Have you noticed that your gauge tightens up when you knit in the round? If so, join the club! It is very common for the knit stitch to be tighter than the purl stitch, so when you eliminate the purl rows by knitting in the round, the gauge often tightens up significantly.
Here are some tips to manage this:
Knit a flat swatch, get it close or slightly larger than the gauge in the pattern, and then begin the project in the round
After a few rounds measure the gauge. If it is drastically off, go up a needle size.
If you are working a garment in the round (e.g. Emma or Ally) and you know your gauge is going to loosen up once you get to the armholes and begin working back and forth, try this:
Use two different needles, the working size on knit rows and one size smaller on purl rows
Comments
Hi Leigh Ann, While Julie isn’t able to teach more in-person classes, we have a great option for you, our On Demand Classes (see the last item in the drop down under LEARN above). The Emma class is basic and thorough and specifically covers finding the gauge you like, then modifying the pattern to that gauge. The On Demand classes are available permanently once purchased, so you can come back to the videos again and again.
Other resources, which are free, are these tutorials here on the website: “How to Modify Gauge,” “How to Modify for In-between Bust Sizes,” and “How to Get a Measurement on Open Knits.” Also see all the Knit-a-Long resources under the KAL drop down menu above.
Do you ever teach sweater classes in Michigan? I live in Grand Rapids Michigan, am originally from Petoskey Michigan. A wonderful woman (Diane) who owns a yarn shop (Leelanau Fibers) in Suttons Bay Michigan directed me to your site. I’m having immense challenges getting correct judge for almost every pattern I do.
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