Hi all
I’m new to the forum. My name is Grace and I live on Dartmoor. I used to knit 20 years ago but got busy and drifted away - until Covid, when I joyfully rediscovered knitting.
I’m a big fan of Kaffe Fassett and have made 4 wonderful jumpers in the last couple of years using his fabulous pattens.
I’m writing about my latest creation using Rowan felted tweed yarn to knit the Lady of the Lake jumper.
I did a tension test and found a very odd thing. My sample was exactly the right size per no. of stitches horizontally (which is usual, my tension is usually bang on average) but vertically, I needed about 10% extra rows to hit target.
I can’t understand how this could be. Can anyone shed any light?
Thanks Grace
Problems with Rowan Lady of the Lake pattern
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Welcome to the forum!
It may be the needle composition that is affecting the row gauge here. Grabbier or smoother needles affect row gauge by changing the amount of yarn that goes into each loop or the height of the stitch. Row gauge is usually the gauge that the designer or the designer’s workshop gets when they knit the piece. It’s not so surprising that you might not match another person’s gauge in both row and stitch.
That’s such a stand-out Kaffe Fassett design with the trademark color and elements.
Thank you so much! I just couldn’t understand how it was happening, but you’ve made it very clear. I guess I just need to size up by 10% for each section of the jumper.
Much appreciated! 
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Hello
Like you if I use the needle size given on a ball band I get exactly as the gauge says in stocking stitch.
What I have found though is that my gauge is different in colour work. For stranded I go up 1mm in needle size and will achieve the correct stitch count, but the row count is still different.
I had a similar question recently and discovered stockinette in stranded colour work produces stitches which are more square rather than the more rectangular shape of stockinette in a single colour.
Sorry I’m not able to link you to the info.
…and perhaps this is not relevant to your project if it is all intarsia rather than stranded. To me the pattern looks like a possible mix of intarsia with stranded but I may easily be wrong as I think Kaffe Fassett is usually all intarsia. Anyway, just thought I’d mention it.
Did you wash/block your sample to see what happened to the gauge after washing? My stranded swatch changed quite a bit from not to gauge before washing to just right after washing (that’s on stitches, not rows). I was glad I checked it this way as it would make quite a difference across a sweater. It also really helped me work out the rows needed.
It’s a striking design, I hope you’ll share some pics of work in progress as you knit this project, we love seeing what everyone is working on.
Yeah great 