purl. One size fits adults and everyone loves them.
Marl, not mark. Thank you autocorrect.
Can you recommend some suitable hat recipes or patterns?
Wonderful idea!❤️❤️❤️
Thanks Clara. Do you note somehow in your knitting what needles you used or let that go too?
For this kind of swatching, no – it’s all about the process.
Now, THAT (tiny blankets that are not gage swatches) is a perfect idea! Thank you for the suggestion… I am going to grab some fabulous and fun Luminosa from my stash, and see what can happen in 30 min of “meditation” before this day is over.
Beautiful! I love knowing that you have this ahead of you today.
Such a joyful post to wake up to this morning! Thank you, Clara
My pleasure, Karen!
What a great idea. Recently I just don’t want to work on any projects I have going. Several years ago I knitted small squares in cotton yarn to use for hand wipes on my bathroom vanity. Maybe I’ll do that again but in different yarns and call them blankets.
Thank you Clara
Prayer cloths! (Or thinking of you cloths depending on your persuasion). Share the love!
That’s it! Whatever prayer/meditation/mindfulness practice speaks to you.
Any given toddler in one’s universe will ADORE these. My granddaughter found my box o’ swatches and said “Oh Birdie, thank you for making blankets for all my babies!”. I find them tenderly tucked around Lego people, hot wheels cars, and even her toothbrush. What vision!
Absolutely precious!! And I love that she calls you Birdie!
Oh Dawn I love this so much!
There may be a small blanket stash at my house by spring! Thanks for the permission. I had no idea I needed that.
Consider this your engraved, embossed, and triple-stamped permission slip.
What a joyful way to start the day!
Wow. Clara. You are blowing my mind.
This fits so well with Dana’s “use the good stuff” essay from a few days ago.
The whole idea that it is not a waste of yarn to knit a small square of something. That a whole pile of small squares does not have to be seamed together into something “useful.” That we can enjoy the knitting and the yarn without having to “make something.” That there is joy in the knitting and the yarn and the textures and the colors themselves. Like nature. Like art. Maybe both at the same time.
Yes! You absolutely get it!
Awhile back, Sarah Swett posted a photo of a stunning sweater she pieced together from years of beautiful and varied swatches.
Where have you seen this sweater by Sarah Swett, it isn’t in her Ravelry, and not on her website (only her beautiful tapestries). I would love to see what you are referring to. And thanks to Clara for a beautiful and inspiring article on knitting just to knit. I feel like I must knit with my morning coffee, just to get the day started. And then there is knitting to watching knitting podcasts. It is always part of my day!
It was in “The Gusset,” Sarah’s weekly—and charming and inspiring—weekly Substack.
Sarah is such an inspiration!
Good wool swatches make great coasters.
Clara, you did it again! Soul saving squares!
I hadn’t realized I needed them.
Thank you!
I am so happy to be of service.
Clara! I love this. As a knitter and a yarn collector I often feel guilty about the quantity of yarn in my stash. Just yesterday I had the thought, this yarn is here for me to enjoy! So what if I cast on several swatches and they don’t end up being anything other than a chance to sit and meditate whilst enjoying the feeling of lovely yarns and colors slipping through my fingers. Yarn and knitting has brought so much happiness and joy to my life and that is absolutely nothing to feel guilty about. I will be doing a lot more knitting of tiny blankets 😉
That’s it in a beautiful nutshell! Cast on for the sheer pleasure of feeling this gorgeous yarn slide through your fingers. No numbers, no pressure, no thoughts of anything other than the immediate moment.
I love my swatches. I put them in the washer and dryer,crochet a border, sew on a cotton heart and place them on the graves of departed loved ones. Sometimes I drive a nail in the corners to keep them in place.
Knitting them becomes a meditation and devotion of sorts.
Nature takes care of the decomposition. There are sometimes sweet little chew marks from a small critter.
This makes me smile and warms my heart.
My dream is that my loved one feels the same.
This is beautiful, Misha.
I love this idea. This is beautiful.
