Help with knitting a swatch and then understanding what it's telling me!

Hello All, my first post so hope this is all OK.

I’ve knitted a 10x10cm swatch in aran wool. The ball tab tells me I should have 24 rows and 18 stitches using 5mm needles.

I know I knit loose. My latest cardigan is about a mile wide and resigned to wearing at home only which is a shame. So I used 4.5mm needles to help my loose knitting. So I have washed and blocked the swatch and have 25 rows and 19 stitches.

Is this OK or should I go down another 0.5mm needle size?

Any help gratefully received.

Thanks, Jessica

Welcome to KH!
When you knit a swatch, it’s best to cast on more sts than the number given for gauge. So you might cast on 22-24sts for your swatch. That way you can measure over the middle 4 inches or 10cm and you won’t be including the smaller edge sts in your measurement.
Measure over the middle 2 inches in your current swatch and double the number. For most patterns it’s more important to get stitch gauge. Length is usually given in inches or cm rather than rows anyway.
What is the name of your pattern?

1 Like

Hello!

Thank you so much for taking the time to email. The pattern is Sirdar 10026.

I did cast on more than I needed to but hadn’t thought about measuring over 2 inches and doubling.

Do you think 1 stitch will make a huge difference. I see what you mean about length.

Thanks

Jessica

Very nice!
Well, 1 stitch in 4inches would be 10sts in 40inches. At the pattern gauge, that’s a little over 2 inches smaller. So it depends on how tolerant you are of a possibly 2 inch difference depending on the size you’re making.

You might start the sweater with the sleeve on the 4.5mm needles. The sleeve is small and you can see how that goes.

1 Like

Thank you for your reply.

I will give it a try…

Happy knitting!

Jessica x

1 Like