My 1st gauge swatch -- HELP

How-to Questions
1

I finished my gauge swatch for St. James sweater. The gauge is supposed to be 18 stitches x 24 rows on a 4” x 4” swatch. I knitted a total of 32 rows and quite a bunch of stitches so that I could measure in the middle. I have come out to 20 stitches x 26 rows using the recommended size 8 needle.
I used Caron Simply Soft, so do I need to wet my swatch and remeasure?
If not, I know I need to increase my needle size.

  1. Should I go up one size or two sizes in needles?
  2. Do I need to knit another gauge swatch with the new needle? :wall:
  3. Can I frog the current swatch and use the same yarn or it is too stretched out from already being knitted?

I am sorry if some of these may be dumb questions, but this will be the first sweater I have knitted. Thanks.

2

Before you wet your swatch, just keep on knitting. Go up to a 9, knit about 20 rows, then try a 9 and knit several inches. The yarn won’t stretch out and you can reuse it, but it may be helpful to have all the different sizes on the same one for comparison.