Yes, Virginia, gauge does matter.

[sarah]

Perhaps not on a scarf, but certainly on a garment.



These were both knitted with the same yarn (Noro Silk Garden Lite) and the same needles (size 8 Addi Turbos). synecdochic knit the one on the left and I did the one on the right. As you can see, I'm a loose, loose woman knitter: my scarf is 20% wider than hers.

Comments

[sara]

...meanwhile, I want to know where you got the ruler, and if it's available in an Hless model. ;>

[sarah]

Hee! Um, I got it from Santa Claus about 25 years ago. I bet he would make you one sans H if you wrote him a letter next December.

[sara]

I have a hairbrush which used to have, before the Sharpie wore off, "This is not yours, it is mine, mine mine mine," written on the back of it. Sometimes a little territoriality is good for a person (well, I have more hair than anyone else here, I damn well need a brush....)

[linaelyn]

Best example I've seen this year: Visual Display of Quantitative Information.

[sarah]

Thanks. It sure drove the point home for me, even as much as I dislike gauge swatching.

[synecdochic]

I should also point out, not only same yarn + same needles, but same number of stitches cast on!

[laughingrat]

Those are those ribbed Noro scarves, ain't they? I've got yarn ready and waiting for one of those. Both turned out very pretty.

[synecdochic]

They are! I've done something insane like nine of them so far. (I cannot stop knitting them.) sarah asked if she could do one, so I gave up one of my bags-of-planned-scarf to her for travel knitting :)

[pensnest]

I'm a loose knitter, too, and generally have to drop a needle size or so - do you have to do a lot of recalculating for patterns?

[sarah]

It seems I almost always drop a needle size, but even then, if it's a wearable item and I'm working from a pattern, I'll knit one size smaller since I expect it'll still come out larger that I intended. I did that recently on a pair of gloves for my dad: I knit a men's medium one needle size down from the recommendation and they came out as a just-right large.

I hate swatching on stuff like gloves. By the time the swatch is large enough I could have half a glove. So why not plunge in, if you're willing to rip it out if necc'y?

[princess]

That's kind of cool! I'm such a tight knitter that I have to go up a size when I knit (generally), so seeing the difference is neat!

[sarah]

If we combine our powers, we could Get Gauge! Hee.

[princess]

That would be, like, the coolest wondertwin power ever...

Way cooler than being a block of ice and some small animal anyway. ;)

[aquaeri]

Not only this, but your gauge may change with time - my current project, I began (mumble) years ago, and I had to undo and restart because I couldn't match my old gauge on the rib. My rib then wasn't very stretchy, somehow. I have no clue what changed, but something sure did!