Beautiful. Your entire essay is so calming to read. A sweet calming knit I didn’t know I needed when it seems the world is spinning so crazily. Thank you! Love all your posts especially ice cream cones in Maine…
Oh Pamela, this means so much to me. Thank you.
You caused me to Ile and feel cozy this morning. Thank you.
I love this! What a wonderful way to make use of my stash and try out some new stitches
I’m probably not the only person who’s this paranoid? I worry that if I use “all this much yarn “ to swatch, I might not have enough to finish the project. Did the pattern designer account for swatching in quoting the number of skeins needed? Do I need to buy an extra skein for swatching? Agh!
That’s where this kind of swatching is so much fun – there’s no required yardage, you’re just playing with beautiful yarn in your stash. You could even use leftovers.
Dear Clara — I wonder if you realize how very special your thoughts and words are to me (and I dare say so many, many more). May the blessings you convey out into the world come back to you. Thank you. Sincerely, thank you.
I’m honored. ❤️❤️❤️
Hello again, Clara, after many moons missing from the knitting scene due to osteoarthritis. I loved your post and your descriptive talent for making your story so personal and so inspiring at the same time. I was one of the ‘shall we say, long time members of Knitter’s Review and it’s a pleasure to know that you are as active and creative as ever!
Regards, Laura
This is meditative knitting at its finest! Love this. As always, thank you so much for this reflection on knitting.
My pleasure, Sandra.
Love your letter as always. I have a friend on Ravalry, who gave me permission awhile back to just enjoy my projects and love them as I knit along. That’s probably why I have several projects on needles and move through them as I feel the urge to complete them. Knitting does take you to a place of love, meditation, ease, and joy.
Thank you for helping us to just relax, breathe, and feel uncomplicated.
So great Clara! This struck every dopamine starved cell!!!
“Beware the trap. The minute we start thinking about our swatch in terms of what else it could become, it ceases to be a meditation and becomes a task.”
Genius. Thank you.
Love the mornings I get a double dose of Clara, Maine, and yarn. On to the Respite.
I love this idea. When my 5 year old granddaughter comes to visit she always asks if she can play with yarn. I give her my scraps and she winds, cuts into pieces, sorts by color, dreams up so many ways to play. I know she would love a pile of swatches to arrange and organize. The gnomes I knit could each have their own blanket!
What a brilliant thing to do with your granddaughter!
In my church we call these mini prayer shawls. People love to put them in their pockets and when they touch them it reminds them that someone is praying for them. We have a hard time keeping them stocked.
I love this, Jeanne! It gets right to the heart of what knitted stitches can do.
I make tiny kindness hearts to give away. I’m envisioning giving a prayer swatch with a tiny heart. The hearts come with affirming quotes or Bible verses.
I am precisely at that point – sorting out that two year old half-finished vest that I really want. Time for a tiny blanket! My theory is, thanks to Clara, that fingers working playfully in the foreground, maybe mind working silently in the background, I will figure it out…Linda, if you are still making hats and don’t mind knitting a tinier version every now and then, maybe you could make some in preemie and newborn sizes for a local hospital. – Although that might be too intentional for this exercise where no end-use is the whole point.
You put it so perfectly: Fingers working playfully in the foreground, mind ABSOLUTELY working silently in the background.
The title is a perfect little song for restful knitting.
Love to all.
Funny, but while my mind refuses the concept of swatching for gage (fortunately, I’m remarkably/inexplicably consistent in my stitch tension or just plain lucky ) I too have discovered the joy of squares. In my case, mitered squares, which I took up initially to use up some leftover yarn from a sweater project but the satisfaction of a tidy square is beyond measure. Now I want to knit squares just to experiment with stitches because I love knitting hats with creative stitches and this will let me stretch my fingers and expertise. Thanks for a charming article!
Fabulous idea. My knitting is always beside me wherever I’m sitting.
Thank you Clara x
Greetings from Wales x
Hello to you in Wales, Rosemary!
When I am worried about having enough yarn to complete my project (because I use my stash sometimes and the yarns are too often discontinued), I don’t bind off the swatch with a BO, but just run the working thread through the last row of stitches with a tapestry needle. That way, I can easily retrieve and use the yarn.
