I’ve read about other designers experiencing swatches that lie, but had not yet had the pleasure myself… until now. I just finished up the new sample of my next pattern using the Stroll Sport yarn Knit Picks had sent me. I had already finished another sample using another yarn and everything came out fine. The pattern had already been written, edited and tested so it should have been really straight forward. I should have known something was wrong, and stopped what I was doing immediately, when I blocked the piece and was unable to get the garment to comply to the schematic measurements. But I pressed on and even sewed on all 15 buttons. Then I decided that it might be a good idea to re-check my gauge. I measured it in 6 different places and then averaged it out… and the result was not pretty. The row gauge is actually 7 stitches per inch rather than the 8 stitches per inch that I used for all my calculations.

Do you know what this means? If I was just knitting this piece for myself then I could just say, “Meh, close enough, it’ll still fit.” But since this is my design it really needs to be right. So, the only solution I can see is to redo the math, change the numbers in the pattern, and… wait for it… rip the sample back to the end of the yoke and start again.

I’ve heard the advice to check the gauge after you begin knitting, but it hadn’t quite sunken in until just now. Off I go to rip and rewrite!