What Is Gauge, Why Is It Important, And How To Get It

Hey everyone, it's Deja from Crochet Ever After and today we're going to talk about gauge. So, I've been getting a lot of comments lately on mostly beanie patterns, like my messy bean, my messy bun beanie, that they're making the pattern, it looks great, except it's two sizes too big. And they say, what's going on? What am I doing wrong? And I go back and I say, well how is your gauge reading? And they come back and say, I have no idea what you're talking about. What is gauge? So I'm going to talk about what gauge is, why it is super important to get, and how to get it. So what is gauge? You'll see it in patterns and you also see it on yarn ball bands. So first I'm going to talk about patterns. Gauge is basically just a measurement so you've probably seen it on at least one pattern in your life where it might say 4 inches equals 12 stitches by 20 rows. Now where does that number come from? That number was made specifically for For that yarn that's given, that hook that is given, and the designer that made it. So for example, if I'm doing a beanie and I want it to fit an adult female, so it's going to be 20 inch circumference around the head. I'm going to use a certain yarn and a certain hook that I enjoy, and I make it up, and then I measure either my gauge swatch, which this is a swatch, I'll go more into that, or the actual beanie, or both to be really safe, and I say, if you want to make this beanie, here's your gauge. Four inches equals 12 stitches by 12 rows. That now tells you as the maker that no matter what yarn What hook or what type of crochet or knitter you are, if you want a 20 inch beanie, this is your magic number to make that happen. So you're like magic number what does that mean? That means that no matter what kind of yarn you use you want to substitute whatever kind of yarn whatever kind of hook whatever hook you have on hand you can match your hook to your yarn your yarn to the hook if you want to make that same exact size beanie you must match the gauge that I got when I crocheted it. Now why is gauge so hard ...hard to achieve. Because everybody crochets and knits differently. I'm not saying that everybody's a snowflake and every single person has their own tiny little difference. It's just that there's enough of a variance that I might use a J-hook for that beanie when I'm using worsted weight yarn because I crochet a little bit tighter than the next crocheter. That crocheter might use an i-hook, a 5.5mm with a worsted weight yarn to get the same gauge. That gauge is there, though, so that you can get the same size project that the designer intended. So why is gauge on a ball band important? So if you ever go to big box yarn stores, they most likely, most of their yarns, I want to say most because not every single one of them will have it, will have the gauge swatch symbols on it. So for example, this is Vanna's choice. She has a knit and a crochet gauge. This one is Facets by Loops and Threads, also Big Box, but it does not have a gauge swatch for crochet. It just has a recommended hook. Two things. One, it gives recommended hooks, which is cool because if you're going to make something like a blanket out of a certain stitch that you found in a book and you love this yarn and you're like, I don't know what hook I should use for this, that's a good starting off point. So you can say, oh, this says I should get an 8mm. I don't have one of those at home, so let me grab it while I'm paying for my yarn. So that can save you. Another thing though, besides the hook, is the gauge. If you love a pattern, but you can't stand the yarn it's made in, take that pattern with you to the store and don't just look for the same thickness in yarn. So if that pattern says worsted weight, don't just grab any worsted weight you find that you'd like. Stop and look at the ball band. Look at the gauge that it gives. And see how close it is to the gauge that the designer gave. So for example if that beanie says 4 inches equals 12 stitches by 15 rows and I grab this Vanna's Choice and I read it and it says 4 inches equals 12 stitches by 15 rows, that's exactly the same. That's a good indication that this yarn will make gauge for you. It will be very easy to match gauge. And you can substitute easily this different worsted. Not all yarns are created equal. Not all thicknesses are the same. It could say worsted, but it could be bulky. So for example, I'm very ashamed to show this because I know I should know better. I normally, I love Knit Picks yarn, Knit Picks Brava worsted is great for beanies. And so I'm going to show you the one that actually made it into the pattern and that's this one. This is a Knit Picks Brava. This is Owls Up All Night, or no, Owl Night Long, this is a knit one. It's knit because the other sample is knit so I have to show you this. So I'm used to working with the Brava. I know what needles will make the gauge that I want because I've used it so much. I don't need to check gauge because I get the same gauge every time I use it with the same needles. So it's good to go. I'm good. I didn't want to wait for the yarn to get shipped to me, so I bought some big box yarn. And I love big box yarn, I love this yarn, but I didn't look at the ball band. I just saw worsted, I saw the colors I wanted, and I bought it. Then I made the beanie, and I didn't pay attention to gauge. I didn't check my gauge before I made it. I didn't check the gauge while I was making it. I didn't even pay attention to how big it was getting. And this is what I got. Here's the right size, and here's the size I got. How did I not... Notice how