That picture of the rubber ducky in the blanket is enough to revolutionize my approach to knitting!
Seriously, I’ve got one of those 365-stitch-pattern desk calendars sitting around, and I often think I should just take out the yarn and play around with them, not worrying about the end use of the squares, if any.
Back when my daughter was small, she had a dollhouse in the library, but most of her collection of small figurines, dolls and tiny animals lived on squares out in front of it, made from my swatches.
Rubber ducky blushes and says, “Thank you!”
Czerny!! Haven’t heard that in a while, we must be of matching ages.
I needed this sweet missive today. Sometimes I don’t even care about the product (don’t tell anyone.) it is the act of knitting that brings me so much joy. Loved it.
Clara, you always lift my spirits with your ideas, creativity, knowledge, whimsy, and (in a nod to your Respite life) perfect quotes. This practice you have of knitting a small square every day is brilliant and speaks to me! Not only because of the reasons you’ve given here, but also because it would be the perfect way to honor each breed of sheep, each farmer, and each country producing wool of the yarn I use. I order from all over just for the inspiration of holding in my hands something from that place, those sheep, that shepherd or shepherdess. Making a square from each and really seeing it–remembering it–will only add to my joy in all the amazing yarns produced for our knitting pleasure. Just look at that glorious little pile you’ve accumulated! Thank you so much.
❤️❤️
What a neat idea! Something small to knit…just knit with no expectations! Thank you!
Oh, the minute I read the title, I knew it was you writing. And not because I know about the swatches (the main reason I signed up for KnitStars X). It’s because your writing is just so. Just so. Fill in the praising adjective of your choice. And the photos, that beautiful doorknob, your ducky, even your faucet; you live among beloved things that are animated by your love and intention. I envy to my bones that intention, and whenever I can I try to emulate it. –Tamara
Goodness, Tamara. Thank you. ❤️
I’d like to do some online knitting. I can’t find a group.
There are lots on the Ravelry forums, including all kinds of themes.
I don’t knit, but I crochet and hook. They’ll work too. You’ve made me feel so…cozy.
Oh my goodness, that absolutely works too! By hook or by crook or by needle or any other means.
Make a quilt out of the squares
This practice of knitting little pieces is brilliant! It’s just like the warm up any artist does. Thanks for sharing it.
Heart warming cuddly article
Thank you for a wonderful article! I always felt guilty that I was wasting time knitting squares but at I loved it so much! You have freed me to enjoy my squares which are now my tiny blankets!☺️
Love your prose, Clara
I know Clara is spoken for but, geez, I sure do love her! Wise wool whisperer bringing peace to us all.
This post speaks to me. My mom is in hospital. Things aren’t going her way. Trying to work on projects is not working out. So it’s soothing knitting for me. Little squares knitted ever day intermixed with leg rubs for her, the soothing periods with help us both, I think.
May those little squares bring the soothing you need–and may the sight of you knitting bring comfort to your mom as well. ❤️
Hugs, Tammy. I was where you are a year ago. Sending strong prayers for your mama.
Do you also crochet? I am self-taught on both crocheting and knitting. But, I prefer to crochet.
What a fantastic idea. I’m all in.
What a wonderful article. I love to knit. When I end up with a small ball of leftover yarn, I get my crochet hook and make a granny square. These squares eventually become a «ugly but warm» blanket. A friend raises chickens. When some of them came down with a cold, I knitted them scarves with leftover yarn.
Oh! What a delightful chilly fall read up here in Massachusetts! I love knitting bits and bobs of swatches merely for 1) the act of knitting 2) keep my hands at it when I dont feel like working on a wip 3) for the tactile comfort of creating FABRIC. Love every photo! I want to make itty-bitty scarf swatches over all my knickknacks, books and vases now!
What an adorable idea, and giving “permission” for others to recognise knitting as the gloriously mindful craft that it is ☺️
I love how Arne & Carlos call swatches a playground. That concept totally opened my mind to having fun and experimenting for the fun of it, even with the preciouses.
