Tension matters!

Story by Beck Wise

Every knitting pattern starts off with tension information, and if you’re anything like me, you give it a cursory glance and skip straight to the exciting part – the actual knitting. Or at least I did until the time I found myself trying three times to knit a hat before making one that was ‘just right’ for me (my dad and brother appreciated the ones that were too big and too small, though!).

Nowadays I take the time to make a tension square and measure it properly – for big projects anyway!

WHY GAUGE MATTERS

You already know my Goldilocks story and you may have one of your own! Put simply, gauge matters because if yours is different from that in the pattern, your finished object won’t be the size it’s meant to be!

Even worse, the effect of a gauge difference is proportional to how big your project is – so if you whip up a hat in a couple of hours and your tension is slightly off, the difference will be pretty minor. If you spend a huge amount of time making a jumper for your six-foot-four uncle and your tension is slightly off, it’s likely to be way too big or way too small for him.

Basically, tension can make the difference between something fitting ‘okay’ and something looking fantastic – or it can make the difference between something being wearable and something doubling as a circus tent. Learning to love the humble tension swatch will save you tears down the track – trust me on this!

HOW TO MEASURE IT

Tension information will commonly read something like this: 22 st and 30 rows = 4” in st. st.

In short, this means that a piece of your knitting 22 stitches wide and 30 rows high should be four inches by four inches. But it doesn’t mean that you can just cast on 22 stitches, knit for 30 rows, and then measure the finished piece!

Stitches on the edge of knitted fabric don’t behave the same way as those in the centre, so you can’t count them when calculating your tension. Even the stitches next to those stitch edges shouldn’t be counted. For the best calculation, you need to make a swatch about six inches square with a garter stitch border so it lies flat.

So for the example above, you should cast on 35 stitches and knit in garter stitch for eight rows. On subsequent rows, knit the first four and last four stitches of each row, and knit the central stitches on the right side and purl on the wrong. When the central stocking stitch panel is about 4.5in tall, knit another 8 rows of garter stitch to finish the swatch. Strictly speaking you should cast off at this point, but I prefer to slip the swatch onto a large holder or a piece of scrap wool so that I don’t have to break my working yarn before I unravel the piece

To measure your swatch, lay it flat – pin it to the ironing board if you find it’s curling and difficult to measure. Use a large-headed pin to mark your starting point in the bottom left of your swatch and then, using a ruler, measure across four inches and place another pin. For your row gauge, measure up four inches from the first pin and mark the finishing point. Then just count the stitches between the pins – and no rounding! Even a quarter-of-a-stitch difference will affect the finished size of your project, and the bigger it is, the more effect that variation will have.

 

HOW TO FIX IT

There are a couple of ways to fix your tension issue, and which one you use depends on exactly what issue you have and how bad it is!

The first option is the most unpleasant – you can knit a new swatch on different sized needles. If you have too many stitches per inch, go up a needle size; too few, go down a size.

If your tension is just a bit too tight, you may be able to get the right tension by blocking your swatch. This means washing it, pulling it into shape and letting it dry, and it works best on woollen items. If you stretch your swatch out just a tiny bit in either or both directions and then pin it down, it will retain that shape when it’s dry – and if it works on the swatch, you can give your garment the same treatment.

HOW TO WORK AROUND IT

Sometimes, try as you might, you’re unable to get the recommended tension – or you’re too lazy to keep trying. It’s a bummer, but there are ways to get around this.

Depending on the pattern, it’s generally more important that your stitch gauge is right than your row gauge, since it’s usually easier to add or subtract rows for length if you need to than to change the number of stitches around the garment.

You might also choose to knit a different size of the item based on your gauge, if it’s proportional to the tension recommended by the pattern. If yours is too loose, you may be able to knit one size smaller than your usual, or if it’s too tight, try going up a size. Caution: this is going to require maths. Possibly a lot of maths. You have been warned.

 

HOW TO IGNORE IT COMPLETELY

The good news is that it’s possible to skip right over all that tedious swatching and still make items that fit. The bad news is that it won’t work for everything. If you’re making a sweater, try starting with one of the sleeves – after a while, check your tension and if it’s wrong, call it a swatch and unravel it. If it’s right, though, you can just keep on knitting.

Best of all, though, if you knit your item in the right direction, you can try it on as you make it, ensuring that it fits without doing any unpleasant maths. For example, you can knit hats from the crown down, socks from the toe up, blankets diagonally and even jumpers from the neck down, all without knitting a swatch or calculating your tension!

Searching the web will yield plenty of patterns and tutorials for these techniques and more, but in the meantime, try this easy formula for a custom-fit beanie, suitable for any yarn and any size needles.

The top of the hat will sit flat and close to the head if you increase by four stitches in every row, or eight in every second row – whichever you prefer, as long as they’re spaced evenly around the hat (use stitch markers to keep track). Start with eight stitches on double pointed needles and increase however you like until the hat covers the top of your head, then knit straight until it’s an inch or so shorter than you want it. Make up the length with ribbing and cast off. Voila! A simple beanie that fits you perfectly - no maths required!