How to Measure Gauge in Garter Stitch

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Christine Pichini for Expert Village and today I'm going to teach you some basic knitting techniques. Now while gauge is usually measured over stockinette stitch, I also want to show you how to measure it on a garter stitch. Garter stitch, the easiest way to do it is just count the bottom pearls. So for two inches, you've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. So that would be nine stitches over two inches. Most patterns call for ten centimeters, or four inches. So it would be eighteen stitches to four inches. I like to try to do it a couple times, like measure up here, measure down here in the swatch just to get an accurate representation. And again, what you want to do with your fabric is don't pull it too tight one way or the other. But it's best to steam it and pull it so it just kind of lays a little bit flat. So it's not too compressed nor is it too stretched out. Just let it kind of hang as it will hang when it's a finished product and it's on your body. "