What Does Your Gauge Say?

Trying to help knitters knit sweaters that fit is all for nothing if gauge isn't part of the calculation. Gauge is something the knitter has to 'get'.  Both on the needles and in the head.  And there are so many knitters who do not get gauge.  Oh the stories I could tell.

Like Knitter  A,  who asked a fellow knitter what size she  knit because Knitter A  wanted her sweaters to fit just as nicely.  As if the size chosen was the only factor involved in the fit.

Or like the knitter  who said she was searching for cotton yarn because her pattern called for cotton.  As if that was more important than the gauge recommended.

Gauge is all important.  Knowing how many inches around you want your sweater to be is a start. But you can only be sure that  your knitting will give you the correct number of inches IF you knit to the same gauge as the pattern gauge.

Think of gauge  - stitches to the inch - as the number of apples in a box.  The smaller the apples the more it takes to fill the box.  Conversely, the bigger the apples the  fewer it takes  to fill the box.  Apples in a box  -   stitches in an inch.  The smaller the stitches, the more you have in every  inch.

So how does this affect fit?  Well - you know how many inches around you want your sweater to be to fit you nicely because you measured a sweater that fits you nicely.   But you will only achieve that number of inches if your knitting gauge matches the pattern gauge.  If the pattern calls for 5 stitches to the inch, but you are knitting 4 or 6 or 3.5 or 8 or anything but 5 stitches to the inch, your knitting will not end up measuring the same  as the pattern.

To know if you are knitting the same number of stitches to the inch as the pattern recommends, you must DO A GAUGE SWATCH.  And the swatch must be large enough to be read-able - accurately read-able. Not like the knitter with a pattern that called for 11 stitches over two inches, so she cast on 11 stitches and knit two rows.   Really?  Do two rows of knitting in any way provide a good test for a sweater?  Are the same influences at play over 11 stitches as over an entire front or back of stitches? Of course not..

So here's my recommendation for a good gauge swatch.
Yarn and Needles:  Same as you intend to use for the sweater.

How Many Stitches??  Ten stitches more than the pattern gauge calls for.  If the pattern calls for 20 sts/4 inches, cast on 30 stitches.

How many rows?? Knit garter stitch for 4 rows.  Knit stockinet stitch for 40 rows, keeping the first and last three stitches of each row in garter stitch.  Finish the piece  with 4 rows of garter.  What you have created is a piece of knitting which will lie flat because of the garter stitch edges.  A nice flat piece of knitting allows for a nice accurate measurement to be taken.

Treatment:  Before measuring, wash the piece as the ball band on the yarn recommends.  Leave to dry.

Measuring:  One or two stitches into the stockinet section  from the left garter stitch edge, place a straight pin alongside a stitch.  From that pin, measure four inches across the piece and  insert another pin.  Count the stitches between the two pins.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner???   If your stitch count, pin to pin, across four inches is the same as the pattern recommends - YIPPEE!  Start knitting your sweater.
If not, you will have to repeat the gauge swatch with a different needle size.  But how do you know whether to go up or down in needle size?  Well, back to our box of apples.  If there are fewer than 20 apples  in our four inch 'box' that means the apples  are too big to fit 20 of them into that box. We need smaller apples    stitches.  To get smaller stitches, use a smaller needle.  Perhaps the  opposite is the case and there are  more than 20  apples in  the box.   That means the apples   are too small.  You need bigger apples  stitches.  To get bigger   stitches, use  bigger needles.

All this info from the last few days, comes with a guarantee.  If you follow the measuring instructions, the tweaking instructions for waist, bust, belly and back variations, and the gauge instructions and still your sweater does not fit, here is my guarantee:  Grab your sweater, your yarn and your needles, get on a plane, train or automobile  and get yourself to my house.  We'll spend a weekend re-doing your sweater so it's perfect.  There will be refreshments and Fred will wait on us hand and foot so all we have to do is knit.

