Fibers on Friday

Let's see...my hat is complete! I love it, although it's a bit shallow. ALL of my hats are a bit shallow. Also, it's not the warmest hat due to the lace pattern across the brow, but that's OK.

I started a Cowl last week (affectionately referred to as a "Gator Neck" by yours truly). But, I did not love it, so I frogged it.

These are the swatches for my next project:

I'm going to make this Baby Doll Tank for my girls

Every knitting pattern says "To save time, take the time to check your gauge". That's what the swatches are for. The pattern called for US size 6 needles, but my swatch was too small. So, I knit another one with US size 7 needles. The second one is spot on for number of stitches per inch, but I have too many rows. Which brings me to what I've learned this week:

~When checking gauge, it's important to wash the swatch as you intend to wash the finished garment. Makes sense to account for shrinkage or stretching. Then take your measurements.

~Gauge is a measurement of not only stitches per inch knit across the piece, but also how many rows are knit within a designated piece. Since my gauge was a little big row-wise, I did a little research. I learned that stitches per inch is very important, but number of rows is generally not as important. And this is because patterns for a garment (such as a sweater) generally say "knit until the garment reaches X inches long" rather than "knit X amount of rows"....so that accounts for differing row measurements. However, this is not true for some patterns (such as those involving cables)! I will cross that bridge when I get to it!