I have been asked to knit a dress for my 10 ,month old grandaughter’s christening. I Have a lovely old Phildar pattern that uses Phildar luxe wool which is no longer available. The pattern uses 2.5mm needles and a tension of 30sts and 40 rows. There are lots of lovely 4 ply yarns which I might like to use but I don’t know how to adjust tension. Please help.
Welcome to the forum!
To adjust tension, knit a swatch using the weight and needle size called for in the pattern. The main concern is the horizontal tension, since you can adjust for length by changing the number of rows you knit.
To knit a swatch, cast on enough stitches to measure a bit more than 4 inches, in this case a few more than 30. The suggestion is to knit a 4 x 4 inch swatch, but I generally knit for about an inch and measure horizontally just to get an idea if I’m in the ball park.
A lot depends on how critical the fit will be if you want to knit the entire 4 inches in length.
If you have too many stitches per inch, increase your needle size because the stitches are too small.
If you have too few stitches per inch, decrease your needle size because the stitches are too large.
http://http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring03/FEATswatchout.html
Here is a good article on swatching.