Tension problem

[Angelfish]

I tested my tension as required... 22 stitches and 12 rows... was meant to measure 10cm x 10cm... in length it was correct but width was 12 and a half cm... what is with that?

[redrosesdz]

Welcome to Crochetville!

 

Everyone has a different crochet tension.  It's due to a lot of factors.  It's why doing a gauge is so important, especially for wearables and most amigurumi.  Your tension is looser than the designers.  The easiest fix is to go down a hook size and remake the gauge swatch.  (If your stitch count was too small, go up a hook size.)  Also, it's important to make a swatch bigger than suggested.  You want to measure the middle stitches.  Measuring along an edge can produce an inaccurate gauge count.

 

As I mentioned, there are a lot of factors that impact tension.  How you crochet is the biggest impact.  Doris Chan wrote a brilliant article on the different ways people crochet (lifters vs. riders vs. yankers.)  How tightly you hold the yarn that feeds to your hook is another factor.  It should be taught enough for the hook to grab, but not so tight that it doesn't feed smoothly. 

 

Yarn thickness, even if it's the same brand and color, can produce slightly different gauges.  It's  why even those that have been crocheting for decades must still do a gauge every time.

 

Mood and how well you know the stitch pattern are other factors.  If you're tense or you're just learning a stitch pattern, your crocheting will be a bit tighter than if you're relaxed and the stitch pattern is routine.  It's why when you're doing a large project some areas can look looser and some tighter and if you're doing motifs, like squares, some may come out larger and some smaller.  If you crochet only when you're relaxed, you'll get more even tension.  Things like temperature and humidity can make a difference, too.

 

Where you crochet on the hook is important.  Your loops should always be on the shaft of the hook.  If you crochet using the throat, the skinny part under the tip, your stitches will be too small.  The shaft, the area between the skinny part and the thumb rest, is the size of the mm stamped on the hook.  It doesn't sound like you're doing this, but someone else looking for tension answers may be using the wrong part of the hook.

[Granny Square]

^ excellent tips above.  I always try to hit the horizontal gauge exactly, because I have issues with stitch height (well, everybody potentially might I guess, with different designers)--in my case, I'm a yanker.  If a designer is a yanker too, I'm probably OK-ish, but if a designer is a lifter (like Doris Chan), I need to be aware of that and maybe sub taller stitches (like an extended sc versus a regular sc) or throw in an extra row or pattern repeat now and then--it depends on what you can get away with in the pattern.

 

A lot of wearables say to do parts of sleeves or the body in inches versus rows, so that can help to get the project to come out right - you might have more or less rows than the designer did, but it will fit.

 

What are you making?  There are some tips we can give to get wearables to fit if your gauge is off (a little), but the tricks are different for a hat and a top for example.

[Angelfish]

Thank you both for the lovely help x