Math Monday: A row gauge of your very own

Let me say this very carefully… ROW. GAUGE. DOES. MATTER.

If you’re not quite sure how to count your rows, read this.

I know lots of people say it doesn’t. “Make sure you get stitch gauge,” they say. “That that’s the most important thing.” Yes, of course you can just knit to a certain length in centimeters or inches and forget about row gauge entirely, but when length needs to be shaped - think neck depth or armhole depth - watch out! Trouble ahead.

So in the next few lessons of Math Monday, I’ll be showing you how to use your row gauge, rather than the pattern’s, to adjust for length.

But first, a word about gauge in general:

When you read a pattern, you see the designer has a particular stitch gauge and a particular row gauge. This is not an absolute. THIS IS THE GAUGE THE DESIGNER GOT WHEN S/HE WORKED UP THE GARMENT! If you do not get the same gauge, it does NOT (REPEAT DOES NOT) make you an inferior knitter. Every individual knitter knits differently. Designers are individuals. They knit differently from you and from each other. THEY HAVE NOT ACHIEVED THE “PERFECT” GAUGE.

However, they ARE correct for the pattern instructions they’ve written. So, in order to achieve the desired outcome following his/her instructions, you must get the gauge as written.

Using row/round gauge to adjust length

When I design a pattern, I almost always write the instructions first and then knit from my instructions (making me the first test knitter). Not every designer does this. Lots of designers knit a sample, taking notes so they can go back later and write the pattern.

Whenever I write the length of something that is unshaped (like the length of the body) in a pattern, I’ll say something like, Work until piece measures ____ “ [____ cm. However, in my test knit notes I’ll also jot down the number of rows I need to work based on gauge. How did I get this number? Simple.

Take the pattern’s row gauge per inch. If this is given per 4 inches*, then divide by 4. So if the pattern says that the row gauge is 26 rows per 4”, divide 26 by 4. This equals 6.5 rows per inch. If the length of the body is 12”, then multiply 12 by 6.5 for a total of 78 rows.

Now suppose you’ve swatched and you get stitch gauge but you’re only getting 25 rows per 4”. Will that make a difference? Let’s see. Divide 25 by 4 and you’ll get 6.25 rows per inch. If the length of the body is 12” then you’ll need to knit only 75 rows. If you knit 78 rows you’ll get 12.48”, about a half inch too much. Only 1 fewer row in 4 inches yields a half inch, so you can see where this is going.

You can also use this in another way. Suppose you’re getting row gauge, but want more (or less length) than the designer suggests. Yes, of course you can just work the piece longer, but how many more rows will you have to knit? Let’s see. If you want the length to be 14”, you’ll have to work 14 x 6.5 = 91 rows - 13 rows more than the designer intended. Remember, this will also mean you’ll need more yarn.

Next week: shaping

In next week’s post, we’ll work out how to do some of the length shaping if your row gauge isn’t quite right.

*Although this post also refers to round gauge, for simplicity’s sake, I only refer to row gauge. They are used interchangeably. I have also used inches and not centimeters. If you are using centimeters, most gauge is written as per 10 cms, so divide by 10 instead of 4.