knitting a guage swatch

beloved_kj05 · 06-11-2007, 11:59 PM

I've been knitting for about a year, and there have been times that I have run across patterns that have guages with a strange number of stitches.....like 10 1/2 or 12 1/2, how do you cast on this half stitch? It just doesn't make sense, please help.

suzeeq · 06-12-2007, 05:10 AM

You don't CO for a swatch by knitting the exact number of stitches in the gauge for just this reason. You would CO a few more than it says for 4" and count the stitches in the middle. Another reason for casting on more is that the edge stitches may not be the same size as though in the middle.

sue

Braden · 06-12-2007, 05:13 AM

What you do is cast on about 30-40 stitches, and then knit for 5 inches. Measure the number of stitches to one inch and you get whole stitches and maybe some half stitches.

This is a whole knit stitch- V

This is a half of a knit stitch- /

This is 10/5 stitches to one inch- \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

You can't cast on a half stitch, but you can get x and 1/2 stitches to one inch. Does that help?