Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Gauge is Master

gauge 


Sometimes people are very naive to put it mildly.  If you are a new Knitter or crocheter I can understand that you think that you can  use any kind of yarn for any project.  Guess what?  You are almost right.  Most of my patterns are made with a certain weight of yarn in mind.  That does not mean you can not use any other kind of yarn, or that you can  get away with just changing hook or needles in size, but if you do , make a swatch or ask me.  One of the best examples is the Equinox Cap done with Karabella Aurora 8.  This yarn is a worsted weight yarn that is different than  Lionbrand Fisherman's wool worsted weight. Karabella is very light , unique yarn , great to work with on a 3.75mm hook, while the Fisherman's Wool is almost impossible to work with on anything but 4.00 mm or above. 

Because all yarns are not created equal, you need to use the suggested yarn for a pattern  or do a swatch . I say make a swatch. Making a swatch will give you an idea of how the yarn will behave with the hook or needle that you are planning to use and help you determine if it is the right one for the pattern.  Gauge is Master, but common sense is King.  You CAN NOT substitute a yarn and expect the same results as the  designer's pattern without testing it first. That happened to me, I had a patron that purchased a pattern and told me that they made a  hat  with the pattern using a different yarn than I suggested and it was too big. I felt her pain, but I told her she should have asked me and I would have told her to use DK weight instead.  There is hope , never give up, Thanks for stopping by!

Almost two years without blogging August 2020

Life can be a bowl of strawberries when cheries are not available.   It has been almost two years since I have been in this blog.  I have s...