Notes – Left: the somewhat cowl Right: the shetland tea shawl
How often do you whip out the tape measure to check your gauge? What affects gauge? Needle size, yarn, pattern stitch, the length of time you knit, your mood, where you knit, when you knit, what you eat/drink while knitting. We all knit differently. And yet, by going up or down a needle size we can get the gauge the pattern asks. (Or as in some magazines, shouts.) I had to get out a tool that hasn’t seen much use lately. The tape measure. I’ve been checking periodically to make sure I’m getting stitch and row gauge on the somewhat cowl. (Yeah, I am!) I also keep a pencil and paper next to my knitting, but don’t need it for this project. (Always a pencil. I’m paranoid about pens ever since reading this post by Grumperina last year.)
This is the first time I’ve knit a sweater top down and I’m loving it.