Archive of Thread: Swatch Back

2 years ago
I made my swatch with my new machine. Prewash and resting, it was 30 stitches =  6 5/8", rows = 6". I won't be washing it for a few days. 

2 years ago
Cynthia, did your LK150 not have a "Yellow Ruler" among its accessories.  The fact that you give the measurements of your swatch in inches suggests that it didn't.  I would strongly recommend that you get a "Yellow Ruler" because it would make calculating the gauge of your swatches so much easier.  No mathematics involved - the ruler tells you instantly the number of stitches and rows to 4".

If you are not familiar with Gauge Rulers, Sue has a tutorial on the three available rulers:  Green for standard gauge, Bellow for mid-gauge and Blue for Bulky.

Jenny

2 years ago
It came with the ruler. I was swatching the way, I think, Sue showed in a video. I just used markers on the 16th needle on each side, 30 stitches and knit 40 rows and the the markers again. all of this between other rows and stitches. I then just measured between. I will measure again after washing and drying. I do not work with cm’s. Which, based on your reply that I used inches and therefore did not get the ruler, means it would be cm’s?

I think doing it this way allows you to do an accurate swatch, even of you can’t find your yellow ruler, or if you brought your machine somewhere and forgot that yellow ruler. 

Maybe I will try the ruler another time. I need to learn one way first, and this is how I did it when I did not have a ruler. 

2 years ago
The way you are knitting your swatches is exactly the same way that you would if you used a Yellow Ruler.  No, I didn't mean you work with centimetres with the Yellow Ruler, I meant that you referred to the measurement of the 30 stitches and 40 rows and not to the resulting stitches/rows per inch measurement.  If you measure 30 stitches and it's 6 5/8", you then need to work out 30 divided by 6/58 to get the stitches-per-inch.  The Yellow ruler just does the maths for you.

Personally, I think the coloured Swatch Rulers are much the preferred way to measure gauge - impatiently waiting for a replacement to arrive to use with my Taitexma machine since mine was sold with my LK150! - but if you are comfortable with using an ordinary ruler there's  no reason not to continue that way.

I know you will love your LK150.  I only replaced mine with the Taitexma because I wanted a machine with a ribber.

Jenny

2 years ago
I haven’t done the math because I have not washed and dried it. After I get the final measurements, I will do the math for the stitches per inch, or probably stitches per 4 inches. I was curious as to the measurements and want to compare them to after the swatch has been washed and dried. Right now the stitches per inch or 4 inches does not matter because the swatch is not at its final measurements. I should have been more clear.

Thanks