Gauge Delayed. Let's Talk Shoulders

Yesterday, after discussing lengthening or shortening your sweater and sleeves, shaping the waist and/or  bust or belly and  accommodating rounded backs, I mistakenly  thought,  "That's it!"  Nothing more to be finessed.  Then, I remembered shoulders.

Nothing bothers me more than sleeve/shoulder seams that do not sit precisely on the shoulder bone. Most likely, that bit of tailoring finesse harkens back to my high school, Home Ec classes.  In our final year, we tailored a suit and the teacher was a stickler for proper fit.  Sleeve/shoulder seams were one of her most emphasized, fit features.  She taught us that the shoulder of the seam that joins the sleeve to the body must  sit exactly on the shoulder bone. And so it should.

This potential, fit faux-pas only happens with garments that have set-in sleeves.  Personally, set-in sleeves are not my favourite style.  I think they make me look like a line backer. But from time to time, I do knit a sweater with that more tailored style.  More than from time to time it seems.

 The Patch Work sweater, worn yesterday.

 My own design with a contiguous shoulder.

 The Must Have Cardi

Graylina, knit during the 2014 Olympics

But always, I am very fussy about  the shoulder fit and make adjustments to the pattern to ensure that seam falls precisely on my shoulder bone.

How do I do that?  Well, first, I  make sure I know my shoulder measurement. (Notice a trend here in learning how to make sure your sweater fits?  Start by knowing to the partial inch what size you want to knit)  In the case of the shoulder, there is no ease involved as there is in the width/circumference of the garment. Without ease, I can measure myself instead of a garment.  My  shoulder width, bone to bone,  is 14 inches.

To account for the stretching that naturally takes place in a knitted garment, I use a slightly smaller number for the knitting of my shoulder width:  13 1/2 inches.  But how wide are the shoulders in the pattern?  Some patterns include a schematic or drawing with that number for easy cross referencing.  But if not - back to the calculator.

Patterns with set-in sleeves will have the knitter cast off stitches at the underarm, then decrease further stitches at each armhole edge as you knit towards the shoulder.  Take a look at the number of stitches remaining   after the decreases.  Divide that number by your gauge to determine how wide the shoulders are.  

For Example.  With a gauge of 5 sts per inch and 70 stitches left on the needles, the pattern in question calls for a shoulder width of 14 inches. (70 divided by 5).  Since I want a 13 1/2 inch shoulder width, I need a few more decreases.  In this case   half an inch would be 2 1/2 more stitches.  I would choose then to do either  one more decrease at each armhole for a total of two  - slightly less than needed -  or two more decreases at each side  for a total of four decreases.  My choice would depend partially on the wool being used.  Is it really stretchy?  If so I would chose four more decreases.  If not,  two stitches would probably suffice.  Either choice, easily done and you get a nicer fit.

Now for sure, Monday we talk gauge.  Because without the right gauge, none of this information matters.

Measurements Taken. Now What

The process to make  a sweater that fits is easier than most knitters might think.  Starting with the measurements from  a finished, favourite-fitting garment,  the knitter is armed with  Tool Number One to knit the correct size sweater.

Please note the word FINISHED. That is the  measurement you are looking for.   Some patterns give more than one chest measurement.  The pattern might give  a To Fit Chest Size measurement as well as a FINISHED chest measurement.  You measured a FINISHED sweater, so you are  looking for the FINISHED chest size measurement to start your work.

The difference between the To Fit Chest Size... measurement and the FINISHED chest measurement is the amount of ease the pattern is suggesting for the sweater.

I have a funny story about ease.  When teaching my 'fit' class one year, two friends came together  to take the class. These ladies were, as my Mother would have said, Mutt and Jeff. That is, one quite chubby and the other quite thin.  They provided the perfect example of why it is important to measure a sweater and not yourself.

