Knitch Magazine

Gauge (or tension) can be a confusing concept for beginning knitters. Once understood, you can use gauge to ensure a good fit for all your knitting. You can also use gauge to tweak patterns and even design your own.

If you think of a knitting pattern as a set of instructions similar to a recipe, you might think of gauge as a measuring cup. Gauge helps you decide how many stitches to put into your project and it determines the quantity or size of your resulting project. If you need to increase a recipe to feed a larger crowd, you know that you must increase the quantity of ingredients just as preparing smaller servings requires you to reduce the ingredients proportionately. Gauge is the “measuring cup” used by knitters to determine how many stitches will be needed to yield the proper amount of fabric for a good fit. Gauge measures the number of stitches and rows needed to create an inch of fabric. Therefore you can use gauge to calculate the number of stitches to enlarge or decrease a pattern to get a personalized fit. You can also use gauge to estimate the amount of yarn needed for a project.

Along these same lines, if you need to make a substitution in a recipe, you know that you need to choose an ingredient with similar characteristics. For example, you decide to skip a trip to the market by substituting the mashed bananas you have on hand for the sour cream you don’t have available. Gauge measurements can help you substitute one of your “stash” yarns for the yarn featured in the pattern.

If you are not a cook and the foregoing explanation doesn’t help demystify gauge, think of gauge as similar to even weave canvas. If you have worked in needlepoint, cross-stitch or weaving, or if you worry about thread count in bed sheets, you know that stitch count in fabric describes how tightly woven the canvas or fabric is. As the number of stitches or threads per inch increases, the dimension of a stitched design decreases. A 44-stitch design stitched on 11 count fabric will measure 4 inches while the same design stitched on 22 count fabric will be 2 inches wide. In knitting, a sweater with 160 stitches knitted at 4 stitches per inch will be 40 inches around while the same 160 stitches knitted at 5 stitches per inch will measure 32 inches. This illustrates why gauge is important: there is a big difference in how a sweater of 40 inches around fits your 38-inch bust versus how a garment of 32 inches around fits you. No amount of blocking can correct the fit problem caused by working at too tight (or loose) a gauge. To avoid disappointment and disaster, take the time to fully understand gauge.

Photo above: This Caledon Hills Chunky yarn is knitted with a size 9 needle on the left and a size 15 needle on the right. As you can easily see, there is an enormous difference in gauge.

Gauge can also help you make decisions about changing patterns, too. Use the same logic as for determining fit, but in reverse. If you have tried out a new yarn and find that your gauge works out to 4 stitches per inch, you can calculate that you will need 152 inches to make a garment that is 38 inches in circumference (4 x 38).

Gauge “variables”

Gauge is a matter of basic mathematics, and sometimes this causes knitters’ brains to sizzle. Changing any one of the variables will alter the resulting gauge. Let’s take a look at what affects gauge:

· Needle size
Knitting needles are sized by the dimension of the needle shaft. A larger size needle creates a bigger stitch by wrapping the yarn over a larger surface. It takes fewer big stitches to make an inch of fabric, so moving up in needle size generally results in fewer stitches per inch, and going down in needle size requires more stitches to make an inch of fabric. In our sweater example above, one way get the fit we need is to go down in needle size to reduce the overall circumference of the sweater (by increasing the stitch gauge).

· Yarn weight
Manufacturers suggest a needle size and gauge based on the weight of the yarn (bulky, worsted, sport, etc.), but you should view these as guidelines or averages. You can achieve the suggested gauge by changing needle sizes. However, each weight of yarn has an ideal gauge range. Even if you do jam a bulky weight yarn onto fine needles to achieve a gauge of 6 stitches per inch, the resulting fabric will be board stiff, inflexible, and unsuitable for most garments. If you want an open, lacy shawl with lots of drape and little “springiness”, knit fine yarn on medium to large size needles.

· Number of stitches
Gauge is a factor of stitches per inch. To calculate how many inches of knitting you can expect using “x” number of stitches, divide the number of stitches by the gauge. Let’s say you want to make a scarf and the fabric you are knitting works out to 5 stitches per inch, the pattern is a repeat of 6 stitches, and you don’t need any border stitches. If you want to use 9 pattern repeats for the scarf, you will need 54 stitches (9 x 6). At a gauge of 5 stitches per inch, your scarf will be 10.8 inches wide (54/6). To determine how many stitches to cast on for a scarf that is 12 inches wide, multiply the desired width (12) by the stitch gauge (5). You will need 60 stitches for a scarf that is 12 inches wide. Since your pattern is a multiple of 6 stitches, you are in luck and don’t need to do any further adjustments: you will have 10 pattern repeats across the scarf.

· Stitch pattern
Be careful to check pattern instructions regarding gauge: is the gauge over stockinette (straight) stitch, or over a pattern stitch? Some pattern stitches are more elastic than others. Ribbing and cable stitches create a more compact fabric requiring more stitches to the inch whereas lace or openwork have less tension and use fewer stitches per inch.

· Circular or flat knitting
If you plan to knit your garment in the round (circular), test your gauge using the circular construction method. Most knitters have a slightly different tension on the purl stitch than on the knit stitch. Since circular knitting uses only the knit stitch, you may find that your gauge varies between circular and flat knitting. Don’t despair; your circular gauge swatch can become a hat or sleeve.

· Individual style
Some of us knit very loosely and others knit more tightly. There is no right or wrong in that. The trick to knitting is to be consistent, so be steadily loose or always tight in making your stitches. The best way to get an even tension is to knit in a relaxed natural manner. Don’t try to knit tightly to achieve a finer gauge. Chances are you will not be able to maintain this over the entire project and will end up with cramped, sore hands and an uneven fabric. Change to a smaller size needles and relax. It matters not what size needle you are using so long as you get the gauge you need to yield the size you want.

A word about row gauge

Row gauge can become important in shaping decreases over vertical distances such as raglan sleeves, armholes, or v-necklines. When you want to center a cable or color pattern vertically as well as horizontally, row gauge is an important tool for deciding on pattern placement. Changing needle sizes to get the proper stitch (horizontal) gauge can sometimes affect the row (vertical) gauge. In most cases, it is advisable to work to stitch gauge and make adjustments (if needed) in row gauge.

Don’t tense up over tension

Just as you measure carefully in cooking, you need to measure gauge carefully, counting every fraction of an inch. Think about it: if you are working at 4 stitches to the inch, one stitch equals ¼ inch. An error of ¼ inch multiplied over 38 inches around a sweater is the equivalent of 9.5 inches. Much as we try, our knitting is not perfectly consistent from stitch to stitch. To ensure a “representative sample” of stitches, knit a swatch in the stitch pattern you plan to use. The swatch should be about 4 inches wide by 4 inches high. Cast on the number of stitches that you estimate will yield a 4-inch swatch and knit for 4 inches. Keep track of the number of stitches you used and the number of rows knit. Wash and block the swatch according to label directions. Measure the width of the swatch and divide the number of stitches by this number. Let’s say your swatch is 3.75 inches wide. Divide 3.75 by the number of stitches in your swatch to get your gauge of stitches per inch.

There is no “right” or “wrong” gauge. Unless you want to devote your knitting career to afghans, blankets, Christmas stockings, and other “no-gauge required” projects, you will need to check your gauge. For a good fit, you must either achieve the gauge recommended by the designer or re-work the calculations to fit your gauge. If the design you have chosen uses cables, lace or Fair Isle patterns, it will be far easier to adjust your gauge than to adjust the pattern. Follow the old knitting adage: to save time, check your gauge.