Swatch, good woman, swatch!

Spring fever has reached record highs here at the Knit Picks office. Samples of the soft, yummy, new spring/summer yarns are finally here, and we’re all a twitter trying to get photos taken, catalogs printed, new ads designed, new patterns tested, and of course, before any of that can actually be completed, we have to swatch, swatch, swatch!

Being the most inexperienced knitter on staff, I’ve excused myself from swatch duty and appointed myself as head documentarian instead. That means I’ve been taking photos of all my frantically knitting co-workers. I’m sure they’ll look back fondly on this week and be thankful I took pictures once the mania dies down. If not, I hope the rest of you will at least appreciate the sneak peek into the inner workings of Knit Picks.

Christy has (almost) singlehandedly wound every ball of yarn that appears in a Knit Picks ad, catalog, or photo on the web site. She is our yarn’s stylist. Alison has apparently shown great promise as a ball winder too (that’s my own technical term for one who winds). I wound my very first ball today. When you see the gorgeous new photos of Comfy look for the creamy one second from the back. That’ll be my ball winding debut. There’s a reason it’s a little out of focus.

And here are Alison and Kim swatching feverishly. I think it’s particularly impressive that the yarns that Alison is working with match her outfit so perfectly. That’s Comfy in Pomegranate, Planetarium, and Honey Dew from back to front.

This is Spencer, he’s the man behind all of our glorious, glamorous photos. He makes the yarns and needles smile pretty for the cameras. In this photo he’s tangling with an unruly sock knitted in a new Felici spring color.

Here are the other Felici socks and some other skeins of yarn patiently waiting for their close ups. They’re saying “Me! Pick me next, Spencer!”

While you’re waiting for us to get all the new yarns up on KnitPicks.com , why not peruse our patterns and plan what you’re going to knit next? <