Happy Friday Night!
Tonight I thought I'd share a quick tip related to gauge swatching. Specifically, if you don't get the right gauge with the pattern's suggested needle size, how do you know if you should go up a needle size or down? It's a common question I get, especially among more beginner swatchers, so I thought tonight I'd share some tips on how to remember it in the future
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Too many stitches? Go up!
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Let's say the pattern stitch gauge is 18 sts = 4" and the needle size listed in the pattern (which should always be thought of as just the 'suggested' size, since everyone's tension can be a little different) is a US 8. You swatch on a US 8 and get 19 sts = 4" (not 18). Put another way, with your tension on a US 8 needle, you're fitting 19 stitches within 4" instead of 18, and so this means your tension is tighter (since you're fitting more stitches into the same width of 4").
So if your tension is tight, that means you want to loosen things up a bit and so you'll want to try swatching on a needle size larger. A larger needle will increase the size of the stitches and thus help you to get the gauge of 18 stitches rather than 19.
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Too few stitches? Go down!
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Using our same example, let's say you instead get a gauge of 17 sts = 4" on a US 8 needle (instead of 18). Put another way, with your tension on a US 8 needle, you're fitting 17 stitches within 4" instead of 18, and this means your tension is looser (since you're fitting less stitches into the same width of 4").
So if your tension is loose, that means you want to tighten things up a bit and so you'll want to try swatching on a needle size smaller. A smaller needle will decrease the size of the stitches and thus help you to get that pattern gauge of 18 stitches rather than 17.
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I hope breaking down this example helps to clarify what type of needle size change you need to make should your next gauge swatch be a little off! Remember that everyone's tension can be a little different so you're not doing anything 'wrong' by having to use a different needle size to get gauge.
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My Gulf of Maine and Gulf of Maine-Light cowls are super easy, perfect for summer knitting.
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The original Gulf of Maine uses worsted-weight yarn and the "light" version uses sport/dk-weight. Sadly both of the yarns I used for these versions have been discontinued, but don't worry - these cowls are so versatile and would work well with any worsted or sport/weight yarn (and make a good stash-busting project too!).
If you're interested in the worsted-weight version, click here. And for the sport/DK-weight version, click here.
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Love this picture Jeff captured this week of a butterfly landing on a daisy. So beautiful! Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.
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