A knitting question...

[mamagotcha]

So I wanna make that new vest that just came up on Knitty for my Knitting Olympics entry. It's my very first piece of Real Clothing for myself, and I'm a little nervous... it's gonna take a LOT of yarn.

So I wanna do it right. I'm swatching, even!

I've found that 10 and 10.5 needles don't get gauge, but when I use the 11s to get the width right (4" with 12 stitches), my length is screwy (instead of 4" like it's supposed to be, it's 5 1/4" at 20 rows). In fact, each time I made a gauge swatch, it was longer than wide... and it's supposed to be a square.

Am I just a messed-up knitter? What do I do here?

(If it matters... I'm using doubled Cascade 220.)

Comments

[lorraine-inwa.livejournal.com]

I have no suggestion. My swatches are always too short with the right width. Good luck with the knitting olympics. That is ambitious. Harlot will be proud of you (me too).

[mh75.livejournal.com]

I kinda have no idea, except, if you know that you get 4" instead of 5", you could multiple the number of rows by 5/4 to compensate.

[genderfur.livejournal.com]

channelled from Elizabeth Zimmerman: do not worry about row gauge (unless you're knitting something where the numbers actually matter, like you're picking up stitches along an edge). Get the stitch gauge right, and then knit until it's as long as it's supposed to be.

And... the knitting olympics? Is that the Ravolypics I've been seeing references to on Rav? 'Coz I can't find any base information, just various groups' comments on it. Halp?