Gauge Question

[DesertCrocheter]

I have a gauge question for you crochet experts. I tend to crochet a little tightly. I spent the past 2 weeks working on a baby blanket for a shower. I checked my gauge when I started and when I finished, and for once, I was straight on--1 inch = 1 shell, 2 inches = 3 rows--just what the pattern called for. Yet the finished product was a couple of inches narrower and shorter than the directions in the pattern stated the dimenions would be. What gives? I can't even get this gauge thing right when I'm trying! Thanks, Patty

[The Shrone]

I know with doilies that when I am done with them they don't achieve their final pattern written size until I block them. My stitch gauge is usually right on the mark, but until I block the finished size doesn't come out.

 

I know it is near impossible to block a blanket because of the size.

 

As I figure it, the yarn or thread when we are making something is in a compressed state and by blocking it the stitches are stretched enough to their fullest potential size. Think of a spring being coiled tightly and then the energy released so it is fully extended. This is how stitches tend to be.

 

I find it I wash and dry an object I've made it helps to relax the yarn.

 

~ Lori

[crochet smartcat]

As much as I would love to tell you that if your guage is correct, it'll come out the right size, I can't. Since your guage matches the pattern, all I can guess is that the pattern designer mis-measured her/his finished piece. Maybe she added a border that she did not include in her pattern? Or her guage may have changed over the project. She measured the beginning, but not the end?

 

 

Any number of things can cause this, and while you pick patterns and assume that your finished piece would come out the same, it is not always the case. I have done some patterns, where my guage is smack on, and there is no way on God's green earth that the pattern as written would come out to the dimensions stated. The only way to be sure, is to do your guage and then do the math yourself to ensure that you get the finished size you want.

 

Sorry, wish I could be of more help.

[queen_mo]

Also, even if your gauge is right on, you've got to remember that you are measuring yarn; it can't be precise enough. And when you add to that the sheer 'size' of a blanket, if you are even mismeasuring by only an 8th of an inch (or less), by the time the blanket is done, you may be off by an inch or two. No worries. I'm sure the blanket looks wonderful anyway. You could add a border if you are really concerned.