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

[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?