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It’s all about Gauge

February 22, 2007 by Laura Nixon

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?

Next Pattern:

  • More Tips on Getting the Perfect Knitting Gauge
  • All About Substituting Yarns
  • This Ribbed Tank is a Knit for All Seasons
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Comments

  1. NancyMaria says

    February 26, 2007 at 4:55 pm

    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. Laura Nixon says

    February 26, 2007 at 7:28 pm

    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 Hat with a Flock of Chickens

It’s well known (among knitters, anyway) that knitters seem to love chickens as a motif and a subject of our knitting projects. The Emotional Support Chicken and all the other chicken knitting patterns are just the beginning of our devotion to farmyard friends. 

For example, there’s Farmer Dennis’ Chicken Hat. This free pattern from Stacy Black is a simple worsted weight beanie sized for adults and decorate with a couple of little rounds of colorwork fences and a flock of chickens strutting around the body of the hat. 

You don’t need a lot of any of the colors for the chickens, their facial features or the fences, so this is a great project for using little leftover bits from other projects. The main color for the body of the hat is less than a skein using the yarn suggested, so you might just have everything you need in your house to start stitching up this hat right away. 

The colorwork is presented as a chart, with a 16 stitch section that repeats around the body of the hat. All the color changes are shown on the chart but I think it would be easier to knit the whole chicken in the chicken color and add the eye, beak and other features using duplicate stitch when the knitting is done. That way you don’t have to carry those yarns around the whole hat for just a few stitches. 

As the name suggests, the original hat was given to a farmer who shared their eggs, but anyone who raises chickens or just has a thing for the fowl is sure to love this cute hat. It wouldn’t be too difficult for someone new to stranded knitting or reading charts to make, either, so if that’s you, give it a try. 

The pattern is available for free on Ravelry. 

[Photo: Stacy Black]

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