Inspiration Saturday: A swath of swatches

I have a random assortment of things that are inspiring me which share a common term: swatch.  It's funny how a single word can end up describing so many colorful things.


Knitting Swatches

I can't write about swatches and not first mention knitting, although it's perhaps the least personally inspiring example.  For me, swatching is one of those healthy habits that I know I should foster, but usually just...don't.  Something about it just feels like a waste of time, even though I know in my crafting soul that it isn't.  Thankfully it has yet to cause me any real trouble, but there have been a few projects that I've bitten the bullet and swatched.  Like for this Extermi-mac! laptop cozy:

This involved me merging some existing charts and using a different gauge of yarn, so I needed to make sure that the Daleks would still look like Daleks.

What I love, though, are projects that are made up entirely of swatch-like samplers of various stitches.  Because there are so many interesting ones out there, just like colors of nail polish, it's probably easier to mix them all up than to aim to use them each in their own project.  Whether it's in scarves, afghans, bags, or cushions, I like swatches that become something more.


Swatch the Dog

As a Project Runway fan from season one, visiting Mood Fabrics while I was in New York for college at least once was a must.  I wasn't crafty enough to invest in any actual fabric at the time.  If I were to go back, I would at least get a yard or two of something fabulous for a project bag or something.  And I would of course go running through the aisles calling out 'Swatch!  Swatch!'

Photo credit: Mood Fabrics

He's the pet of manager Eric Sauma and has earned his own little following amongst sewing animal lovers.  He has his own Pinterest board, and the only thing cuter would be if Swatch and Ravelry's Bob got together for a play date of the crafty mascots.


Paint Chips/Swatches

I'm working on another notebook in my notebook swap, and this one's owner has a very obvious favorite color: purple.  It's even in her Ravelry username, so the other weekend while I happened to be in Lowe's I decided to go ahead and grab a selection of the deepest purples I could find.  I'm using them as my inspiration for my pages in a few ways, including taking the names and working them into a very short story.  I've also wanted to do some kind of decor project with paint chips/swatches for years, there are so many possibilities.  Here's just one Pinterest board someone has curated full of ideas.


Nail Polish Swatches

This week I took advantage of the three-day weekend by taking a little of that extra time to paint my nails.  I have a stash of nail polish which may well be just as impressive (or scary) as my yarn stash.  Like jewelry, knitwear, and shoes, nail polish is a colorful detail that I add to my outfits to make myself smile even in the grayest of days.  Ironically enough, though, this week the polish I chose to feature was on the gray side of blue, OPI's I Don't Give a Rotterdam.  It's a sort of slate blue with gold tone shimmer.  I haven't decided yet if I'm going to switch it up for next week or try and extend this three-coater as long as I can.

I probably have enough polish to paint each nail a different color for every week of the year, but that doesn't keep me from staring at swatches of the new colors as they are released.  These are a few of the sites that I have bookmarked:

• Fashion Polish
• All Lacquered Up
• Polish or Perish
• The PolishAholic

Not only are they far more skilled with those brushes than I am, they take great photos.

For more inspiration this weekend, go to Woolen Diversions.