Gauge (Tension) for knitting cotton: My 2 cents worth

Hello gentle reader. Yet again I'm knitting with cotton. Obtaining the correct tension/gauge seems to be a work in progress for me. My latest theory, which seems to be holding, is the following:

1. Wash and dry your swatch.


2. Out of curiosity, measure your tension/gauge in rows and stitches.


3. Hang the swatch for 24 hours, clipped to a coat hanger, a double pointed needle threaded through the bottom of the swatch, with a 50g ball of yarn hanging from the needle.


4. Measure your tension/guage whilst the swatch is still hanging.


5. Unhang (you know what I mean) the swatch. You'll find it springs back from it's weighted length.


6. Measure your tension/guage yet again.


7. Calculate the midway point of the tension/guage, between the hanging measurement and the post-hanging measurement.

For a garment such as a cardigan, this seems to be an accurate way to calculate tension/guage.

I'm currently working on a cotton cushion cover. As I'm knitting on smaller needles for a firmer fabric, and the fabric will be wrapped around a cushion, rather than hanging, I'm using the standard tension/gauge measuring technique. Time will tell whether this is the correct approach. Here's the tension square for my cushion cover.

The colour choice may seem strange. My original idea was for an intarsia cushion cover of a swamp hen on a green background. Either I'm very bad at intarsia, or one-stitch-wide legs are impossible to make look good. I wasn't going to waste this yarn, and if this colour combination is good enough for a swamp hen standing on grass, then it's good enough for a striped cushion cover.

Easterner Cardigan Pattern Available

My latest pattern is now available. The Easterner Cardigan....
A cardigan in wide stripes of colour worked in diagonal stitch, knitted on larger needles for an open texture, in cotton.
The yarn I've used is Rowan Cotton Glace which is a great summer yarn with beautiful stitch definition. The colour range is gorgeous. I've gone with earthy tones, but why not try blues, greens or your own favourite mix.

Easterner Cardigan

Knitting Pattern

Yarn Suggested: Rowan Cotton Glace or any other 5ply/Sport Weight cotton yarn. 50gm balls, 115m (126 yds)

Gauge: 22 sts and 32 rows to 10cm(4 ins) in Relief Diagonal Stitch

Needle Size: 4.5mm straight needles and 4mm 40cm(16 in) circular needles

Meterage: 1157 - 1682 m (1265 - 1840 yards)

- 2(2,3,3,3) balls Colour A
- 2(3,3,3,3) balls Colour B
- 3(3,3,4,4) balls Colour C
- 2(2,2,3,3) balls Colour D
- 2(2,2,2,3) balls Colour E
5 14mm (1/2 in) buttons required.

Sizes Available: 75 (85, 95, 105, 115)cm, 29½ (33½, 37½, 41¼, 45¼) in

This pattern is available to buy from Ravelry for $US 6.50

Easterner Cardigan nearing completion

I'm working on a cotton cardigan; the Easterner Cardigan. It's in Rowan Cotton Glace 5 ply, using earthy tones and a diagonal stitch pattern. I'm using larger needles to create a more open, summery knit. I'm having my usual plant-based-fibre tension/gauge issues. The back had to be knitted twice to get the expected length. I'm waiting to have the whole garment knitted and put together before I expound my theory on gauge for cotton. Bet you're waiting with bated breath!


Naturally I've run out of black yarn when there are only three more rows of it needed. I hope I can get more of the same dye lot, or that black doesn't vary much with dye lots.

So far, we haven't had too many hot, sweaty handed days where I don't manage to knit. I've been ploughing on. I've been doing a little sewing as well, and have a night dress completed, but for the hem. It's hard to see the point of buying such simple things, but it's hard to manage time for everything that needs to be done. The pattern also includes winter pyjamas, so maybe I'll make some of those when I need more! Thankfully no collar is involved. I find it a bit tricky to make sewn collars look good.

Garden City Scarf

I've been participating in a Knit-A-Long with the Budding Designers Downunder group on Ravelry. This month's KAL is the Garden City Scarf by Sheryl Greenfield.

And here is my finished scarf!



It was a fun, quick and elegant knit. Now, who's going to be the lucky recipient? I'll keep you posted.

I was lucky enough to have a design published in the June issue of Yarn Magazine. It's the Lace Front Cowl.



Now I'm working on some fingerless mitts for an upcoming issue. It's so exciting to see one of my designs in a magazine! That professional photography makes me swoon. (The photo above is mine, not from the magazine, as you can probably tell).

A while ago I mentioned a mosaic stitch scarf. Well, in between all these other things, it is slowly progressing. It's a great project to work on while chatting etc, because the pattern is so easy to memorise, and you just keep going and going until it's the right length! When/if things quiet down a bit, I'll show a picture of it.

Pattern Available - Bea Fair Isle Pullover

The pattern for the "Bea Fair Isle Pullover" is now available.

It's a lovely warm stranded pullover. The colour work is very easy, as there's only one contrast colour and one background colour for each motif. The yarn I've used is a Heirloom Merino Magic 8 ply, which has a fantastic range of colours, even though the one's I've used are fairly subtle. It's knitted flat, from the bottom up. A colour chart is included. This is my first foray into collars, and I love how this collar has worked out.

Bea Fair Isle Pullover
Knitting Pattern

Yarn Suggested: Heirloom Merino Magic 8ply or any other 8ply/DK yarn. 50 gram balls, 98m (107 yds)

Gauge: 24 sts = 4 inches in Stocking/Stockinette Stitch

Needle Size: 4mm

Meterage: 1470 - 1666 m (1608 - 1822 yards)
7(8,9) balls of main colour
2 balls of contrasts A, B and C
1 ball of contrasts D and E

Sizes Available: 84 (100, 117)cm, 33 (39¼, 46) in

This pattern is available to buy from Ravelry for $US 5.75

Ill Knit by Moonlight

Further to last weeks post, the pattern for these fingerless gloves, "Ill Knit by Moonlight", is now available. When I misheard the title of the movie “Ill met by moonlight” on late night TV, then a couple of weeks later read the obituary of one of the real life players in this WWII event, I knew this had to be the name of my next design. Perfect for your next undercover assignment.

They are nice warm fingerless gloves with an all over, small textured twist stitch pattern. The yarn used is a beautiful soft and warm Merino, Alpaca, Silk blend, Heirloom Silk Touch. The gloves are knitted in the round and have a thumb gusset. A stitch chart is included.

Ill Met by Moonlight Fingerless Gloves

Knitting Pattern

Yarn Suggested: Heirloom Silk Touch 8ply or any other DK/8 ply yarn

Gauge: 24 sts = 4 inches in Twist Squares Stitch

Needle Size: 4mm

Meterage: 199 m (218 yards )


This pattern is available to buy from Ravelry for $US 5.50

Fingerless Gloves completed and gorgeous.

Here are the completed Fingerless Gloves, looking gorgeous on their gorgeous new owner.  I'm in the process of typing up the instructions at the moment.  I learnt a few new skills with these -  Knitting into the back of the second stitch, and knitting fingers.  There's always something new to learn in this game. :)



I hope to have the pattern out in the next few days.  I'm glad there's some winter left for them to be worn in!

My next venture is a scarf knitted in a Mosaic stitch.  This is a pattern where two colours are used, but only one on each row.  By slipping stitches, or some other method, it looks like two colours are used on the one row, when only one has been used.  The particular stitch I'm using doesn't used slipped stitches, but knit into the stitch below.  This effectively drops a stitch to mix the colours.  It's easier than I thought it would be.  It's lots of fun having so many stitch types to try.  This is producing a fantastically light, soft fabric that will be great for a scarf.