Project Bodemloos: Gauge musings and Cake Day
After blocking the swatch, it's high time to talk about my gauge musings. The pattern calls for 18 stitches per 10 centimeter. But my gauge was different: I needed only 17 stitches to get 10 centimeter. If you need fewer stitches for the same amount of centimeters, your stitches are larger so your sweater will turn out to be larger than the pattern prescribes as well.
Does a gauge difference of 1 stitch really matter that much? Well yes.
I measured my bust circumference twice. When I did it myself, it was a little more tight than when Sigunne measured me in the atelier, but since hers matches one of the circumferences from the pattern, let's assume she measured right and I measured wrong.
My chest circumference is 105 centimeters. To calculate how many stitches of knitting that is, I divide it by the swatch size (10 centimeters) and then multiply it by the number of stitches needed to get that swatch: 105/10*18 = 189 stitches
But my gauge was 17 stitches for 10 centimeters, which comes down to: 105/10*17= 178.5 stitches
I need 10.5 stitches less (on the whole round) than the pattern to get the right size. And 10,5 stitches in these gauges is nearly 6 centimeters!
So what size do I cast on? Well, here's where it gets tricky.
Compensating for gauge
The pattern starts at the top and knits everything in one piece. I'm looking specifically at the point where the sleeves are separated from the rest of the body. Since this is an A-line sweater, that's pretty much the only spot I have to look at gauge and fit (assuming the bottom hem is wide enough to acommodate my hips).
The pattern states that for size 40½ inch chest circumference, the body has 182 stitches after separating. In "regular" gauge, that would measure 101 centimeters and be too small for me. But in my gauge that means it's 107 cm wide at that point.
As an added bonus, the biggest part of my chest isn't actually at the armpit, it's a little lower than that. So either way....this should fit!
Compensating for wearing ease
The pattern also states that the model is showing a sweater with 4 inch (10 centimeter) wearing ease. This is supposed to be a pretty loose sweater. So why am I knitting the size 40½?
Because I'm still losing weight. The fact is, if I knit this sweater to fit me like a glove now, chances are that after the summer it will be a lot more loose on my frame as I intend to keep my eating habits as they are now. The 4 inch wearing ease is the 4 inches I intend to lose over summer. It sounds like a lot, but anything between 2 and 4 inches wearing ease will do quite nicely.
Casting on!
Friday night I started, casting on 102 stitches in a provisional cast-on. Other Ravelry members had reported that it was easier to pick up stitches from the provisional cast on than the tubular cast-on described in the pattern. I already had one skein of yarn balled up to knit my swatch with, and I was determined to take a big chunk off that ball and knit it into my new sweater. I knitted nearly 3,5 hours that night, stopping only because it was past midnight and my hands were getting a bit sore (good stress test for Sock Madness!)
Saturdaymorning Eisirt and I tossed a quick salad together, loaded up the car and drove to Culemborg to visit Kat.
The visit was twofold: I had to drop off some Unikat yarns at her place, and she has a swift and cake-winder I could borrow. And it was also a social visit, because we just love to chat and craft together.
Druidess is helping me with my cake winding efforts. "Stop winding and pet me already!"
I caked 12 skeins of yarn, the nine remaining purple Cascades and a red and two blue ones I will be using for a shawl to go with my medieval kirtles. Now that they're all nice loose cakes, I can start knitting with renewed vigor!
Does a gauge difference of 1 stitch really matter that much? Well yes.
I measured my bust circumference twice. When I did it myself, it was a little more tight than when Sigunne measured me in the atelier, but since hers matches one of the circumferences from the pattern, let's assume she measured right and I measured wrong.
My chest circumference is 105 centimeters. To calculate how many stitches of knitting that is, I divide it by the swatch size (10 centimeters) and then multiply it by the number of stitches needed to get that swatch: 105/10*18 = 189 stitches
But my gauge was 17 stitches for 10 centimeters, which comes down to: 105/10*17= 178.5 stitches
I need 10.5 stitches less (on the whole round) than the pattern to get the right size. And 10,5 stitches in these gauges is nearly 6 centimeters!
So what size do I cast on? Well, here's where it gets tricky.
Compensating for gauge
The pattern starts at the top and knits everything in one piece. I'm looking specifically at the point where the sleeves are separated from the rest of the body. Since this is an A-line sweater, that's pretty much the only spot I have to look at gauge and fit (assuming the bottom hem is wide enough to acommodate my hips).
The pattern states that for size 40½ inch chest circumference, the body has 182 stitches after separating. In "regular" gauge, that would measure 101 centimeters and be too small for me. But in my gauge that means it's 107 cm wide at that point.
As an added bonus, the biggest part of my chest isn't actually at the armpit, it's a little lower than that. So either way....this should fit!
Compensating for wearing ease
The pattern also states that the model is showing a sweater with 4 inch (10 centimeter) wearing ease. This is supposed to be a pretty loose sweater. So why am I knitting the size 40½?
Because I'm still losing weight. The fact is, if I knit this sweater to fit me like a glove now, chances are that after the summer it will be a lot more loose on my frame as I intend to keep my eating habits as they are now. The 4 inch wearing ease is the 4 inches I intend to lose over summer. It sounds like a lot, but anything between 2 and 4 inches wearing ease will do quite nicely.
Casting on!
Friday night I started, casting on 102 stitches in a provisional cast-on. Other Ravelry members had reported that it was easier to pick up stitches from the provisional cast on than the tubular cast-on described in the pattern. I already had one skein of yarn balled up to knit my swatch with, and I was determined to take a big chunk off that ball and knit it into my new sweater. I knitted nearly 3,5 hours that night, stopping only because it was past midnight and my hands were getting a bit sore (good stress test for Sock Madness!)
Saturdaymorning Eisirt and I tossed a quick salad together, loaded up the car and drove to Culemborg to visit Kat.
The visit was twofold: I had to drop off some Unikat yarns at her place, and she has a swift and cake-winder I could borrow. And it was also a social visit, because we just love to chat and craft together.
Druidess is helping me with my cake winding efforts. "Stop winding and pet me already!"
I caked 12 skeins of yarn, the nine remaining purple Cascades and a red and two blue ones I will be using for a shawl to go with my medieval kirtles. Now that they're all nice loose cakes, I can start knitting with renewed vigor!