Swatch Time!
May. 29th, 2020 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzEvery good project starts with knitting a swatch. That is, if you want to knit something that actually fits.
A gauge swatch shows you exactly how many stitches per 10 centimeter (or 4 inches) you will have, and thus whether your finished garment will have the size you want it to be.
I've never worked with 100% linen yarn before and the pattern warned us the stitches would lengthen considerably after blocking. (Blocking is done after knitting. The knitted panel or garment gets to lie in a lovely warm bath and relax for 30 minutes or more. And only then can you see what size the stitches are, because wetting your knitting often influences the yarn itself. After it's had its first bath, you can stretch it to size if necessary, but it is important to swatch and block your swatch to get as accurate an estimate of the finished piece.)
The yarn wrapper often tells a good starting point in choosing the needle size. This yarn had a rather wide margin: 2.5 mm until 4 mm needles. That's why I chose the preferred needle size from the pattern for my first swatch.
On these 3.5 mm needles my swatch ended up being lovely and airy....and also very loose. I only had 19 sts per 10 cm after blocking, where the pattern called for 24. Needing more stitches for 10 centimeter means your stitches have to be smaller to fit more in, so I went down a few needle sizes.
I retried my swatch on 2.75 mm needles. Almost as low as the yarn suggested! 2,75 mm needles are still comfortable to knit with for my poor hands; whereas the 2.5 mm needles often make my hands hurt. And although I promised myself "no more 3mm cardigans" I am actually diving below that threshold now. My swatch was nearly on point, with 23 stitches per 10 cm.
Top: first swatch; bottom: second swatch
The next conundrum was in sizing. Because my gauge was off, I had to re-calculate which size I would need. If I had hit the gauge precisely this would not have been necessary -- my stitches would be the right size, so the top would be the same size as the pattern stated.
I was off by one stitch, which may not be a big deal if you're tiny. But my chest circumference is 116 centimeters.
On gauge, this would translate roughly to 278 stitches.
If I knit those 278 stitches in my gauge, it would not measure 116 centimeters, but 121 centimeters, making the top 5 centimeters larger than intended. That translates to a full size in most patterns!
The other way around holds true as well. Being off by one stitch per 10 centimeters means I could probably get away with knitting a size smaller. This is the math I always do before starting on a garment. Otherwise I'll never knit something that will fit me!
And then the conundrums start. Because I also make a lot of my own clothing I have by now figured out why my shoulder seam is always off. The ball of my shoulder joint is rotated forwards. It means my t-shirt block has an very high shoulder point on the back panel, and an extremely slanted one in front.
When I made myself a blouse, a year or more ago, I found out this also means that where you would measure the back width - from armpit to armpit - may also be a bit more rounded as well. I'd have to bring the armscye out a bit to prevent the sleeve from starting on my back instead of on my arm.
The pattern we're about to get started on is knit top-down, and the sizing is based on the back width. And I'm actually a little wider at that point because I slouch forward with my shoulders. It throws the sizing off because my shoulder width is a normal size, it's just the posture that is off. I don't have a very wide shoulder at all. Luckily the pattern is knit top-down, so there will be plenty opportunities for fitting.
Secondly, there is a bust adjustment with short rows. Considering the pattern is written by a French designer, and the French and Italians are usually more slenderly built than Dutch and German people, I would understand this happens if you base the sizing of your back width. It is wonderful you can add some short rows to allow for a more ample bust!!
I would expect to need it. But with my weird sloped, rounded shoulders the pattern says I'll be fine. More reasons to fit very often!
And finally: This top is an A-line pattern, which is not necessarily the most flattering as I'm pretty pear-shaped by now. Maybe I can cinch it in a bit on the underbust line, to make it less of a tent and more of an hourglass.
Sigunne would tell me to stop criticise myself around this point, I'm sure.
I would probably reply I'm just being realistic. After all: If I'm knitting a top on 2.75 mm needles, I'd bloody well like it to fit without having to frog rows and rows and even more rows.
