I may have the knitting tension incorrect :(

How-to Questions
1

Hi,

Little bit of background about the garment - I’m knitting a jumper for my husband for Christmas - thought I would start early as before a few months ago my knitting experience ranged from a scarf to an incomplete scarf! -Ha!

I knit a cardigan for my daughter (7mo) - it went quite well, I made mistakes, undid a few times, had to connect wool where I had cast off when I wasn’t meant to etc. - it looks good, if not a little messy!

Now - to the jumper! Front & back went really well - but now I’m on the sleeves I’m a little stuck - so the last part I completed on the pattern is as follows;

“Change to 6.5mm needles and work in st-st (throughout) Inc 1 st at each end of every 5th & every foll 6th row to 42sts.
Inc 1 st at each end of every foll 10th row to 54 sts.
Cont without shaping until sleeve measures 46cm”

Now - when I measured after this my sleeve measured over 60cm :(. Should I have read this as each end of 5th then following 6th then following 10th? Or should I have read as every 5th, then 6th & 10th - does that make sense - so the first would give 83 rows but the second would give a lot less - but the second doesn’t seem right?

Now - I was under the impression as it is a chunky knit - that I could use any chunky wool. The tension on the patterns is as follows;

“14sts and 19 rows over 10cm over stocking stitch on 6.5mm needles or the size required to give correct tension.”

My wool is 14sts and 20 rows over 10cm.

Now when writing this obviously I can see that my wool will double the size of the garment - should I be halving everything? Should I now go back & take everything out & start again knowing this? I suppose if this is the case it will knit up rather quickly & not take me so long?

HELP!

2

Based on what you typed, the recommended gauge for your yarn is pretty much the same as called for in the pattern, so I’m not sure where you’re getting the idea that you would need to double or halve anything.

But … . [I]Recommended. Suggested. Might work best.[/I] What’s on the ball band is to help you figure out what wool to choose, what needles to start with, etc. Doesn’t mean that’s the gauge you actually get with that wool and those needles. Yours can vary greatly. You need to measure the gauge on your sleeve to compare to see if its your gauge that’s the problem here.

If your row gauge is significantly off, you’ll need to change the rate of increase to account for it and get the sleeve the length you want. (Length you want should be whatever is comfortable on your husband. Maybe he needs longer sleeves? - Not 8" longer, maybe, but longer.)

But, given your questions on the increasing, I’m thinking you just started working the 10-row repeat too soon.

Here’s what the pattern is wanting you to do.
Rows 1-4: knit in whatever stitch pattern you’re doing.
Row 5: Increase at each end
Row 6-10: in pattern
Row 11: Increase at each end
Repeat Rows 6-11 until you have 42 stitches on the needle.
Then
Row 1-9: in pattern
Row 10: Increase at each end
Repeat Rows 1-10 until you have 54 stitches

The “every 10th row” section should be around 32 cm long (60 rows), so you shouldn’t have much sleeve by the time you get ready to start that part.

3

Thank you! - I thought maybe I had completed the front & back incorrectly - but your reply makes sense now - at least I don’t have to start again! :slight_smile: