Gauge Not Necessary

Huh? What? Okay, well, that's only part of the story.

I started a new project from Amy Singer's No Sheep for You. The project is Eileen, and it's a lovely tank. The front is stockinette, but the back is a traveling vine lace pattern. This was the pattern in the book that spoke loudest to me.



Let's have a look at the sizes. The two smallest sizes have bust measurements of 33.5 and 37.5 inches. What's my bust measurement? 35.5 - smack dab in the middle of the two sizes. Due to the properties of the yarn, I didn't think there would be enough stretch to fit myself into the 33.5 size. And the 37.5 would have too big. I understand loose and flowy is the norm for summer tops, but I feel 37.5 would have been ill-fitting on me.

After knitting 3 gauge swatches, a needle size of US 5 got me a gauge of 5.25 sts per inch. The pattern gauge is 5 sts = 1 inch. I am too tight, right? Yes and no. Yes, according to the pattern gauge, I am too tight. No, if I consider knitting the 37.5 inch size. Let me explain further.

For the 37.5 finished bust measurement, you need to cast on 94 stitches for both the front and back. You knit without any sort of waist shaping to the armholes, so the cast on stitches are constant all the way to the bust.

94 + 94 = 188 total stitches at the bust

188 sts / 5.25 sts per inch = 35.8 inches at the bust - Yippee!!!

And there we have it. I will have a garment that fits perfectly. And I didn't get gauge, per se.

It's going well. I have gotten through three pattern repeats. The p2tog tbl parts are a pain, but manageable. I am using Garnstudio Bomull-Lin, a cotton/linen blend. It is a little stiff to knit with, but not too bad. After washing my swatches, it softened up considerably. Very nice drape.

I've joined the No Sheep KAL, hosted by Interweave. There isn't much activity yet, but I am sure it will pick up soon.