Knitting

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It’s all about Gauge

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In this post of 2/19 [tag]Marnie Maclean [/tag]writes about gauge. Not important you say? Well, would you build a house that needs to be 20 blocks wide, but not determine the width of the block? Do you buy shoes without trying them on first? If you don’t knit a gauge swatch, you have no idea how your yarn works with your needles or how big or small the needles make the stitches. [tag]Knitting[/tag] is a time consuming hobby and you would like to have a project that turns out like your pattern shows. If you don’t “play” with your yarn and needles first, you will be disappointed in the outcome.

Another article by [tag]Mary Smith[/tag] explains even more the reasons that gauge is important. Mary also explains why needle size is not as important as gauge. Knitting is about gauge and tension. Different people knit with different tension and this can also affect your [tag]gauge[/tag]. You may need to go up or down in needle size to obtain the necessary gauge for your pattern.

The next article about gauge written by [tag]Jenna Wilson[/tag] explains in depth about the tension of your gauge and how gravity affects your knit stitches. This article explains that your knit swatch is not square because knit stitches are not square. The article also address the fact that because gauge isn’t permanent and can even change with wear, simply whipping up a gauge swatch and measuring it straight off the needles won’t prevent unwelcome surprises. Even steam- or wet-blocking your[tag] swatch[/tag] on a flat surface will not guarantee that the finished fabric will keep your measured dimensions.

All these articles agree that swatch knitting is extremely important, not only to the sizing of the finished product, but also to the care and wearing of the product.

Isn’t your knitted project worth the little extra time swatching takes?

Comments

  1. Yes, gauge is very important if you want to have the finished object sized the way you want.

    I remember hearing a lady say she never swatches. Another lady said “I bet you give everything you make away.”

  2. Hi Nancy, thanks for stopping by. I have always knit to gauge on the recommended size needles, but I learned early on that swatching is about more than stitches per inch,(Big Grin). Love your Blog!

Have you read?

Knit a Log Cabin Blanket with All Your Scraps

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn. 

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small. 

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches. 

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come. 

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you. 

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?). 

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry. 

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns. 

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]