Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Gauge


I'm having gauge issues. Last night, I knitted lots of gauge swatches with this blue skein of Malabrigo Twist. I started with size 7 needles and 4 stitches per inch and ended up with size 4 needles, still with 4 stitches per inch. So I gave up and started knitting on the size 4. But when I got to the white yarn, my gauge was 5 stitches per inch. Is it possible that two skeins of Malabrigo Twist vary that much in thickness or is it my knitting that varies that much from day to day? What do I do now? Frog it and knit a swatch in each color? I'm making a newborn size Rhino Romper, and I'm afraid that if my gauge is off in one direction, I'll run out of yarn, and in the other direction, it will be too small. If I hadn't spend so much money on this yarn, I'd give up.

3 comments:

  1. I love this romper man.
    I've got no clue...............sorry!

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  2. I'd blame the thickness. Trial and error with different needles might even it out for you, good luck!

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  3. Both your tension and the yarn are to blame. A lot of times unless you are just knitting straight through an din a groove, you don't have the same tension when changing colors, but also, the yarns, even synthetic yarns, vary slightly and it can really throw you off. When you are making a swatch try making one that is at-least 25 inches long, and knit purl every other line so your swatch doesn't wrinkle or roll, then make it a good 3 inches long... this way you can get your gauge from the middle of your swatch where it hasn't been pushed out, pinched in, rolled up, skewed sideways etc. It takes more time, but well worth it.

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