Both ladies had brought red sweaters to class to be measured.  Miss Chubby's favourite-fitting, red  sweater measured a  figure-hugging 44 inches.   Showed off her curves.  Miss Thin's  red sweater  also measured 44 inches.  It fit like a Mu Mu.   Remember these were their favourite-fits.  These two ladies, with vastly different sizes and figures wore the same size!  That is how they liked to dress.  If they had chosen to knit the To Fit Chest Size  in their pattern, they both would have been disappointed in the fit of their sweater.  You measure a FINISHED sweater and you chose the FINISHED chest size from the pattern that is closest to your sweater measurement.  Digression complete.

 If you want to knit a 40 inch sweater and the pattern has a 40"  FINISHED chest size, you are  in luck.  Simply knit that size. But if the FINISHED chest sizes in the pattern run differently - say 30,34,38,42,46,50" to  knit a 40 inch chest, then you need to go back to the calculator.

My method is to look at the difference in cast-on numbers for the two sizes on either side of my 40 inches.  What is the difference between those  cast on numbers?

For example if size 38 calls for a cast on of 95 and size 42 calls for a cast on of 105, the difference is ten stitches.  Since 40 is half way between 38 and 42, I can easily calculate the half way mark between 95 and 105 and cast on 100 stitches.  AND - carry on with the half-way numbers all the way through the pattern.

For example, if the pattern tells you to cast off 4 stitches at the underarm for size 38 but 6 stitches for size 42 size 40 would be a cast off of 5 stitches.  Half way.

And to paraphrase Elizabeth Zimmermann, - One stitch either way won't make or break a sweater.

Length, of course is a different.  Tomorrow's story.

Nice To Be Back

Yesterday, after posting, I received a cheery comment from my friend Vera welcoming me back to the world of blogging.  Thanks, Vera.  Vera's words have given me the idea for the next few  posts.  

In her comment, Vera mentioned that she is often disappointed with the fit when she knits a sweater for herself.  I have certainly heard that complaint from many knitters. Many knitters are afraid a sweater won't fit, or will be too hard to knit to fit, or have tried and failed to knit a sweater that fits. As a result,  they never knit sweaters for themselves.

Instead they limit themselves to knitting  shawls, scarves and other one-size-fits-all items. Or they knit for babies and children and often claim - "It will fit someone."

But knitting, by its very nature is a creative process.  When doing something creative, why limit yourself?   Especially when learning to knit something that fits is pretty darn easy.

When I worked in a yarn store, knitters  would often  come in with a pattern and ask "How much yarn do I need to  knit this sweater?"

To narrow down the options, I would ask "Well, what size are you going to knit?"

More often than not the customer would reply" Oh, I always knit a large." Or small or medium as the case might be.  Well, those terms didn't tell me much. A  class about sizing was needed.

I would start  each class by asking the students "Who here knits a 'Medium' when knitting a sweater for themselves?"    Hands would go up.
I would  then hand out a variety of patterns and ask the students one by one to state the finished bust size of the 'Medium' on their pattern.  

Those dimensions would often vary by several inches.
Knit to Fit - Lesson Number One: Never chose a size  based on  ambiguous  terms like small, medium or large.  Size needs to be described in detail  -  inches or centimetres.

 But,  then of course, the knitter still needs to know which size to choose.  How do we know that?  We measure.  Not ourselves, as many knitters think, but instead, our sweaters.  Hand knit or commercially made, doesn't matter.  What does matter is the style of the sweater.  If you plan to knit a winter cardigan, don't measure a tank top.  Find a sweater that   fits the way you like,  is a similar type/style to what you want to knit, then measure it.

But, where do we measure?   Width/circumference is measured across the front or back of the sweater, armpit to armpit.

Whatever that width may be, double it for the circumference of your sweater  After all, the sweater needs both back and front.  

Length is measured from where the shoulder meets the neck trim down to the bottom of the sweater

while sleeve length is measured from where the sleeve meets the armpit to the cuff.

You now have three measurements.  Stick with me over the next few days and I will tell you how to use those measurements to knit to fit.