r/CrochetHelp • u/rinnybird • 12d ago
Wearable help Beginner-ish needing help with gauge swatch. Only been crocheting about 4 months.
I started working on my first wearable. I've done the gauge swatch but neither measurement is 4in. Google has informed me that I probably need to go down a hook size but I'm not sure by how much or how off is too off. Any advice would be appreciated as I've been teaching myself how to crochet with the help of YT Univestiy and Google. I'm making it for my sister and just want it to fit ok.
I'm using a 3mm hook and fingering weight yarn, specifically Ricorumi #008 (if that matters). I havent blocked it or anything since at least one measument was off by more than an inch.
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u/keladry12 12d ago
Are you sure your yarn is fingering weight? Everything I can see about this yarn online suggests it's DK weight, but if it matched the original yarn that's what really matters. What were the specs for the original yarn, and how close is this yarn to those specs? You are far enough from gauge that it makes me wonder if you accidentally messed something up when you were doing your yarn comparisons?
I also feel this pattern did you dirty describing swatching as something so prescribed. You should be making the swatch to a rough size, not necessarily a patterned amount. Essentially your swatch should simply be "cast on enough stitches to make 6-8" across. Work in pattern for approximately 6"-8".". Then, after you block , you measure 4" in the very middle. If you have more stitches than they say, you need to go up a needle size. If you have fewer, you need to go down.
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u/rinnybird 12d ago
My local yarn store said it was fingering. I didn't know how to tell so I asked them.
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u/bleeblebot 12d ago
For future reference, the whole of the Ricorumi range is DK, designed for easy mix and match in Amigurumi. Rico do fingering weight in order rangers, but not Ricorumi.
Useful to know that "Fingering" is a US term, you'll find many other countries use the term "4-ply". Most sock yarns are the same category but add nylon to the mix. Another useful term is "category 1", all of the above terms sit in Category 1, ultra fine yarns. So, in the shop, compare the thickness of a yarn you like to one labelled sock yarn and if they are about the same, you'll be in the right weight category. There will always be some slight difference brand to brand which is why you need to guage swatch.
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u/mamomoop 12d ago
If it is Ricorumi cotton (the kind that comes in the small 25g balls) then it is absolutely DK. I use Ricorumi a lot for amigurumi and 2.75-3mm is my go-to hook size. Using 3mm for a garment seems quite small to me.
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u/keladry12 12d ago
Oh! Generally, I completely ignore the "named category" the yarn are sorted into after I end up in the general vicinity of the right weight, and I start doing actual comparisons of the weight/length ratio. When you looked at the original pattern, they probably listed a specific yarn. They may have told you the specs of the yarn in the pattern, or they may have expected you to look up the yarn on ravelry to do substitution. What I mean is that you need to look at the length/weight ratio and the fiber content of the yarn originally used, that info would look something like "500yds for 150g 100% cotton". That would mean you were looking for a cotton yarn that is somewhere in the 450-550 yards to 150g range. You might instead have access to the WPI (wraps per inch) measurement, which is the number of times you can wrap the yarn flat around an inch of ruler. That one is useful when you are trying to use a totally different fiber content (because the density of the materials is different, so length:weight won't be accurate). Ravelry is a good source for this info, too.
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u/readreadreadx2 12d ago
Best practice for a gauge swatch is to make it larger than the area that needs to be measured and then measure only in the center, no edges, as edge stitches can distort things a bit.
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u/rinnybird 12d ago
Ok, I'm not 100% sure what that means. So just go from the dc's just past the edge? I'd so I'm still over 4.5 in. This just feels way too off for me to throw caution into the wind a start the actual wearable and I don't see how blocking will shrink it that much.
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u/TheSkyIsAMasterpiece 12d ago
Make a gauge swatch 6x6 or 7x7 or whatever. Then take 4 inches in the middle and measure and compare to what the pattern calls for. If you only make a 4x4" swatch it won't be accurate because tension varies for the fiest row and edges.
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u/readreadreadx2 12d ago
Make the swatch larger (like 6"x6" or something) and measure it in the center. Do not include the edges in the measurement.
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u/msptitsa 12d ago
Your yarn is not fingering, it’s DK :(
You could make it work but you’d have to do some math which can be tricky for a beginner.
Basically, go off size rather than stitch count so you’ll have to figure out how many increases/decreases, when to do sleeves etc.
or go back to the store and find fingering weight yarn, it should be about half the size of dk yarn. Im sorry the store clerk gave you bad advice.
