Gauge and finishing

#1

What a GREAT site this is! Thanks for the wonderful resources.

I’m making an afghan, of my own design, in panels of a variety of cables and “embossed” stitch patterns. In order to get gauge, and a consistent fabric quality across patterns, I’m using three different size needles – for example, a heavy braided cable (about 4 inches wide) is done on size 8, and a twining vine (about 3 inches wide) is done on a size 5. (same yarn)

Here’s my question – will finishing (sewing these many panels together) be possible? Or, should I start over?

#2

Welcome!

I’d think that you could sew anything together, as long as you can fit them–kind of like a puzzle. It’s really up to you how you want the afghan to look. You could, I suppose, make them all the same size by increasing the number of stitches, but that might be more trouble than it’s worth. I think the ‘patchwork’ effect might be fantastic.

#3

That’s encouraging… THANKS. I hope by the time i finish these 15 panels (each 65" long), I’ll find the determination to make it work. . . . (haven’t got an abundance of knitter confidence…)

#4

By the time you’re done knitting that much, you’ll have tons of confidence!!

#5

If all the panels are the same length, what I would do is start with 2 of them side by side, measure out where the middle is on each and put a safety pin, then each quarter, then each eighth, etc., until they are in manageable chunks. Then start seaming and skip stitches here and there on the panels that have a tighter gauge, and just make sure that everything matches up by the time you get to the first safety pin, then continue on to the next one. It is much easier that way rather than just eyeballing it and by the time you get to the end find that you still have 6" of one panel but you’ve run out of the other one :wall: .

Hope this helps.

#6

Thanks knitqueen – that is a very helpful suggestion.