Adjusting gauge

#1

I have been knitting adult slippers but have some pastel yarn left over from previous projects and wanted to try to make some baby booties. I found a pattern that is knit flat (don’t know that I’m ready for circular needles yet) but I am having a hard time getting my gauge swatch to be as small as the pattern calls for. The pattern calls for a size 5 needle. When I knit a swatch with size 5, it was an inch too long on both length and width. I switched to a 4 and didn’t see much improvement. Then I dropped to a 2 and it is still too big. What am I doing wrong?

#2

Hmm. Is the yarn the same weight as the one in the pattern? If not, it may just be too thick to use this particular bootie pattern.

Check out www.ravelry.com and do a search for booties with the yarn/gauge you’re getting and you might find a pattern that works for you.

Or you could follow the pattern with the smallest needle you can and end up with a bigger bootie. Babies grow fast. :thumbsup:

#3

Yeah sounds like the yarn is heavier than the pattern uses. Also, you want to cast on more sts that the gauge is over 4"; if it says 24 sts/4", you really need about 30 sts, then count the sts over 4" in the middle, don’t include the edge sts. The edges curl under and can be a different size than those in the center.

#4

The pattern says medium weight. Unfortunately, I bought this yarn in 2007 and have no idea what the weight on the package said. But I know that it is just the standard super saver yarn from Wally. I’ve tried another yarn that I have that is finer and still didn’t hit gauge.

#5

RH Super saver is medium weight. Are you supposed to be using the yarn single or double stranded and which are you doing? A link to the pattern could help us figure it out a little, but if there’s different sizes, you could use a 5 or 6 and knit a smaller size.

#6

So I went ahead and made the first bootie and it turned out pretty well. Having never made baby booties before, I’m not sure what size it is. Working on the second one now. I’m going to try the pattern from Ravelry also. Once I finish the second bootie, I’ll try to post a picture of the finished bootie, the link to the pattern and then my gauge swatches. You guys are great at offering helpful advice for all of us newbies. Thanks.