Thursday, May 11, 2006

Circular Gauge

I need to knit a swatch in-the-round to get my gauge. I've never done this before, so I need some advice. I ordered the Denise needle kit to make this sweater and don't have it yet. Should I wait and knit the swatch with the needles I'm going to use to make the sweater? Are short circular needles necessary for making a gauge swatch? Thank you for any help.

4 Comments:

Blogger Angela said...

It's always a good idea to use the actual needles you plan to knit with. Using another set that could be stickier, more slippery, easier/harder to hold can change your gauge. I use circulars for everything and love my Denise set!

9:52 AM  
Blogger Katie said...

Additionally, I have found that Denises (or mine, anyway) tend to be a little smaller than other brands with the same supposed size. So I would definitely wait on them. I don't know about knitting a swatch in the round--my gauge is the same flat or in the round. I have also heard it can vary for some, though.

10:49 AM  
Blogger knitfriendly said...

I also agreen to do the swatch per Laura's suggestion. I did this and it worked out fine. Make sure to add about six to eight additional stitches for each side of the swatch because when doing this method, the ends are not as tight as a normal swatch would be. Hope that that made sense...

5:36 AM  
Blogger Gwen said...

I'm grateful for all these suggestions. Thank you so much. I read in Knitting for Dummies that Purl stitches are slightly larger than Knit stitches. That's why it's important to swatch in the round if the garment is going to be in the round. I never knew there was a size difference.

7:48 AM  

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