How many really do gauge in fair isle in the round?

General Knitting
1

I am having tons of issues trying to do a gauge in pattern IN the round.

I know how to do a gauge in the round (Thanks to knitting help video).

I know how to do fair isle in the round. But never have I had a pattern actually say…to do a gauge in stockinette…and another gauge in the colorwork pattern. Well…at least I never realized I was suppose to do that till I started this project.

I have spent 2 &%$# days trying over and over…and it just becomes a tangled mess dealing with both of the long stands while doing the gauge in the round. I even tried using the long strands to knit with…and that works pretty good…till I start working with 2 colors. LOL!

[B]Sooooo, I am wondering how many of you actually do a gauge in the round in the fair isle pattern??[/B]

I actually just made a beautiful colorwork hat (2 colors per row) but 5 colors total. No significant problems. The pattern for that hat did not say…do gauge in colorwork pattern, so I just did it as I always have.

Honestly, I could have probably finished this new hat in the last 2 days that I have been trying to get 4 inches of stranding messy gauge swatch. I have watched about 2 dozen videos trying to see if anyone shows the magic of gauge in pattern…in the round…but none noticed so far.

Also, no hat either.

2

I do gauge swatches before every project, mostly because I hate using the entire back of a sweater as a gauge swatch (or even the sleeve). Becasue I get a slightly different gauge doing fair isle, I always to a swatch in the colorwork pattern but I don’t swatch in the round. For me, the difference between knit and purl gauge isn’t so great so I avoid that mess. There, I’ve 'fessed up!

3

I’ll fess up, for fair isle I get the same gauge as in stockinette so I only work the 1 swatch.

4

My gauge is tighter in fair isle. When I’m making a hat I go up a needle size for the fair isle sections.

As for swatching… I know a friend who uses the sleeve for fair isle swatches rather than that crazy flat method. If making a sleeve doesn’t work for your pattern I’d probably just knit a small fair isle tube that her than flat.

5

Thanks for the input…I guess I am not so crazy after all. All my patterns that have fair Isle says to use a size larger than for the the plain stockinette gauge…so I have always just worked the 1 color gauge in the round…but just went to the larger needle for the colorwork and didn’t worry about it…much. LOL. But then I am only making hats at this time with the fair isle.

I think at this point I am just going to make a tube and stop stressing about it. I have to accomplish something today if only a swatch that fits the gauge. I have too many X-mas presents to make to lose another day fiddling with fair isle gauge in the round.

6

Well, that sounds like a good plan and you get extra credit for even trying a fair isle swatch in the round. Kudos!

7

When you want to work a stranded swatch, you really don’t have to use the colors of the pattern. Even if you use only two colors, you can work the right side on a dpn, switching colors as you go in a ratio similar to the pattern, then slide the work over to the right tip, stranding both yarns loosely across the back and work the right side again. And again.

Or you can do like me and measure your gauge after you get started, increasing one needle size from regular stockinette.

I’ve started a sweater, and the first inch showed that the gauge was too tight, so I switched needles at that point. Nobody knows.:teehee:

8

Good idea, Ingrid! :yay:

9

I always get the gauge the pattern calls for so I never need to do a gauge swatch first.

10

Be careful of that, especially when something has to fit. The designer may knit with a different tension than you, and you’ll find that there’s a difference.

11

OH Stop bragging! Who always gets the right gauge? LOL! I dream of getting the same gauge as the pattern…but at this point I think I am just going to have to accept that I will always knit 2 needle sizes larger than the pattern recommends.

I thought if I was going to make a gauge swatch with colorwork…I would just make a mitten. Well…here I am 3 days later…and the mitten is whooping my butt! I can’t make it to the color work being stuck on the “knit in” hem/cuff. I must have redone this at least a dozen times…and invariably I drop a stitch or I get a inside stitch caught into the outside stitch and I have to take it all apart cause the inside is “guava” (reddish) and peeks thru the outside “brown”.

SOOOO I still don’t know if I am going to get my gauge problem fixed since I am just in a vicious circle. LOL! It all looked so easy…but it is my first picot hem (tam and mittens).

I keep telling myself that I am the master of the yarn…

I could have knitted 4 earflap hats in the time I have played with starting this colorwork project.

12

It does take time to get it right and those repetitions are frustrating but you are learning something. (At least that’s what I keep telling myself.) Sounds like a couple of new techniques, too. It’ll be worth it when you get both the picot hem and the colorwork going.

13

What are you having trouble with on the hem? What pattern is it?

14

OMG>>>>>I have spent ANOTHER DAY and I am still just 1 row past the knit in cuff/hem for the mitten that I am using to see if I have the right gauge before I do the hat and cowl. I won’t tell you how many times I re did that hem today…it’s done and I only have another mitten and a hat with the same hem…so I am trying to convince myself it will not take 4 days for each.

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY OH WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY and I such a dunce??

Good news…I finally have a cuff.

