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[viktorcello]

I'll have to take a picture and post it, but I made the baby pea pod sweater recently. It was my first try at a real sweater/cardigan and it turned out WAY bigger than I meant it to. No, I didn't check gague. I hate the idea of wasting time doing that, and figured that any size would eventually fit a baby. I DO know that if I want to make

Comments

[darkenedminds]

Not helpful, but my circular gauge is always a little different than my flat gauge.

[woolygrrl]

I think what happened is you decided that making a gauge swatch is a waste of time. If you're serious about producing well-made finished goods you have to do certain things, starting with making a swatch.

If you don't understand the necessity of making a swatch you should read Elizabeth Zimmermann on the subject, as well as Maggie Righetti. Until you have a solid understanding of GAUGE and the importance of swatching - however distasteful it may be - you should stick to scarves and afghans.

[gooberfishbowl]

Mm, I'm not sure that's the problem. She said the gauge was off on one part of her piece, not on the entire thing. Most patterns I've seen only have you do one gauge, and I'm not sure that would have caught this problem.

[sleepsong]

Yes, it would have. It would have made her realize that either her circular gauge is different enough from her flat or that the row gauge is different enough from her stitch gauge and that she'd have to compensate somewhat because of it.

[crayolaab]

Most patterns give both row and stitch gauge - and depending on how her piece was patterned, if her row gauge was too big and her stitch gauge too small that could mean that a sleeve cap doesn't fit in an armhole :) If her gauge were *consistently* either too big or too small she might be OK, but if row/stitch gauge are off in different directions that's a problem.

Also, even if the pattern only lists one gauge - you should always swatch both in the round and flat if the pattern calls for both - and make sure you are getting the same gauge :)

[normalee]

Unfortunately I think the answer is gauge. Stitches aren't square and depending on tension and needle size the ratio of height to width can change a lot. The pattern designer made their pattern based on a certain guage not only to make it be the right size to fit a certain size person but based on the height and width of the stitches so that they line up when you make seams.

Sorry... do a guage swatch. It takes a lot less time to do a guage swatch than try to make things fit after making all the pieces.

[viktorcello]

What I still don't understand, though, is why, when I made the sleeves with the same needles, yarn, and tension as the rest of the sweater, they didn't fit in the armholes. I followed the directions exactly. I'd think that even if I'd checked gauge, this would have happened...

[alphabetically]

Because the gauge is more than just stitches. As others have pointed out, it indicates how many rows as well. If your ratio of stitches/row was not the same as the pattern required, something like an armhole won't line up properly.

[viktorcello]

Thank you. I think I have learned my lesson!

[djinnj]

This happened because the circumference of your armholes are dependent on row gauge while the circumference of your sleeves are dependent on stitch gauge. My guess is that your overall gauge had a different ratio of rows to stitches than the pattern, with fewer rows to stitches. This is quite common since stitch and row gauge don't have a static relationship when you go up or down in needle size.

[djinnj]

Oh, for something small like this, you can check your gauge while you're working on it, although that means you're stuck with your gauge unless you decide to frog it. And it may not be accurate because gauge can change significantly upon blocking. But it does mean that you can "fix" things like armholes which won't fit and stuff before they happen by doing the math on the original pattern, adjusting it to fit your gauge. How easy this is depends on the pattern, of course. Personally, I'd rather swatch first.

[viktorcello]

Ahhhh, thank you. That is the kind of explanation I was looking for. Now I understand the importance of ensuring your gauge is correct. Eep. Thanks.

[knaughtyknitter]

BTW, I think the important thing is that you learned, which is fantastic. Now you now why it's important to take that extra time and check gauge and the results of not checking. So excellent for you!

One thing I wanted to point out is the "it will fit the baby someday" thought. I used to think that until I visited a friend with a new baby over the summer. Someone knit her a gorgeous fair isle baby sweater and it's too big for this year for sure and will probably fit the baby around next August. Ugh! Holy bad timing. It's tough to knit for future seasons because kids grow so damned fast, I've found.

Keep on knitting!

[queencallipygos]

No, I didn't check gague. I hate the idea of wasting time doing that....

I'd say that if you ended up with a garment bigger than you intended, I'm not so sure that checking the gauge first would have been "wasting time."

[viktorcello]

Well, like I said, I thought that no matter what it would fit the baby at some point in its life, and didn't realize that just because I knit everything with the same tension, needle size, and yarn, that gauge still makes a difference when you try to put it all together. I thought if everything was knit a little bigger, it would just all be a little bigger but still in proportion. Turns out that was an incorrect assumption.

This is why we do stupid stuff like this; to learn. lol