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Dearest Knitters: It is not often that I am shocked into speechlessness, but a few weeks ago, a knitter came into the shop, sat down and after a few minutes of watching me knit, said, “What are you making?” My reply: “A gauge swatch for this new yarn.” Her response? “Oh, I just start knitting and fool around with it while I’m working on the project. Sometimes it comes out, but most of the time it doesn’t.”

I felt, TRULY FELT, the blood rushing from my head, and nearly swooned from her casual statement!

Gentle Knitters, you should know that the only, and I mean the ONLY rule that I enforce in knitting is: MAKE. A. GAUGE. SWATCH. FIRST. Bitter experience has taught me this most important lesson, and I try to spare my students the pain of gigantic gorilla-armed sweaters, hobbit-sized hats, and other horrors by preaching the fundamental truth of The Gauge Swatch.

But why, some of you may whine, do I have to “bother” with a gauge swatch? Here’s why. At some point in the future you will have the sweater pattern of your dreams in your hands. You will have purchased the requisite amount of yarn and your needles, and you will be ready to knit your brains out. You will spend hours working on it (probably about 40-50 hours, unless it is a very large gauge). You will knit on and on, dreaming of a warm and wooly friend that makes you look great, no matter what.

And your dream sweater DOES. NOT. FIT.

It is too short/long/tight/loose/small/big. Ah, the tears and disappointment! The anger and the hurling of the sweater onto the floor of the closet! The cursing and the swearing-off of knitting forever! Oh, the drinking and…but I digress.

For those of you are STILL not convinced, after this tale of woe, then perhaps the cold, hard facts, madam, will convince you to finally give up your non-swatching ways:

If I were to knit a swatch where my gauge is (for example) 3.5 st/inch, and the pattern calls for 4 st./inch, YOU might think, “Great! Close enough!” and start knitting.
Miss Allen says: “NO way do you start knitting when it’s ‘close enough’ ”!
BUT WHY?! Here’s the simple arithmetic: I got 3.5 st./inch. I need 4 st/in. Why? Because I’m going to cast on 200 stitches.
BUT WHY?! Here’s why: 200 divided by 4 equals 50 inches around, which is the SIZE that I want. 200 divided by 3.5 equals 57 inches around, which is SEVEN inches too large!!
You can see, that EVEN A HALF STITCH OFF GAUGE ADDS UP REALLY REALLY FAST! ANY amount off gauge will eventually add up, and like bad karma, will come back to make your knitting life miserable.

One hour, or LESS, at the beginning of your project will save you from all emotional upheaval. That’s all the time it takes usually to make a gauge swatch. Here are the steps to save yourself. Pick up your pattern and find the following:

1. PATTERN GAUGE: This is the center of your sweater universe. YOU work FOR this number of stitches per inch or inches, and do what you can to get it. But you need to look carefully. Is this sweater (or other item) in stockinette stitch? Is it cables, lace, garter stitch, or some other textured stitch? Then you should see the Pattern Gauge number listed for THAT stitch pattern. What is important at this point is, IF there is a stitch pattern, ie, slip stitch or the like, AND the gauge is given for “X stitches in one repeat of pattern”, you MUST work this stitch pattern for your swatch. Barring that, look for a note that says “Gauge is X stitches/inch in Stockinette”.
2. NEEDLE SIZE: There is a recommended needle size on the pattern. It is “recommended”, NOT “you HAVE to use this size needle”! When making a gauge swatch in a new yarn, you should have needles one size larger and one size smaller available in case you don’t get gauge with that “recommended” needle size.

Then, dear knitters, do the following: Get your yarn, needles and pattern, sit down someplace quiet, don’t answer the phone or watch TV, place the children (if you have any) in the farthest reaches of the house (preferably with a locked door between you and them) and cast on a MINIMUM of 20 stitches (30-40 would be ideal) onto your “recommended” size needle.

Work in the specified pattern OR stockinette stitch, whichever is listed in your gauge section for at least 3 inches. Stop. Lay your work out flat, get your tape measure and carefully measure your stitches per inch. Are you getting gauge? No? Too many stitches per inch? Get a larger needle. Not enough stitches per inch? Go smaller. Don’ t bother to take your swatch off and rip it out and start over; just work two rows of garter stitch to mark your needle change and start knitting with your new size needles. But make sure that you knit at least 2-3 inches for every needle change you do until you get gauge.

Got your gauge? Great! But while you wait for the water to boil for your celebratory cup of tea, get your pattern and a pencil and WRITE on your pattern what size needles YOU used to get gauge and WHAT KIND they were. I personally knit very loosely, so I am 1-2 needle sizes smaller than the “recommended” size, PLUS I get different gauges on bamboo vs. plastic vs. metal. Forgetting to write down those annoying details can wreak havoc on a knitting project, so take an hour to swatch and 30 seconds to document your information, and enjoy your well-earned and well-deserved cuppa tea. Go forth and swatch, gentle knitters, swatch and be happy in your swatching, knowing that it is the first small step to creating your perfect knitted garments. I’ll be right over for tea, just as soon as I finish this row…