how to account for adding design elements

[birdiesmama]

I have been knitting for 5 years now and am ready to try creating a few of my own designs. I pretty much understand the whole gauge concept but don't know how to account for adding design elements like cables, special design stitches within the body of the garment or fancy borders. Are there additional considerations besides gauge that one must consider? Should a gauge swatch be knitted with the special stitch and then calculate the number of stitches and yardage needed from that?

[Braden]

Yes, always knit a swatch. Some patterns have a different stitch/row gauge than others. To add them to the body of your sweater, just calculate how many stitches each pattern needs and fit them into your sweater. Adding the patterns is really a matter of picking patterns and incorporating them into your number of stitches. You can always add or remove a few stitches (up to 5), because that won't make a difference in size.