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vcmwSo, after months and months of just happily knitting/purling endless straight lines, I decided I should probably knit something. With, you know, a pattern.
Which means I had to do a gauge test.
Right, I can do this. I buy the right size needle for the pattern. I buy more-or-less the right size weight as far as I can tell and the clerk thought it would work. Hum-de-hum. I do a couple rows of my twenty stitches. I try to knit looser because I know I knit too tight. Long before I get to 20 rows, I realize that this is not going to go according to plan. I pull out my tape measure.
I am, as far as I can tell, off by 30%. That is, the instructions say I should be getting 4 stitches to the inch and 4-5 rows to the inch. And I'm actually getting about 6 stitches and 6 rows to the inch. Sigh. And I WAS trying to knit looser.
Maybe I should go back to the store and buy a much bigger needle. Maybe I have a whole future of knitting projects on MUCH bigger needles than the pattern says. Eventually, will I start figuring out how much bigger my needle needs to be without doing 3 or 4 different gauge tests first?
My mood - somewhere between irritated and resigned.
Which means I had to do a gauge test.
Right, I can do this. I buy the right size needle for the pattern. I buy more-or-less the right size weight as far as I can tell and the clerk thought it would work. Hum-de-hum. I do a couple rows of my twenty stitches. I try to knit looser because I know I knit too tight. Long before I get to 20 rows, I realize that this is not going to go according to plan. I pull out my tape measure.
I am, as far as I can tell, off by 30%. That is, the instructions say I should be getting 4 stitches to the inch and 4-5 rows to the inch. And I'm actually getting about 6 stitches and 6 rows to the inch. Sigh. And I WAS trying to knit looser.
Maybe I should go back to the store and buy a much bigger needle. Maybe I have a whole future of knitting projects on MUCH bigger needles than the pattern says. Eventually, will I start figuring out how much bigger my needle needs to be without doing 3 or 4 different gauge tests first?
My mood - somewhere between irritated and resigned.