big this is getting. So this is to fit a female adult's head for sample pictures. This is designed to fit Bigfoot when he's out in the winter doing his sightings because it's way too big. It's worsted, but I didn't look at the ball band, and I didn't see how close the stitches were to what I normally get. So that was my mistake. I... You know, should have checked it, and that's why it's important to check these ball bands before you substitute. A lot of worsted is the same. If you get Vanna's Choice or Red Heart Super Saver or Caron Simply Soft, the thickness is going to be pretty close. But, every so often, you might pick up some yarn that is completely thicker than a normal worsted. So, I'm just saying normal because, like, these are really big sellers. This is a normal worsted. It's just not the normal worsted I'm used to working with. So... Checking gauge would have saved me a lot of time, plus I would not have made the pattern in this yarn because it messes up the picture. I can't use as many stitches because of how big this is. So I could have adjusted the pattern, but I don't want to, so I had to wait until I got the right yarn and made it again. So that's why your ball band is important. That's why Looking at that gauge when you're substituting yarn can save you time, because if I had seen that this gauge was so off, I wouldn't even pick that yarn. I would have moved on to the next yarn and not wasted time and money on making that beanie. So what do you use to check gauge? Now, you need to measure this. So, there are many ways to do it. You can get a ruler, you can get a measuring tape, um, Flexible measuring tapes are not always, losing my other ones I wanna show you. They're not always the best option because they can get stretched out, they're a little hard to get to lay correctly, especially the ends can get, So, I usually will not use a fabric measuring tape or even a metal measuring tape because the end of that can get pulled out too. You'll go to like inch two if you're gonna do any measuring tape so that end doesn't get pulled out and mess up your measurement. I usually like or I always keep these on hand. I probably have like ten of these hanging around. It's the knit. The knit Susan, I'm upside down too, the Susan Bates knit check. So this one, the light is too bright. This is my best friend. I literally have like 10 of these laying around. They cost like $2 at Michaels. They're really cheap. Get a bunch because their size and flatness like they get lost constantly. They have plastic ones. I say go for the metal because the plastic can get warped. This part can get like pulled out so go for metal. So Get a bunch so that you have them on hand for when you need to read gauge. I'm going to get close up to show you how you actually do it and how you adjust it so that you can fully understand what to do. Okay, so I have three swatches here. They are all the same yarn but with different hooks. So I wanted to show you the difference in size that you can get just by changing your hook. A half a millimeter. So this first swatch, these are all the same amount of stitches, they're all 20 stitches by 12 rows. The first one is made in a 5mm hook, then we have a 5.5, and then a 6mm. So if I line them up on the ends, you can see that by the end of the width of these, I am probably off by like an inch. So one millimeter size, so about half inch for each millimeter, is my difference for this little amount of swatch. What does that mean for my finished project if this was a beanie and I was taking this amount of stitches and multiplying them by six for whatever reason I'm making a gigantic beanie um I multiply it by six and I am off by a full inch on my gauge I'm gonna be off by six inches by the time I'm done because I'm multiplying that by six so even if you're off a little bit By the end of your project you could be off by a lot so even if I'm off a half an inch on my gauge by the end of the project that could add up to four inches so it's imperative to get the right gauge at the beginning so that you don't end up off by inches and inches at the end of your project so even if it's off just a little bit you need to change your hook so you can get the right There are two ways to get gauge. If your yarn and hook are not working together to make the gauge that the pattern states, you can either change your hook or you can be drastic and change your yarn. That can happen sometimes, like with my owl beanie that I showed you, it would have been better to change the yarn than the needle. The needle, I would have had to have made a smaller needle And it would have made just a really stiff beanie, so I would have said, forget this yarn, I need bigger yarn. Not bigger yarn, that would have been worse. Smaller yarn. Now for hooks, it goes opposite. So, let me show you. So I'm pretending that I'm making something, and I need 12 stitches per inch. So I take my gauge check. And, not 12 sts per inch, 12 sts per 4 inches, that would be really tiny. Not impossible, it's like lace yarn. But for this project, I need 4 inches and I need 12 sts in those 4 inches. I love the Knit Check because it has this little window so I can line it up and it's a lot easier to see where my stitches are laying. Now, why... Is this only two inches? The gauge is usually given in four inch increments because the more inches you have the less likely for partial stitches. So what I mean is when I look at this gauge right now Um, I'm going to explain how to read these stitches, but when I look at it I can see I have full stitches and then I have a part of a stitch right here on the end. So that partial stitch, I would