Silly issue....

[wildirish]

I am working on making my own pattern for a babydoll style top and my yarn and my gauge are 5 sts per inch, since I needed 38" it should be 190 sts, I thought!

Well, unless my math skills are way off base it didn't work! I thought after 4 rows it looked a bit much so slid it off the needles and wrapped it around myself, I had about 50 stitches too many LOL!

I ended up only using 140 at the very top then adding 5 stitches in the middle going back down after the chest to do ribbing.

I thought that was how you did the math to know how many to CO, I am so confused LOL!

[Eccie]

You did the math right, not sure why it didn't work out to fit. Maybe you were knitting more loosely on the top than on the swatch

[mwhite]

I'm with Eccie, it should have worked but like she says, there are factors that change the guage math. Might be the tension, could be the pattern sts, might be the general style.. I've read several articles lately that tell you to not only check your gauge with a swatch but also on the actual piece while you're knitting. Aren't "Babydoll" styles looser anyway?

[wildirish]

I thought so too, but I measured the 4 rows and it was still 5 per inch LOL! This has happened before to me on a bought pattern, a lady who teaches classes at the LYS told me I would need to use parts from different sizes for my measurments and after reading the pattern I decided to just knit the size 36 and it fit perfectly. Had I done it the other way I would have been swimming in it LOL!

I know why I was afraid to write my own pattern now!

Well, this top is a tube top followed by ribbing then the loose lacy bottom, I made a channel to run elastic into the top jus tin case it is still lose!

[mwhite]

Oh yeah and all of us have our own preference when it comes to "ease". Apparently, the extra suited the author.