3 Stitch Patterns: 1 Single Gauge

#1

(Disclaimer: My apologies to begin with for the length of this post, but I wanted to make sure I posted as many of the relevant details as I could think of from the start. Thanks so much for your time in advance to everybody to not only reads it all but helps.):notworthy:

I knit continental and my tension tends to be pretty consistent most of the time. However, I’m having a problem getting a consistent gauge across all three stitch patterns, specifically with the ribbing. I’ve ask my mother, also a knitter, and she couldn’t figure out any more than myself. Posted on Ravelry for help. Ha. Contacted the designer (twice now) and, while previously was very prompt (about 24 hrs give or take), has yet to reply even just to acknowledge she got them. :wall: But after reading some posts on here, I’m REALLY hoping somebody (or a group effort lol) here can help me.

First off, the details. The pattern is a corset-style top named Khaleesi. (Found on Ravelry at http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/khaleesi-2. If that doesn’t work for you, I can get a link from her website with the same details.) I’m using the suggested yarn, which is a fingering weight silk/merino blend (it’s 50/50). I started off gauging on the suggested size US 4/3.5mm circular (including both US and UK, cuz I know you’re here too :mrgreen: ). Given the silk in the yarn, I’m using a bamboo needle.

Now to gauge. The pattern says, and I quote, “30 sts + 36 rows = 4” / 10 cm in Twisted Rib/Fish Tail/Cable & Twist Ripple patterns”. I interpreted that to mean each pattern should have that gauge, especially given that they all occur at the same time. Ribbing <> 1 Cable pattern repeat <> 1 repeat Fish Tail pattern <> 1 repeat Cable pattern <> more ribbing; all that is done twice for a full round. So that’s 7.5 sts per inch/~2.5 cm. I did a whole circle swatch in order to do all the stitch patterns in one swatch. (over about a week) :knitting: What I ended up with was the following per inch:
Cable pattern = 7.5 sts
Fish Tail pattern = 7 sts (possibly due to YOs being looser than they should’ve been)
and finally,
Ribbing = 9 sts (…huh??), or 36 sts per 4"/10cm instead of 30 sts :noway:

That’s unstretched twisted ribbing folks. Now, I didn’t think twisting stitches had [I]that[/I] significant an effect on gauge. And the designer didn’t specify how stretched the ribbing was to be when measured so I didn’t think to stretch it at all. I don’t want to give up on present needle size just yet due to the gauges I got in the other stitch patterns. So I’m at least swatching the twisted ribbing again. Unless people are of the opinion I should just swatch it all again and do separate sections of each. (Thoughts?)

But my main question is this,
How much should I stretch the swatch to measure it?

#2

Well, the pattern says that there is negative ease, so I imagine that the ribbing should be stretched out.
I think at this point I would work on how large you want the shirt to be and see if your gauge will give you close to the size you want, with any difference being handled by the stretching of the ribbing. It looks like you’re ok on the other sections and that when the ribbing is stretched you should be ok in that section, too.

#3

Thanks Ingrid. :slight_smile: Yeah, I was doing some more number crunching this afternoon (ahh the math!!! >.<) and I’m leaning towards there being some stretching going on. Just have to relax the cable so I can start gauging again.

#4

You could also block your swatch and then measure overall gauge. The cables will relax a little and even though they represent a relatively minor part of the overall pattern, it will contribute to the width. In the photos of the top (thanks so much for the link) the ribbing appears quite stretched so you should at least stretch it out that much to measure it and stretch it a bit to block.
This is going to be a lovely top. Good luck with the ground work and enjoy knitting it.

#5

Oh the link was no problem at all. :). After reading a bunch of threads before posting, I realized a lot of the gauge or pattern specific questions either included a link at the very beginning or somebody asked for one in order to get a better idea of the situation.

The designer [I]finally[/I] got back to me (:woot: ) on how she measured gauge over the ribbing and, after looking at hers, said it actually was about 9 per inch unstretched. So that tidbit plus all the (probably unnecessary) math I did yesterday has me feeling pretty good about starting it. So now I get to go do a 370-stitch long tail cast-on followed by some chocolate lol.