Swatching for Circular Gauge
After years of knitting, I made the very useful discovery that I am a pretty loose purler and a kind of tight knitter. I know there are other imperfectly balanced knitters out there because I encounter your frustration and confusion all the time at Purl Soho. You knit your swatch, you carefully counted your stitches, you did everything you were supposed to do, and yet somehow your gauge took on a life of its own and now your sweater would fit a small hippopotamus! Our Swatching For Circular Gauge Tutorial will help!
The problem sometimes lies in having knit a flat gauge swatch even though you plan to knit in the round. In a circular knitting situation, the normal knit one row, purl one row swatch can be very misleading. Instead, to accurately replicate stockinette stitch in the round, you should make a swatch that uses only knit stitches.
Of course Elizabeth Zimmerman has figured out how to do that for us. It’s perhaps a little unsatisfying in its untidiness, but well worth the affront to our sense of order!
very messy looking swatch on circular knitting needles
Knitting a Circular Gauge
The basic idea here is to knit a big messy I-cord. (If you don’t know how to make an I-cord, you may find our I-cord Tutorial a helpful companion to this tutorial.)
Begin by casting onto a circular or double pointed needle. (I like to first knit a few rows of just normal garter stitch to help prevent the bottom edge from getting in my way when I measure the gauge.) Then, instead of turning the work around so you can purl the next row, keep the front of the work facing you and SLIDE it down the needle to the other end. The working yarn is now coming from the left side of the knitting.
Bringing the yarn from the left end to the right end, leave a very loose loop of yarn behind the work and knit the first stitch of the row.
Finish knitting the row. Then, without turning the work, slide the stitches to the right end of the needle. Bring the yarn from the left, leave a big loop of slack, and knit the next row. Continue in this way until you have good size gauge swatch with lots of messy loops.
Don’t worry about the side stitches being loose and uncooperative. Just ignore them!
I know some peoples’ eyes start to glaze over at the mention of gauge swatches, but I really hope this simple tip will save people from some major sizing woes. In my experience, everything miraculously fits a lot better since I started knitting circular gauges! -Whitney
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How is this different from knitting a flat swatch? It may be obvious to others, but Im just wondering 🙂
Because a normal flat swatch is knit one row, purl one row, knit one row, purl one row, etc. This is only knitting every row, thus mimicking the knit-only rows of knitting in the round. This eliminates gauge inaccuracy that results from possibly knitting purl stitches tighter or looser than your knit stitches.
This may sound crazy, but when I am knitting where gauge is important since I also purl looser than I knit, what I do is use one size smaller needle for the purling side and then the regular needle for the knit side.
I mark them or use different colors when i do this so I don't get the needles confused.
So, a US size 7 for the purl stitches and a US 8 for the knit side. It seems to work out well with the rows nice and balanced when I am done.
This is a very sensible response and it was exactly what my mother did. My tension is more even so I don’t need to do it, but she always had different sized needles when she knitted in stocking stitch.
I was wondering…am I supposed to do the swatch always with Stockinette stitch or should I do it everytime with the pattern stitch that I will use for the project?
Hi Chiara,
Thank you for the comment! When doing a gauge swatch you want to use the stitch pattern in the project in order to best plan for the dimensions of your project. It never hurts to start a gauge swatch with some stockinette for more information but it is not necessary.
I hope this helps and feel free to let us know if you have anymore questions!
Happy Swatching!
Jake
Thanks so much for your clear pics and explanation. My swatch is so messy I thought I was doing it wrong.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why my gauge swatch was perfect on size 9 needles, yet when I started my sweater the gauge was too large by an inch. The messy gauge swatch solved my problem. Again, thanks so much!
I was wondering how you could maintain a sweater’s gauge done in back and forth knitting when the sleeves are done in the round on double points?
Hello Stephanie!
Good point! Since you’ll be purling on the back and forth sections but not on the sleeves, the gauge for those two parts could be slightly off. Best thing to do would be to make two gauge swatches, one in the round and one in 2D in order to make sure you’re consistent.
Best of luck! -Alyson
I completely understand the reason for knitting the circular gauge as you describe and I have done swatches this way for my sweater designs. But I wonder if there isn’t a formula for converting a gauge swatch knitted flat, to circular knitting when gauge isn’t critical, such as in a scarf? i.e. my gauge in flat stockinette may be 6 sts = 1″. Would circular knitting result in more or less sts to the inch? What might the percentage of difference be? I so appreciate your clear directions in every tutorial I’ve used! I hope you might be able to address this question and I believe it would be a wonderful help to other knitters as well.
Many thanks!
Norma
Hi Norma,
Great questions! Circular gauge versus flat gauge has a lot more to do with your personal gauge than anything else. For me, I knit and purl at a very similar rate so my flat and circular gauge are nearly identical. For a lot of knitters, they knit more tightly than they purl or vice versa. In that regard, there is no universal formula that would work for all knitters. You could certainly create one for your own knitting by knitting a variety of swatches flat and in the round on a variety of yarn gauges to see how your knitting in the round versus flat behaves and then do a little math to figure out a conversion. That said, once you introduce stitch patterns into the mix, this could also change your gauge in the round versus flat.
To sum up, the percentage of difference for each knitter could be dramatically different and thus there is no easy answer other than swatching in the round for projects knit in the round.
I hope that this helps!
Cassy
Hi! I love this idea… but how do I know if I knit/purl with a different tension? I knit using the continental method and it seems as if all my stitches are much looser than when I knit “American” style. Like, I have to use 2-3 sizes smaller needles if I even hope to get close to gauge since I started knitting continental style.
