Gauge

[JudyD]

I have been driving myself crazy all morning trying to achieve the gauge called for in a pattern and have not yet hit Bingo!

The pattern calls for Cilantro yarn by Nashua, which is a 70/30 cotton/acrylic blend worsted weight...17 st/per inch on #10 1/2 needles.

I am substituting 51/49 cotton/acrylic blend worsted by Plymouth which calls for #8 needles. I am down to #4 needles and getting 18 st/inch.

I decided to check Yarndex to see what I'd find there...They report 16-18 st/in on #8 needles...So, there is apparently a big discrepancy in tension with this yarn.

Back to the drawing board...too bad I didn't save all my guage samples!!!

Judy

[suzeeq]

Put all your gauges in one swatch - cast on about 24 sts, knit about 3" with one needle, do a couple rows of garter stitch then switch to another needle, do 3" with that, a couple rows of garter, go the next needle, etc. Also it helps to wash the swatch like you will the finished item. You might also be going the wrong direction in needle size - did you use size 10 and 10½ needles and what was your gauge on them?

[JudyD]

Sue:

That's exactly what I ended up doing...going larger rather than smaller. I get gauge with a #9 needle and like the texture of the fabric. What threw me off was the clerk at the yarn store thinking the two yarns weren't interchangeable and that I'd need a much smaller needle. (She thought the Plymouth cotton blend was much smaller than the Cotilde cotton blend. They're both worsted weight and apparently very similar.)

Thanks for the reply.

Judy

[suzeeq]

Some yarns are softer and squish up more when you knit them, but that doesn't mean you'd want to knit them on a smaller needle.