If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
questions - gauge swatch and edging
Hi
I'm hoping someone can help clear up some confusion. I have an SK160 and am now ready to make a sweater. But I have some questions. I made a tension swatch follwoing the diretions in the naual and took the measurements. The gauge is 28 st in 10 cm and 40 rows in 10 cm. But when I use this to try and make a sleeve, the piece seems way too large. for the size. Are there some tricks to doing this? Second quesion I have concerns edging. If I use waste yarn and a ravel cord to start, none of the instructions tell you how to finish off the piece one the waste warn and ravel cord are removed. So do I transfer those back to the needle bed and bind off? I guess I have the same question when using the weaving metho d of cast on. Thanks in advance. Nanci |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
questions - gauge swatch and edging
Hi Nanci,
I hope someone more knowledgeable than I am will answer your post, but I'll share my ignorance for what its worth! 1. I wonder if your swatch was big enough? You need a good inch of knitting on all sides of your 4" squre you are measuring. And I'm surprised that you got such a fine gauge, knitting on a midgauge machine; that's the sort of gauge I would be seeing on my standard machine. Did you wash and block your swatch before you measured? 2. If it were me, I wouldn't remove the ravel cord and waste yarn before I finished off the edge. They are there to keep your live stitches from unraveling, and so I would do a hand-knit or crochet bindoff, then remove them when the live stitches are all nicely dead. I'd do the same thing for a cast-on situation. You can try casting on with an e-wrap or latch-tool cast -on, then you wouldn't need the waste yarn etc. I like to use it anyway, so I can do a crochet edging, and someday when I'm a more experienced knitter, I'll try doing fancier things! But I am just creeping at this stage. Best wishes! Peggy in NC |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
questions - gauge swatch and edging
Hi Nanci,
Regarding the tension swatch - I take it you are following a pattern? If the pattern recommends a tension of 6, I would probably knit a tension swatch that used tension 5.. (5 and two dots), then two rows in a contrasting colour, then a bit at T6, 2 rows contrast, T6. , 2 rows contrast. Wash and block as before. The tension dial controls the stitch width, the yarn brake tension dial controls the row height. However, when you knit something on a machine, it will always look wide and squat - a quick tug in the vertical direction lets the stitches go back to a more natural shape. I'm not quite sure what kind of edge you are trying to do. You could transfer the stitches back to the main bed if you required. Or you could slip them onto knitting needles, and knit ribs down by hand. If it's for a jumper welt you could do mock rib - cast on with waste yarn, transfer every other needle over and push the empty ones to non-working position, K one row with ravel cord. K 10 rows MT-2, 1 row T10 (this becomes the fold row), 9 rows MT-2. Pick up the bottom stitches from the ravel cord, and place them onto the needles that you'd pushed into NWP. Continue with the sleeve as per the pattern - you can pull the ravel cord out later, and you should have a mock rib welt. The same can be done without doing mock ribbing - after doing the 20 rows, just pick up the bottom stitches and place them onto the needles. This creates a built-in "hem" as it were. Hope I've explained it ok! Regards, Jane |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
questions - gauge swatch and edging
Hi Jane
Thanks for all of your suggestions. As it turned out, I must have done the tension swatch incorrectly - at least for number of rows. When I started sleeve using these measurements, it turned out to be 5 inches too long. I did another swatch and made sure that I followed the instructions carfully, and then used those measurements for the sweater. I am happy to report that I have both sleeves and the front completed and the length looks much better. I decided to do a ribbed edging of this sweater. As it is my first I'm learning many things as I go along - such as the next time, I'll do the ribbing last - either by hand or transferring the stitched back to the bed. Again, thank you so much for your suggestions. I do appreciate it. Nanci "steel breeze" wrote in message oups.com... Hi Nanci, Regarding the tension swatch - I take it you are following a pattern? If the pattern recommends a tension of 6, I would probably knit a tension swatch that used tension 5.. (5 and two dots), then two rows in a contrasting colour, then a bit at T6, 2 rows contrast, T6. , 2 rows contrast. Wash and block as before. The tension dial controls the stitch width, the yarn brake tension dial controls the row height. However, when you knit something on a machine, it will always look wide and squat - a quick tug in the vertical direction lets the stitches go back to a more natural shape. I'm not quite sure what kind of edge you are trying to do. You could transfer the stitches back to the main bed if you required. Or you could slip them onto knitting needles, and knit ribs down by hand. If it's for a jumper welt you could do mock rib - cast on with waste yarn, transfer every other needle over and push the empty ones to non-working position, K one row with ravel cord. K 10 rows MT-2, 1 row T10 (this becomes the fold row), 9 rows MT-2. Pick up the bottom stitches from the ravel cord, and place them onto the needles that you'd pushed into NWP. Continue with the sleeve as per the pattern - you can pull the ravel cord out later, and you should have a mock rib welt. The same can be done without doing mock ribbing - after doing the 20 rows, just pick up the bottom stitches and place them onto the needles. This creates a built-in "hem" as it were. Hope I've explained it ok! Regards, Jane |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Modifying a pattern | Slinky | Yarn | 5 | May 10th 04 11:58 PM |