have to, like, list in the pattern, I'd have to say six and a quarter, six and a half, but if I go four inches, I can... Switch that to 13 stitches, because I have six and a half, so double that for four inches and I have 13 stitches. So it just leaves those partial stitches, you have less of those. If I only did one inch, I might have like three and a quarter. So four stitches is usually the normal one that you will see and that's the reason why. So width is always more important to get first. Then to get your height, because height can easily be changed, I have a video on the Golden Loop which explains how to change your height if it's not matching, but your width is more important. It can be difficult to count crochet stitches if you're not used to what they look like. Stockinette stitch in knitting is pretty simple to count, it's just the V's, they're easy to see, they're easy to count, but if you don't know what a single crochet looks like or a half double crochet looks like, where they end, where they begin, that can be difficult to count and figure out your gauge. So, my tip is, don't count the front of the stitch. Turn your work. Until you get to the edge, that's my bottom edge, let me do this edge, the Vs are easier to see. Turn it until you get to your edge. Now you have Vs like in knitting, so it's a lot easier to see. So you can, the only problem is like trying to lay it into your thing can be a little difficult. But it's a lot easier to read when it's put this way. You can see those Vs, so just go right to the bottom of a V and count how many you see. So we have one, two, three, four, five, six. And half a V, so you can see that half now very easily over here. So that means I've got 13 stitches for 4 inches. That is too many stitches for 4 inches. To fix when you have too many stitches per inch, which means your stitches are too small, you need to go up a hook size. So start with one if it's like super small like really really small go up a couple hook sizes but most likely if you're only off by a stitch or two go up to the next hook size and try that one. So this one is my next hook size this is the 5.5 millimeter so if I'm counting the front so for single crochets I'll just show you how to read them It looks kind of like a step stool almost. It's got two legs and then this little thing on top. This part here is also a part of it for the rows, but for the width, you're looking at the legs of the step stool. That's the important part. So it's like a V upside down. So instead of Vs coming out of each other, these are side-by-side Vs. So start at the end of one side-by-side V and then work your way across. So we can see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. So again, I want a 12, so 6 and 2 inches means 12 and 4 inches, so now I've got the right gauge. I can double check it up here, lay it in the box, I have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Now I've got gauge. I've got the correct width, so my beanie will be the right size around. Again, if your height is not correct, so I know that when I make this, this is the better side Each of these little lines here, this is two rows. This is two, four, six, eight, 10, 12 rows. So I can lay it on right at one of these lines and then count how many I have, so I have two, four, six. And 7. So it's right at the top of that step stool. So 7 times 2 is 14. This would be more likely what my gauge would be. It wouldn't be 12 by 12. It would probably be like 12 by 14 or 12 by 15 realistically. So this would probably be fine. If it was off a little, I would use my golden rule or my golden loop to adjust it up or down. So the golden loop, you can fix Any size hook. You do not change your hook size for the golden loop. Go watch that video if your height is off but your width is correct. The width will only change when you change hook sizes. Your height will barely change. So look at these. These are three different Different hook sizes. But the height is pretty much exactly the same. Barely a difference, because the hooks don't change the height. Your hand changes the height, so watch the golden loop, it will make sense. So when you're getting width, that's when you're changing hook size. Let's look at this big one here, so you know what to do when you have too few stitches. So now when we count our step stools, we have one, two, three, four, five, and a half, or One, two, three, four, five, one, two, three, four, five, and a half. So now I only got 11 stitches for four inches. So now I have too few. They're too big. They're too big to fit what I need. So I need a smaller stitch. So then I go smaller hook. So that's the important thing to remember. Remember, if you have too few stitches, go down in a hook size. your stitches are too big. you need to make them smaller so get a smaller hook. if you have too many stitches, your hook is too small. you need a bigger hook for bigger stitches. so that is how you are going to fix your gauge. find out what your gauge is. start with the hook they recommend. if they say use an eye hook, use an eye hook. see what your gauge is. Then if there are too many stitches, go big, if there's too few stitches, go small. Do the next size, check it again. Once you find that gauge, You are good to go. So I think I have exhausted the topic of gauge. You probably know more about gauge than you ever wanted to. If I didn't answer all of your questions, make sure that you leave them below and I will, but I hope that every project that you make from here on out will fit and you are more knowledgeable and feel more confident in your knitting and crocheting and thank Thank you for watching.