Sampler Shawls and Afghans

I knew I'd end up behind on my HubChallenge if I tried to do one a day! Thanks to being busy at work and somewhat sick at home, I've gone almost an entire week without writing a single article.

Fortunately, I've managed to acrue several ideas for Hubs during that time, which will make catching up a lot easier.

And so without further ado, I present to you...

Samplers have been popular in fibre arts for hundreds of years. Their purpose originally was as a teaching tool, and sampler feature a variety of different stitches for the knitter or crocheter to practice an, with practice, eventually master. The fact that they also looked attractive and could serve a useful purpose wasan additional bonus, and perhapsthe underlying reason why young children (mostly girls) did them in the first place. In time past, it was one thing to learn a skill that could be used later in life, but with materials often being in short supply, even the practice pieces had to serve a purpose in order to avoid waste.

Samplers are still popular today, and in knitting or crocheting, they most often appear in two forms: shawls, or afghans. Both of these things still serve practical purposes as well as allowing the crafter to practice different stitches, and the resulting completed project has the advantage of looking rather attractive to boot.

Nowadays, with the construction of such items being more of a hobby than an essential way of life, changing the stitch pattern also allows the crafter to keep working on the project without getting bored. When they start gettng tired of one stitch pattern because they've done it often enough to have it mastered, they get to switch to something different and start the learning process over again.

They also are able to see very clearly defined progress marks on their work. In long and large projects, using the same stitch pattern over and over can make it seem that no matter how long you go, the project never gets any longer. But changing the pattern prevents that particular effect by giving the crafter a change of pace.

Most sampler shawls are done in lace patterns, knitting or crocheted in one stitch pattern for a few repeats beforechanging to a new one. This sounds simple enough, but it does requires some forethought and planning. Rather than just choosing any random lace pattern to switch to, patterns have to be chosen charefully in order to match the amount of stitches on the needles. If the patterns don't match, some adjustments need to be made, either by increasing or decreasing a few stitches to make everything balance. Or behaps adding an extra border stitch or two.

This may make it sound very complicated, but really, with a bit of planning and the use of basic math skills, it isn't that hard to keep track of things and make them turn out looking good.

If you knit or crochet, try this out. Find a few patterns that you like, figure out the stitch sounts, and put them together. The lovely thing about sampler shawls is that from what I've seen, no matter what patterns you use the shawl will turn out looking good, and will impress just about anybody who sees it.

Afghans are very popular as sampler items because they tend to be very portable.

I know what you're thinking. How can something the size of a blanket be portable?

Easily... when you knit the piece in small sections and then sew them together later. Often these are knit in panels about the size of washcloths, collected, and then sewn together when enough have been made to make a good-sized blankets.

Unlike shawls, most afghans are not made using lace patterns. Or rather I should say, not made using only lace patterns. Often they're knit using a cable pattern, which makes the fabric denser and therefore warmer than a fabric with holes in it. Some, however, that are made for a mix of decorative and practical purposes include some panels with lace patterns in them, to break up the density and give a different texture and appearance to the finished item.

Much like the switching patterns in lace sampler shawls, being able to switch between patterns makes the progress very easy to judge, and makes the project seem to go much quicker than knitting or crocheting in one pattern over and over again. The fact that the pattern pieces are often portable also adds to this, since the pieces can be taken anywhere, and a few stitches or rows can be completed on the bus, while at work, etc.

If you knit or crochet and haven't tried making a sampler before, you should give them a try. They're fun, move along quickly, and provide you with a nice fashion accessory if you make a shawl, or a cozy blanket to snuggle under in the winter if you make an afghan. Even if these aren't things you would use yourself, they make great gifts. And if nothing else, you get practice with different stitch patterns and get to increase your skills that much more.Can't complain about that!