Hi Tami,
Thank you for writing in! Whether or not you knit continental or English, swatching for circular gauge is important because when knitting in the round you are only working the face side of the fabric. Unless you have perfect gauge, your purls and knits will vary in tension. You can test whether you purl/knit tighter or looser by doing a circular gauge swatch with only purls and then with only knits. Best of luck and have fun experimenting!
-Adam
Great idea.
My circular gauge swatches always come out with very messy edge stitches, just as the tutorial promises they will, so I find it hard to know how to accurately measure the swatch. If I have a swatch that consists of twenty stitches, but my edges are loopy and uneven, how do I take a proper measurement? I hope this makes sense. Thank you.
Hi Megan,
Thanks for writing in! When knitting a gauge swatch, either flat or in the round, you should cast on a few extra stitches than needed so that you don’t have to measure the edge stitches. Even when knitting flat, although it may not be as obvious, most knitters have a bit of distortion on the selvages of their swatch! I usually add eight to ten stitches to my swatch and then measure the center four inches.
I hope that helps!
Julianna
Hello
When you are done knitting the swatch, do you leave the needle on the yarn, like the picture, the one with the measuring tape and measure that way?
Thank you B.
Hello Brennie,
Thank you for reaching out! I find that I have an easier time measuring accurately if I bind off, though you certainly can leave your swatch on the needles to measure it if you wish. If you leave your swatch on your needles it will be easier to repurpose your yarn once you have you gauge count. It really comes down to personal preference.
I hope this helps and happing gauging!
-Marilla
VERY HELPFUL! Thanks!
I’ve tried this technique. I can’t help but wonder if those looser edge stitches, even if I add on a bunch of extra stitches to the swatch, affect the overall gauge.
Also, is there such a thing as perfect gauge? Like, maybe something one can strive for……
Hello Natalie,
Thanks for reaching out! To get an accurate gauge, wether it be in the round or flat, you will always want to have a few stitches on either side of the stitches you are measuring. I’m not sure if there is such a thing as a perfect gauge, I always just strive to be as close as possible and go from there. 🙂
Happy knitting!
-Marilla
I always add at least 4 extra stitches and work garter stitch at the edge of my swatches as this helps them to lie flat. Also start and finish the swatch with a couple of rows of garter st.
Thanks for this. Two questions: other swatch-in-the -round tutorial’s seem to insist that you cut the yarn so it lays flat, but some yarn is super expensive and I worry about needing it for later. How important is it for it to lay absolutely flat?
Second question, does this work for color work in the round too?
Thanks again for your clear and helpful tutorials:)
Hi Megan,
Great questions! I also hesitate to cut my swatches because I hate to waste yarn, but if you leave the floats between rows loose enough, you should be able to lay the swatch flat enough to measure it without cutting anything. It also helps to make your swatch larger than what you need to measure by about 5 stitches on each side, so if it does curl under, you will still have plenty of space to take an accurate measurement. And yes, this absolutely does work to swatch colorwork in the round!
I hope that helps and happy knitting!
Julianna
Could you also slide a small, stiff piece of cardboard between the swatch and the floats so you would have a flat surface for measuring but wouldn’t need to cut the floats?
Hi Mercy,
Thanks for reaching out! I think that could certainly work to help get the swatch to lay flat!
Warmly,
Gianna
Hi. How do you swatch garter stitch in the round? All the tutorials I’ve seen only seem to deal with stockinette but my pattern calls for garter stitch. Hope you can help. Thanks.
Hello Sandra,
Thank you for reaching out! To create a garter stitch in the round you alternate between a purl row and a knit row. Other than that you can follow the instructions for swatching in the round in stockinette!
Happy knitting!
-Marilla
Hi there,
I hope this finds you well! Like Sandra I have a pattern that calls for a garter stitch swatch in the round and am struggling to find any info online as to what to do! If garter stitch is knit one row, purl one row – to swatch garter in the round do you still suggest dropping the purl rows?
Thank you so much for your help!
Hi Alice,
Thanks for reaching out! When working Garter stitch flat you actually knit ever row, so if you are working Garter stitch in the round you would knit one row and purl one row! If you are working in Stockinette stitch then you would knit every row when working in the round or knit one row, purl one row when working the stitch flat.
I hope this clarifies things!
Warmly,
Gianna
Thanks, Marilla. Much appreciated.
if I need a guage of 18stitches in 4″ in stockinet on circular
needles how many stitches should on cast on?
Hello Doris,
Thank you for reaching out! I would cast on 22 – 24 stitches so that you can get the most accurate measurement of the stitches in the middle of your swatch.
I hope this makes sense and happy swatching!
-Marilla
Do you then soak and block before measuring? Thanks. Sarah
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for writing in! Yes, for the most accurate results, you should wash and block your gauge swatch the same way you plan to wash and block your finished item! This will ensure that you don’t have any unpleasant surprises the first time you wash the garment.
Happy knitting!
Julianna
My question is that the pattern I’m making a swatch for is 2×2 ribbing for a hat. The entire watch cap is ribbed. How do I count the stitches without stretching my fabric?
Hi Barbara,
Thanks for reaching out! for that hat I would actually suggest making a flat swatch rather than using this technique for swatching in the round since it is a basic ribbed stitch! It is very easy to count gauge for ribbed stitch unstretched, especially 2×2 rib since you know there are 2 knit stitches and 2 purl stitches (these will be tucked under but you still know they are there!) So when measuring you will basically count 4 for every 2 knit stitches that appear on the surface! I recommend checking out out All About Gauge tutorial, it is an excellent resource to use!
I hope this clears things up!
Warmly,
Gianna
Here I am, years later, reading this because I’m tired of ripping out hats that are big enough to fit a large watermelon.
Very simple to understand. My head and those of my family thank you.