Now that my socks are done and the weekend is finally here, I decided to take some pictures of my current WIPs. Here is the progress on Meghan's baby blanket (knit almost entirely in the sun last weekend at the lake and is the main reason for my current arm-bended-weird tan line!)
I think it is really coming out nicely and I am almost finished with it!
I initially started this pattern for her because I swore she was going to be having a girl! She's not. I will be donating it to a silent auction at my church. It's one of those easy, mindless knitting jobs.
I recently found this pattern for this adorable tank top/ruffle-y blouse that I instantly oggled... and now I can start on it. I had initially bought this amazing knit picks yarn for my own design project, but decided to use it for this pattern instead. It is called Kourtney by Mishellee Zaharis and I made my very first gauge swatch EVER last night. I have made baby sweaters, afghans, a cardigan for my mom, washcloths, hats, socks... but never, EVER checked the gauge first. I am way too impatient. But, I decided to do it right for this project and knitted it up quickly so I could start the top today. The funny thing is, that after I knit the swatch, I had no clue what to do with it!!! I think I did it right but I wanted to check. So, here's my picture...
Do you have to make it a perfect square? Somebody HELP!!!
Happy Knitting and Happy Weekend!!!
I'm so making that top too!
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of a gauge swatch is to know how many stitches per inch and rows per inch YOU knit using a specific yarn and specific needles. So you totally did it right. Since it's not square (assuming you used the same needles for the whole thing), you likely knit tighter on the smaller portion and looser on the wider portion. When you gauge your gauge :) you want to know your average, so you might want to pick somewhere in the middle to measure, or even re-knit it, paying close attention to keep consistent tension to avoid the different gauges, and check it again.
I always gauge, but I cheat a little. I'll knit a swatch maybe 2-3" wide and 2-3" long depending on what I'm learning of my gauge as I knit along. If it's too tight, I go up a needle size or vise versa if it's too loose for my goal. Of course you need to compare the gauge you're finding to what the pattern calls for and adjust for that as well... When I have my needle size down, I frog my swatch and start my project.