What?? Eek, it’s another one of these blog posts again… the one where some knitters think I am swearing at them or getting too personal, like asking about personal hygiene or something.
Classic response: It’s perfectly normal, thank YOU very much and try to walk away.
So this might be a least read blog post I have ever written because you might be reacting, yuck tension/gauge whatever it’s called, don’t understand it so bye….
I am the same. After all these years, gauge is still surprising me! I have taught the Professional Finishing workshop for over 20 years now and at first I was very much – this is how to measure your tension and this is the result, all very mathematic and scientific and correct. Understand the rules – follow them – the correct result.
The rules go: look at the gauge (tension) on a pattern, cast on the amount plus 12 stitches, work in pattern until it measures a square and then measure 10cm in the middle of your square. Ok, sounds simple, right?
But…
That’s not always how knitting works.
Because knitting is a bit like cooking, walking, eating, driving. There is a way we all agree it should be done… and then we just do it our own way.
Like cooking a new recipe. The book says 20 minutes at 180. You do that and it isn’t cooked… or it’s overcooked. So next time you adjust.
Me? I put everything in the oven at 200, check it at the suggested time, then give it two more minutes… and maybe another two minutes!
We learn by doing. And knitters do the same. We get used to how we knit. We learn that with this fibre and this weight we’ll probably need these needles… and if not, we change them. Knit a bit, try it, rip it back if needed. It’s all part of the process.
A knitter once told me – and she had been knitting for over 80 years – that she never does tension squares. Instead, when knitting a garment in pieces, she starts with the sleeves. If the gauge isn’t right, she can take it back easily. If it is right… she carries on. A win-win.
And that’s exactly what I’ve just done with the Philippa Jumper.
If you’ve been following me on Instagram stories, you’ll have seen that over Easter weekend I cast on the sleeves and thought… I wonder how much I’ll get done this weekend. I’ve been knitting since I was 7 years old and yet even now, with all the advice I give, I still think I might knit a garment in an Easter weekend.
I didn’t.
It wasn’t a surprise… and yet I always think I’ll get it done quickly. And knitting isn’t like that. Because no matter how quick we are, it feels slow. Stitch by stitch…slow by slow…calming slow stitch by calming slow stitch… and before you know it, your mind is calm and then the garment is finished.
Yet that calming feeling lingers, you are addicted to it and want the next calming stitch.
A new knitter told me they’d taken so long to knit their first jumper – 3 weeks. Er… that’s good!!
I have a garment on my needles from 1999. It’s in a box somewhere… and I realistically admit I won’t be knitting that this year. Maybe not next year either. And it’s not alone in that box!
So this is how far I’ve got with my Philippa Jumper… one sleeve and half a front since the Easter weekend. And that is all good. Because maybe that’s what gauge really is. Not just numbers on a pattern, or a square you measure with a ruler…
…but understanding your own knitting.
Learning how you knit, how your stitches behave, how your yarn works in your hands. It’s not about getting it “right” first time. It’s about starting, trying, adjusting.
And trusting that, stitch by stitch, you’ll get where you want to be. And if not… you can always rip it back and begin again. Which, when you think about it, just means more knitting.
And that’s always a good thing.