Hi guys I’m totally new to knitting and I’m trying to do this jumper (sweater) from a free pattern I got on the toft alpaca shop website.
It told me to cast on 110 stitches which did seem an awful lot. Now I’ve knitted quite a bit and it’s very apparent that it’s ridiculously wide! I’m only small and it’s coming out 60cm across! I’m really proud of what I’ve knitted and don’t want to undo it but I think I’ll have to.
Could anyone tell me how many stitches I should do instead? I’m thinking about 70? Any help would be very much appreciated
Hi and welcome to KH. Did you do a gauge swatch? Does your gauge match that given in the pattern? Are you using yarn of the same weight (worsted, double knit, etc.) as the pattern calls for? It’s really not possible to tell you how many stitches you need to cast on to make a sweater that will fit you with the info available. If you can provide a link to the pattern, that’s always helpful.
Welcome!
Perhaps you can use the portion that you’ve already knit to tell you how many sts/inch you’re getting. You should measure over at least 4 inches to get a good estimate. Then you can use that number to convert desired inches in width into sts to cast on.
Is a gauge swatch where you do a square to see what the tension is? I’m sorry, I’m not aware of these things. No I didn’t do one. I’m using 4mm needles and double knit wool like it told me to. At the top it says: tension: 4cm = 8sts x 16 rows (4mm). I’ve actually emailed them now so perhaps they’ll tell me themselves!
Yes, that’s a gauge swatch and it helps you to knit things to the correct size. You should be getting 8sts/4cm. You can use what you’ve knit so far if you’ve knit about 15-16 rows (it’s a kind of extra large gause swatch but at least it’ll make use of your hard work). Take a look at the Free Videos tab under Getting Started for a good discussion of gauge swatch.
United States English “gauge swatch” =
U.K. / Canada / Aus / Kiwi English “tension square”
This may help you find information locally and knit one for yourself.
Using the 4mm needles and the DK wool (“yarn” in the U.S.), knit approx. 6cm x 6cm. Then measure the center 4cm x 4cm square. (This is so the different stitch tensions on the edges and sides aren’t included in your stitch count.)
Does your 4cm x 4cm square have 8sts and 16 rows? If not, you can change the size of needle to make more or fewer sts per 4cm, whichever direction you need to go.