I needed to read about these tiny bits of inspiration. I did some vegetation dyeing this summer. They sit in balls next to my chair. I now know that I will group them in like mordants and knit a few rows and try a few different stitches out . I think it will make a cute reference stack for the future. Thank you.
Beautiful. Thank you
Why not stitch the squares together to make a small blanket to put over your knees or shoulders as the coming months will definitely get colder,
You can add knitted. Flowers on to the blanket to add a special autumn/ Christmas feel . Or spring like with knitted daisy’s, also. Add a colorful border of knitted garter stitch. With a yarn that is multi coloured. To cheer you up on a dull winter day. Add knitted bows for an Italian look,
Add. Red. Always a cheerful warm choice of colour. Add. Buttons make a happy face. Could always make a blanket for your doggie to match. Be creative, have fun, find colour,
Spring wonderful!
Have just enjoyed your words about tiny blankets and you’ve given me ideas of what to do with the dozens of squares I knitted with the intention of sewing them into one bigger blanket. Now some of them can be mini blankets for other things – my brass duck that needs to be kept warm of the shelf for one……….! Thankyou!
You say knitting g keeps your fingers nimble. I agree. So why not get on with that Jumper you’ve not finished, or knitting hats for Premature babies …. Athletes can’t perform if they don’t limber up. You/I can just get on with my knitting project… they do look lovely. But aren’t you tempted to make them into a blanket???
Very interesting take on swatching. Is the washing of the swatch required? I’ve got tons of leftover yarn from socks, sweaters and shawls, that I could see swatching with, but minus the washing. Do they look that much better after washing?
In my prayer shawl group we knit or crochet these prayer squares with an attached cross and pass them around calling them prayer squares . We pass them out at the local festival in the Spring each year.
I love this!
I would never get those squares put together! Prefer to work at my pace on small items for charity.
I’m not a knitter but a crocheter. But I still enjoy reading about knitting/knitters. And knitted projects are just *chef’s kiss*
I enjoyed reading your post & it has inspired me to make tiny crochet blankets! A nice pallet cleanser, a moment of meditation to collect one’s thoughts or wash away the hustle & bustle of the day from our minds. Thank you for this.
When I was going through chemotherapy I swatched for my LYS because I couldn’t concentrate on patterns. It was wonderful therapy. I thoroughly enjoyed it and helped the owner.
Yes!
I’m thinking about turning all the tiny blankets into one beautiful one!
What a lovely tribute to the act of letting wool slide through your fingers and on to the needles for no other reason than the enjoyment of doing just that. Your reflections have given me a stellar morning! Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing this. I have long COVID, and the brain fog has forced me to abandon my favorite hobbies and stress relievers–knitting and baking. This is such a wonderful way to get the relaxation and mindfulness benefits of knitting without having to keep track of a pattern or worrying about messing up my stitches.
This sounds fun and relaxing. I think at some point I’d start practicing seaming methods and then end up with lap blanket, or bigger…..
MIND AND FINGER CALIBRATION. LOVE THAT IDEA.
Wonderful to reconnect. I have missed these reviews, and I’m so glad I have rediscovered them. Thank you!
I love this so much.
Great projects. I live in south Arizona where cold is laughable but I love trying new stitches. I will add a big square to my great grandchildren blanket. Just a little JAZZ hope that makes you . Old lady Leda Jane
Thanks..I needed this
What an absolute joy to read, for the very first time, this newsletter from Clara!! A friend of mine just sent me the link about tiny blankets and I was pulled in immediately!! I’m happy to join the list of fiber enthusiasts who enjoy this wonderful world of Clara Parkes!!!
I use my swatches in my baby’s fake tissue box. The original tissues were lost long ago and these are much better, varying in size and texture. He loves it. If you have a baby that loves to empty tissue boxes, fill one with swatches!
Wonderful. All of it ! ♥️
Great idea, to cool off and relax with a swatch.
I have been a knitter for most of my life. I love picking up a pair of needles and some yarn and see what inspires me.