Here’s a little anecdote for anyone who’s ever wondered why or whether gauge matters.
On Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending Rebekka Seale’s blanket workshop in her beautiful studio, with a bunch of lovely women who had traveled from all over. I had provided Knit and Let Knit totes for everyone, and Rebekka had filled them with giant spirals of undyed merino roving and size US50 circular needles. We all introduced ourselves and then set to work knitting fluffy 3×2 ribbed blankets, while chatting and eating and oohing and aahhing over how beautiful the materials were. (And how the rose meringues for dessert looked just like our clouds of roving.) Of course, nobody ever thought to wonder about gauge or knit a swatch or anything — it’s a blanket; who cares, right? By mid-afternoon, we each had a substantial amount of fabric on our enormous needles and I suddenly noticed how vastly different my stitches were from Jennifer’s, who was sitting next to me. We were using the same exact yarn and same exact needles, had cast on the same number of stitches and were knitting the same exact stitch pattern. And yet, as you can see above, her stitches were almost twice as big as mine — as were pretty much everyone else’s at the table. The result being that I was knitting a baby blanket while everyone else was knitting one suitable for adult-sized humans.
In the end, in this case, no big deal. I was already wondering how on earth I would keep this beautiful thing away from my cats, so I took it as a sign, bound off, and seamed it into the biggest cowl known to man. (Just in time for 60-degree weather.)
The moral of the story: Knitting with the yarn and needles used in a pattern is no guarantee of matching results. If size matters, knit a swatch.
It might have not been intended, but it is a very cool cowl. I read the post expecting it to be one that you’d found from a designer and were blogging about!
Stunning cowl …. would also make a very nice cat nest! xxx
That’s what I was expecting — an announcement of a gorgeous new cat blanket. ;)
you know how i feel about clouds! gorgeous thing you made.
I was thinking of you and your cloud the whole time! xo
I’m so glad you posted that last picture — I had no idea the full scale of the knitting until then! I don’t think I’ve ever knit such huge stitches!
This is the cowl of my dreams for a Michigan winter :)
I am so glad you took that picture of our two knits, Karen. The differences are amazing. I just finished my second pound of roving and am falling more and more in love with this blanket. It was quite a shock though to pick up my other WIP that is on size 4 needles after those 50s!
Great cowl! You are officially ready for next fall!
Still beautiful!
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Reblogged this on woolymewes and commented:
Swatch,swatch,swatch…says she who plays gauge chicken!
Gorgeous cowl! I love how it turned out, serendipitous.
Gauge certainly does matter but so do lovely, even stitches!! You did a fine job and it makes a luscious cowl. TN may yet have more winter weather. I can remember when we got 17 inches of snow in mid-March.
LOL, who knew guage mattered…………haha All’s well that ends well………..
Beautiful cowl!!!
ha! good to know i am not alone in this no swatch world, even when the fit isn’t a priority.
I just love that big, chunky, cloud of a cowl!
Not laughing at you, but laughing WITH you!!!!! Oh dear……. and yes, I am sure we have all done this to greater and lesser degrees. Gauge sure does matter and you have just emphasised how different our gauges can be. Karen you are wonderful and love that you have turned it into a cosy winter cowl! LOL
Love your cowl. I found this with a new favourite crochet scarf. Started on 7 instead of a 6.5 because I am a tight crocheted and what should have been a comfortable scarf is huge! 60m inches became 90 inches! But it doesn’t matter cause I love it!