| Were you betrayed by a knitting gauge swatch? Holy | | | | 3. Your swatch's stitch pattern. Did your knitwear |
| wool, is there no justice? If you dutifully knit and | | | | designer make it clear whether you should measure a |
| measured a gauge swatch despite your eagerness to | | | | stockinette swatch--or one in the stitch pattern? They |
| cast on for your project, why doesn't the darn | | | | could be radically different. |
| sweater fit? How on earth did the dirty no-good lying | | | | 4. Your measuring tool. Elizabeth Zimmermann, mother |
| gauge swatch ruin your sweater? Sad to say, but | | | | of all knitters, recommended you use a stiff ruler |
| even the best knitters encounter gauge swatches that | | | | instead of a flexible measuring tape. I'm not about to |
| lie. Here are the top six reasons a gauge swatch lies. | | | | argue with EZ's vast experience. How about you? |
| | | | 5. Your gauge swatch size. If you make a wee |
| 1. Your emotional state. You think you're in an | | | | swatch, gravity will have little effect upon it. A larger |
| emotional state now with a finished sweater you can't | | | | swatch will have weight and possible drape, just like |
| wear, but your emotions while knitting both the swatch | | | | your sweater. |
| and sweater can make a difference to the success | | | | 6. You washed and dried it, right? This annoying, |
| of your project. If you resent the time a gauge swatch | | | | time-consuming step makes a tremendous difference |
| takes before you start your project, you may knit the | | | | sometimes. The yarn can relax, soften and bloom, thus |
| swatch tighter out of peevishness or hurry-scurry. Or | | | | affecting the character and gauge of the fabric. Or it |
| you may knit your swatch more loosely, figuring it's a | | | | may lose some sizing you didn't know was there. Not |
| short-term thing you'll rip out or throw away and | | | | only will you get a more accurate gauge measuring a |
| needn't be your best work. Yikes! | | | | washed swatch, you'll discover what the fabric will be |
| 2. Your yarn color. What? Yes. If you knitted with the | | | | like in the finished sweater. As a bonus, doing the |
| same size needles and same yarn in the past but in a | | | | gauge swatch shows you which knitting needle works |
| different color, you need to swatch again. Some dye | | | | best with the yarn before you cast on hundreds of |
| colors add thickness to the yarn. (In my sad | | | | stitches on a needle that fights with you. |
| experience, black is a yarn-fattening culprit.) | | | | |