Archive of Thread: Tools Back

5 years ago
Hi, 
I have just watched the replay on this topic and can see that these could be very useful. A question though, the tools to do with bands need you to enter the  gauge for your band. Does this mean we need to do another tension swatch for whatever stitch the  band is going to be knitted in? Also if doing a band in rib, I think I would have a problem as measuring gauge for rib is so dependent on how much you stretch it.  Any advice would be very  welcome.

5 years ago
Hi Margaret!
Great Question!   

If you choose to knit your band in a different stitch pattern than your garment, it would be very important to enter in  your band gauge so the calculation would be correct.

I agree that it's difficult to establish gauge in ribbing. So I just use stockinette

For example, If I'm knitting a sweater in tuck and want ribbed bands, I would knit one swatch in tuck and a swatch in stockinette.  Use the tuck gauge for the body of the sweater and use the stockinette gauge to calculate the bands.

As I always say, bands are an art, not a science ...