It’s that time of year. Everyone’s posting year-end lists and hinting toward what you should do when the calendar year changes. I love to be tidy and organized, but often the pressure of “start on day X” is daunting and causes me to rebel by not doing it. January New Year’s Resolutions, I’m looking at you.

My philosophy is more to just jump in and experiment. I can echo Arthur Ashe: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” As I wrote about in September, I think about my creative practice in seasons rather than strict calendar dates. There’s an ebb and flow to my work and my focus because I’m part of the world around me.

Some things are easier to start at certain times because of community. There are often 100-day creative practices, and I did “Year of Making” for many years. These are great to start on the first of a year or quarter. If that excites you, I will not stop you.

But many other projects are great to start on a random Tuesday. Or a Sunday night at the solstice.

The eighth day of Chanukah was yesterday, so my holiday is over. It’s not a major holiday, though it’s become a more visible one due to its timing generally in mid to late December. For me, Chanukah doesn’t usually offer much of a shift. But this year the eighth night was also the winter solstice. That felt like a good moment to begin something new.

So, I started swatching. I had a time-based reason for this, but I also have a larger goal.

I hope to get back into the practice of creating regular swatches and writing about them. I’m working with new yarns. If I’m not mindful, they’ll pass quickly through my fingers. I want to learn and understand my tools. As I wrote about before, a swatch can teach you more than a ball band ever will.

Why these swatches matter

These swatches are “getting to know a yarn” swatches. I received a very generous donation of yarn two weeks ago. I’d not worked with many of them. There’s a group of 190 balls of yarn (out of 362 skeins donated) that I think will work for a part of my sisterhood’s overall blanket project which doesn’t need 100% acrylic. But I needed to understand the yarn before I recommended it. We’ll next meet again the second week of January, but I wanted to get this hard part done so I could begin to make plans.

So, I used the recommended needle and hook and made both a garter stitch and single crochet swatch. I then held the yarn doubled and created similar swatches with a larger needle size.

Then I did something that goes against what the label suggests: I machine washed and dried them.

The label suggests hand wash and dry in the shade. As it’s a cotton blend, I doubted this was for felting and more for colorfastness. After a trip in my machine, these swatches seem fine to me. Why did I do this? This yarn needs to survive fabric-care abuse. Might they fade in an industrial machine? My gut says maybe. And if they do, they do. I don’t think it’ll happen immediately.

Personally, I love the doubled garter stitch and the single strand single crochet swatches best.

Now to record everything into my swatch library notes, and then work on some designs for the blanket project knitters and crocheters. While I need to write up thoughts on these swatches, honestly, the more important part in this moment was for me to make them and put the yarn through a machine wash and dry cycle.

Are you ready to start?

Pick up that yarn you’ve been eyeing. Make a small square. Wash it if you’re curious, either listening to or ignoring the label (in that case, be prepared for surprises). Take notes. I offer a swatch library worksheet if you need some ideas. There’s no pressure to start big or finish by a deadline. Work to build your library, one swatch at a time. Start where you are. Use your yarn. Do what you can. The swatches may surprise you.