Swatching is done, and what made me happy was the KAL also being mentioned in Jannigje's very first podcast. That was great! We'll be very famous very soon!
A gauge swatch shows you exactly how many stitches per 10 centimeter (or 4 inches) you will have, and thus whether your finished garment will have the size you want it to be.
I've never worked with 100% linen yarn before and the pattern warned us the stitches would lengthen considerably after blocking. (Blocking is done after knitting. The knitted panel or garment gets to lie in a lovely warm bath and relax for 30 minutes or more. And only then can you see what size the stitches are, because wetting your knitting often influences the yarn itself. After it's had its first bath, you can stretch it to size if necessary, but it is important to swatch and block your swatch to get as accurate an estimate of the finished piece.)
The yarn wrapper often tells a good starting point in choosing the needle size. This yarn had a rather wide margin: 2.5 mm until 4 mm needles. That's why I chose the preferred needle size from the pattern for my first swatch.
On these 3.5 mm needles my swatch ended up being lovely and airy....and also very loose. I only had 19 sts per 10 cm after blocking, where the pattern called for 24. Needing more stitches for 10 centimeter means your stitches have to be smaller to fit more in, so I went down a few needle sizes.
I retried my swatch on 2.75 mm needles. Almost as low as the yarn suggested! 2,75 mm needles are still comfortable to knit with for my poor hands; whereas the 2.5 mm needles often make my hands hurt. And although I promised myself "no more 3mm cardigans" I am actually diving below that threshold now. My swatch was nearly on point, with 23 stitches per 10 cm.
Top: first swatch; bottom: second swatch
The next conundrum was in sizing. Because my gauge was off, I had to re-calculate which size I would need. If I had hit the gauge precisely this would not have been necessary -- my stitches would be the right size, so the top would be the same size as the pattern stated.
I was off by one stitch, which may not be a big deal if you're tiny. But my chest circumference is 116 centimeters.
On gauge, this would translate roughly to 278 stitches.
If I knit those 278 stitches in my gauge, it would not measure 116 centimeters, but 121 centimeters, making the top 5 centimeters larger than intended. That translates to a full size in most patterns!
The other way around holds true as well. Being off by one stitch per 10 centimeters means I could probably get away with knitting a size smaller. This is the math I always do before starting on a garment. Otherwise I'll never knit something that will fit me!
And then the conundrums start. Because I also make a lot of my own clothing I have by now figured out why my shoulder seam is always off. The ball of my shoulder joint is rotated forwards. It means my t-shirt block has an very high shoulder point on the back panel, and an extremely slanted one in front.
When I made myself a blouse, a year or more ago, I found out this also means that where you would measure the back width - from armpit to armpit - may also be a bit more rounded as well. I'd have to bring the armscye out a bit to prevent the sleeve from starting on my back instead of on my arm.
The pattern we're about to get started on is knit top-down, and the sizing is based on the back width. And I'm actually a little wider at that point because I slouch forward with my shoulders. It throws the sizing off because my shoulder width is a normal size, it's just the posture that is off. I don't have a very wide shoulder at all. Luckily the pattern is knit top-down, so there will be plenty opportunities for fitting.
Secondly, there is a bust adjustment with short rows. Considering the pattern is written by a French designer, and the French and Italians are usually more slenderly built than Dutch and German people, I would understand this happens if you base the sizing of your back width. It is wonderful you can add some short rows to allow for a more ample bust!!
I would expect to need it. But with my weird sloped, rounded shoulders the pattern says I'll be fine. More reasons to fit very often!
And finally: This top is an A-line pattern, which is not necessarily the most flattering as I'm pretty pear-shaped by now. Maybe I can cinch it in a bit on the underbust line, to make it less of a tent and more of an hourglass.
Sigunne would tell me to stop criticise myself around this point, I'm sure.
I would probably reply I'm just being realistic. After all: If I'm knitting a top on 2.75 mm needles, I'd bloody well like it to fit without having to frog rows and rows and even more rows.
Swatching is done, and what made me happy was the KAL also being mentioned in Jannigje's very first podcast. That was great! We'll be very famous very soon!