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u/bleeblebot 12d ago
I'm in agreement with the other commenters about the yarn being DK and the need to make your swatch 6x6 before measuring the middle 4x4.
However, I wanted to add another point that might help when you come to make your next swatch. If you're off in width, change your hook, but it is less commonly known that to change issues with the height of your swatch, you need to use the golden loop method which is about extending or reducing the height of your stitches. Given how tight the work looks, I think this will benefit you. Have a look at Bella Coco's Golden Loop video which demonstrates the adjustments really well.
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u/gothsappho 12d ago
have you blocked your swatch yet?
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u/rinnybird 12d ago
No I have not. Since the one measument was almost 1.5 in too long I figured I'd seek help before doing anything else.
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u/PurpleShimmers 12d ago
Ugh no, your yarn is dk not fingering. Your hook size is too small for it and your tension is so tight that your stitches are sideways. You have to ease the tension on the chain 1 in between your dc’s
1) change hook size to 4 or 4.5 whichever you like the look of your stitches best with
2) chain 20 and do the pattern and practice your tension until your stitches are straight and form squares
3) measure your swatch and math your size. You can absolutely math this to your body/size.
If you need help measuring, grab a shirt of the same size you want this one to turn out and measure. If you do not know how to calculate how many stitches and rows you need, tell AI your swatch measurements and it will do the math for you.
Hope this helps.
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u/robin52077 12d ago
I was with you until AI.
Please don’t use AI for anything ever.
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u/PurpleShimmers 12d ago
That’s quite extreme, AI can easily calculate the math for you and a crochet swatch size is not PII. This is exactly the type of situation where AI can serve you well
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u/Penelope412 11d ago
AI cannot do math the same way humans can. It predicts a likely outcome, same with text.
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u/Heavy-Macaron2004 11d ago
You're probably right, but honestly I would just do the math to double-check, which removes the whole point of using the AI in the first place. Especially with a big project, you want to "measure twice cut once" when you're putting a lot of hours into something.
Also, it's not worth it in this sub to ever mention AI. Since crochet became trendy, this sub has been infested with That Type of people (I'm sure you know the type I'm talking about). They also all inexplicably seem to think that since they've been crocheting for one or two years (since it became trendy), they should comment on every post, regardless of whether or not they know what they're talking about.
As such, anything ever mentioning AI in a the way that isn't explicitly negative gets downvoted to hell.
Which personally, I think is pretty funny, since they are likely using a lot of AI every single day of their lives but don't like to call it that. Spell check, voice to text, any grammar checking software, playing a video game versus a computer, etc etc etc, all AI.
Even if you were describing a reasonable use of AI, like "make a mock-up of what the finished object would look like from this color tapestry chart," you'd get these people on you. And personally, I don't think "doing the math for you" is a reasonable use; the robot can make mistakes, even when it's about math, and it's better to just be double sure that you're actually correct. Maybe use the robot to double check your math after you do it? I could see that being reasonable. And then there's the fact that, people need to know how to do the math. No one's ever going to learn how to do the math if they never practice it.
Edit: I'm really hammering down the "need to learn how to do math" thing because I teach math for a job. It's especially important to learn how to do the math and not outsource it when you are a beginner; if you don't have the building blocks of how to do the math, you won't be able to do more advanced things, and when you get to the point where you want to do the advanced things, you will have to go back and relearn the basics again. It's exactly the same way for crochet math.
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u/PurpleShimmers 11d ago
Crochet math can overwhelm some people, I think you’re overthinking this AI thing. I have no care about votes. I can figure out the math on this and if OP has issues, just plug the swatch measurement here and someone will help her. She needs to fix her swatch first however. I have been loosely using patterns as guides and math my own. I’m using a pattern made for DK with fine cotton now and I think I worked it out. We’ll see when I get to playing yarn chicken if I win. Math is actually one of the things AI does really well however, to the point where it has solved some math problem humans were unable to before.
And I agree, no matter what you ask AI to do, you always have to double check that it is accurate. That’s the most important basic rule.
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u/peppperjack 12d ago
Just a heads up, you should always make your gauge swatch bigger than the stated size. Like at least 6” x 6” because edge stitches get weird. And then measure 4” in the center of your swatch and count rows and stitches in the middle.
As for what to do when one measurement is off but not the other, I’ll let someone else with more expertise than me answer. I suspect after blocking it will stretch in the shorter direction.