Fledgling Designer, pt. 1: Gauge (oh man, not again!)

For the love of everything knitting…

I love knitting…but I don’t like checking my gauge. Nope.

I know that it is the responsible way to start any garment: I know I don’t want to get to the very end and find that the darn thing doesn’t fit, etc.

Or worse, I run out of yarn part way through…

But it’s such a kill joy. I send hours on Ravelry choosing the perfect pattern, check to make sure that I have the correct size of needles and the right amount of yardage listed, and then I go cast on happily. It’s like the second row when I remember, oh, wait… gosh darn it!

Even when you write your own pattern, you still need to check your gauge. I realized this early on, thankfully.

You can’t stop at just making a gauge square; oh no, you have to block it as well! I took the easy route and steamed mine.

For this project, I will be making a semi-circle shawl out of the Lion Brand yarn “Cotton Ease” in the color “Charcoal”. The swatch is shown here with a little green in it; I am not sure how I will use it, but I wanted to practice a little intarsia. Turns out I am not the best at it, and those stitches came out way to tight. I might incorporate color some where else…  More details will be available on the Ravelry project page (oops, haven’t made that yet!)  As a fledgling designer, I wanted to start out with something I know how to make, and add upon that. This pattern will be free as my first one ever!

I am using the pattern instructions from  the Laylock.org blog, where free instructions for the bare bones of 5 shawls can be downloaded for free. Check it out!

For extended reading on this topic, I looked at the following links:

knitty.com: “Gauge can be synonymous with frustration, agony, and throwing needles across a room.”

knitpicks tutorial: “Gauge is your friend, but you’ve got to negotiate until you, your yarn, your needles and your pattern have reached an agreement. Then you’re ready to get down to business!”

The topic is well-discussed in several books, including them Stitch and B* that I purchased a long time ago. It’s worth the read.

But I figure the best way to learn this is through video. I happen to be a very big fan of  Liat Gat KNITfreedom how-to videos, so when I found one on the topic, I made sure to save it! I’m currently making a playlist of the best-quality knitting videos, so this one will be included. It’s called

KNITFreedom – How To Measure or Check Your Gauge in Knitting

 

Leave me a comment: Do you have any pattern ideas for me? Colors?

 

Thursday: Fledgling Designer, pt. 2: Baby steps

 

Thanks for reading :)

Tags: Craft, Gauge (knitting), Knitting, Knitting and Crochet, lion brand yarn, pattern, Ravelry, Shawl, style, Yarn