Bad news is I am now doing the set up row with KLL increases…and still not at the colorwork. I screw something up each and every time… and of course I don’t see it till I am on the other side of the mitten. I suspect my problem is I am trying to use magic loop instead of DPNS. If only I had the size I needed in DPNS…I have 2,3,7,8,9,10,10,5. I need 4 and 5. LOL! I have fixed and interchangable…so I had to use what I have or drive into 1 town or the other to look for something I may or may not need, once I see if my gauge is ok.

the pattern is here:

http://www.knitpicks.com/kits/Thalia_Set_Kit-Brown__D41127.html

It really isn’t that difficult… since I just rocked a Day of the Dead stranded hat without problems.

BUT this is my first KNIT hat with fingerling yarn. And my eyes are not so great even with my magnifying glass so I think I have the stitch then I don’t. LOL! If only my arms were a foot longer…then I could actually see the needle tip.

It is hell getting old. I used to be just nearsighted. NOW I am both nearsighted AND farsighted…as well as have an immune disorder that affects the sharpness of my vision. Once I get my projects a few inches in…I can generally just knit with my eyes resting only occasionally bring work up to a inch before my face. It just takes extreme focusing to see where to put that needle into for the KLL.

BUT…I will conquer it sooner or later. I just have 3 more pairs of mukluks, a Seahawk hat, and a couple of Zombies to knit before X-mas…and my visions of getting this project done in a timely manner is cutting into my time for the other easier projects.

I did it all to myself. HAHA!

I have watched a ton of videos on how to do a knit in hem…but none seem to be using a circular needle and this is where I am getting into trouble when I fold the hem up then knitting together the front with the back (or inner hem with live stitches). I just had to put it all (front and back of hem) onto DNS ( like size 2) to get it to work…finally! Then I had to work that yarn to get it back onto the size 4 circular. My previous experience of doing this was done quite different in the direction the needle enter each stitch. THAT did not work here.

15

I do hems on circs for some of my hats. I always put the provisional cast on edge on smaller needles. It doesn’t matter or affect the outcome. It is a little awkward and I’d imagine more so on mittens. It’s such a nice look it’s worth it though.

16

Jan, I have done a provisional cast on, purl turning row, then a knit in hem on another hat…but that pattern said to insert needle from the front on the RS and then insert needle from the back of the stitch on the inside part of the hem. I was never sure if this meant to twist the needle and essentially enter the inside hem from the purl side or the knit side. Right now I can’t remember what I did…but it worked, although the hat was way too large… but if I turn up the brim/hem it works ok.

But this project has a picot hem on mittens and hat…maybe the cowl…I haven’t got that far. I thought my biggest problem was just getting the colorwork gauge. Boy was I wrong.

SOOOOOOOO when you do a knit in hem on the circular…do you use another smaller sized circular to put the live stitches on? I did that and had lots of trouble with the blasted cables when I folded the hem so I could do the knit in portion. I tried using the other end of the larger needle to knit together the live and other stitches but kept finding dropped or caught stitches sticking out.

Then I tried using DPNS on the live stitches, and another DPN to work the stitches together, and still had some issues…but it felt easier to drop and knit the stitches…LOL!

Then I put the RS of the cuff on to DPNS and live stitches on DPNs and another to knit in the hem. FINALLY got it…I thought.

After last post…as I once again started the row 2 (set up and increase row) I flubbed it up and ended up having to un ravel back to the knit in hem. So I am taking a walk around before doing it one more time.

I even tried using a crochet hook…haha!

I refuse to go to sleep until I get to the colorwork pattern.

17

I hope you don’t mind me butting in here, and Jan is much more experienced and knowledgeable than I am. When I do a knit in hem, I use a smaller diameter circ for the stitches held in back. I find it easier, but the first time it was because I didn’t have another needle the same size. The size needle holding the stitches to be knit together doesn’t matter as long as you are comfortable with it. I insert the needle knit-wise on both stitches if it’s a knit, purl-wise if it’s a purl.

18

Thanks Grandma, I did put the needle oriented as to knit for front and back of fabric for this project since it did not specify like my other hat did.

I am amazed I am having such a hard time with this. I have done similar things before, just not all within the same project on a small diameter mitten cuff. I am using magic loop…or trying to. I really was doing it with two circulars initially, but kept finding myself with 1 needle after awhile…problem with using same brand of interchangeable 16 in and larger set of cable needles.

At this point my mitten hem is getting a little felted…haha! but once I solve the problem successfully…and get the right gauge then the Tam should be a snap right? :thumbsup:

19

Yes, it will be a snap. Please, oh please, let it be a snap!
I gave up on knitting in the round on 2 circs for the very same reason. Even with different needles I still will invariably end up with one needle and a mess. Jan does 2 circs. I don’t know how anyone manages it, my mind just can’t seem to get it right, nor my hands.

20

My original cast on is on waste yarn. I use the crochet provisional cast on. After I’ve knit the first half, done the turning row and knit the second half I then pick up the cast on stitches with a smaller needle. Then I basically k2tog a stitch from one needle and a stitch from the other together, etc. Is that what you mean?