Checking Your Gauges

How-to Questions
1

Hi everyone,

I have never made anything where gauge was important but I will be attempting some things soon where I will need to check it. I am sitting here watching Knitty Gritty on DIY network. They are making a sweater and Jennifer says it should be 14 stitches 4 inches. And then she showed another part of the sweater that should be about 10 inches tall. When she layed the measuring tape down on the swatch, she started at “1” and measured to “4” and did the same thing on the body “1” and then “10”. This would only make 3 inches and 9 inches. Is there something different in measuring with knitting? Thanks in advance.

2

I know you’re supposed to start at 1" instead of zero when you’re measuring anything with a tape measure or ruler b/c wear on the edge of the tape measure or ruler can cause the measurement to be inaccurate.

But if she started at 1", then she should have measured to the 5" mark for 4". It sounds like maybe she made a mistake. I wonder if her sweater fit properly?!

3

Thanks for the info. I will measure at 1" whenever I have to do a swatch. I learned something new today. :cheering: