Things You'll Need:
- Yarn
- Knitting needles in 2 or 3 sizes
- Tailor's measuring tape
- Knitting pattern
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Step 1
Cast on 40 to 50 stitches to knit a swatch. Begin knitting on the first row, purling on the second row and alternating those two rows until you've knitted about 4 to 5 inches. This is what is known as a stockinette stitch, and it is the traditional way to knit a swatch.
Bind off. Soak in cool water for 5-10 minutes. Take the material out of the water and squeeze gently to remove excess water. Spread on a folded towel and stretch gently to create the fabric density of your liking. Dry.
Once your swatch is dry, take a flexible tailor's measuring tape and measure 4 inches across your swatch on the knitted side. Count how many stitches are present across 4 inches and divide by 4. This gives you the number of stitches per inch. Now flip your swatch over to the purl side. Use your measuring tape to calculate the number of purled rows that make up 4 inches of your swatch. Divide this number by 4. This will give you the number of rows per inch. -
Step 2
Compare the specified gauge to your pattern. If it matches the number of stitches per inch and the number of rows per inch on the pattern, you're ready to start knitting.
If your gauge doesn't match, however, take a look at your needles. If your gauge is only slightly off, you may be able to use another size knitting needle to achieve the correct gauge. If you have too few stitches per inch, choose a smaller needle. If you have too many stitches per inch, choose a larger needle. Knit a new swatch and see whether this solves your problem. -
Step 3
Increase your yarn thickness if you have too many stitches to the inch in your original swatch and need a smaller number of stitches to the inch. One option is to double the yarn. To do this, take two strands of the same yarn, holding them together, and knit them as one strand. This is helpful when you have approximately twice as many stitches per inch as the specified gauge. Knit a new swatch and see whether this achieves your desired stitches and rows per inch.
You can also choose a different yarn of any thickness to double with the yarn you originally swatched with. The width of this second yarn will determine how much your gauge is altered. A thin yarn will affect it slightly. A thicker yarn will create a greater reduction in stitches to the inch. -
Step 4
Use needles one size larger and swatch again if there problems because of tension. Tension describes how tightly or loosely a person knits. Some people knit very tightly. This can mean that even if the knitter is using the pattern's specified yarn and needle size in their swatch, their gauge can still have more stitches per inch than the pattern requires. If using larger needles doesn't fix the problem, go up one more size. By this time you'll have an accurate gauge.
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Step 5
Swatch other stitch patterns. Sometimes complex stitch patterns will have a different tension than your stockinette stitch swatch. In these cases, you must also swatch samples of each stitch pattern separately after you have established proper gauge in the stockinette stitch swatch.
Knit each stitch pattern in the same yarn and needle configurations as those established in your final stockinette stitch swatch, using the procedures detailed above. If these conform with your pattern's gauge indicators, you may begin to knit.
If you need to alter these gauges, using different knitting needle sizes is the best way to do this.
