Monday, January 17, 2011

My gauge swatch LIED!

So I've started Tempest, a fun cardigan with some Christmas yarn (thanks Mom and Amber!)  My last sweater came out too big (more on that another day) so I dutifully worked a gauge swatch (a full 4in by 4in mind you).  Of course I didn't get gauge....so I went up 2 needle sizes and made ANOTHER gauge swatch.  I was still a little under so I went up a size.  I measured and remeasured!  I talked it over with another trusted knitter.  I was set!
 Everything seemed fine, but then it started to seem a little long....I kept trying to convince myself it was okay.  So after I finished the back I blocked it and measured.....way WAY too BIG!!!  It will be pretty when it is the right size and thankfully I found out after doing the back! 
 So with all that planning why oh why did this happen?  I measured the finished garment and my gauge didn't match the swatch!  I don't know if I changed? or if the weight of the bigger garment changed it somehow?
I'm going back to the smaller needles (same size) and going to see what happens.  Since planning didn't do me any good we're going to wing it. 

6 comments:

  1. Gauge is a tricky thing. Good luck this time.

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  2. I can relate to your stuggle in the realm of molecular biology... I'll follow the experiment protocol to the T but I might as well have kissed the last 20 hours of my professional life goodbye! Then I wing it and it works. Love the way the purples look together! The pattern is super cute. You'll get it to work!

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  3. Did you have a stressful week or something - that can affect my gauge?

    Love the purples!

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  4. Great to see you back, Leah, only sorry your gauge thing didn't work. That must have been really annoying as backs take a lot of time. Like the shawl in your previous post, too!

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  5. I know how you feel. I'm working on my first sweater in a long time & I fear I will be in the same boat soon.

    On the bright side, I love the colorway (of course!).

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