Tag: knitting

How to Knit a Helpful Swatch – Part 4 Swatching to Estimate Yardage NeededHow to Knit a Helpful Swatch – Part 4 Swatching to Estimate Yardage Needed

August 24, 2020August 24, 2020 | LindyBeirLindyBeir | 0 Comment | 8:00 am

I have covered the basics of how to make a Gauge Swatch and calculate your stitch and row gauge in my previous three posts. Today’s topic will cover some basic math to help you estimate the yardage that you need using your yarn, your needles, and your gauge to make a sweater.

Let’s say you want to make a sweater using yarn from your stash and you need to know if you have enough to make it. To make this estimate, you need the measurements for the sweater you want to make. If you are using a pattern, the finished measurements should be stated within the pattern – ideally on a schematic. Some patterns may only state the desired measurements within the text of the pattern and you may have to read through to find them.  If you are making the sweater without using a pattern – you would use the measurements of the individual who will be wearing the sweater.

The image below shows a schematic for the back of a sweater of a drop sleeve sweater. The back is 28 inches long from the hem to the neck and it is 20 inches wide. Both the front and the back of this type of sweater are essentially rectangles. 

Schematic of Back/Front of Sweater

The schematic for the sleeves of this sweater are shown below.

Schematic of Sleeve

At this point, you have the numbers you need to calculate the number of square inches of fabric that you need to make for this sweater. For the front and back, multiply the length by the width on the schematic and then multiply that number by 2. Using the numbers from my example above:

20 * 28 = 560     560*2 = 1120  square inches for front and back.

The sleeve is a trapezoid shape. The formula for the area of a trapezoid is:

[(b1+b2) * h] / 2

Where b1 is the width at the bottom of the sleeve(8”) and b2 is the width at the top of the sleeve(15”) and h is the length of the sleeve(18”). Using the numbers from the sleeve schematic, the area for one sleeve is 207 square inches. Since you need two sleeves, you then need to multiply the area of the sleeve by two. (414 square inches)

Now, here’s a short cut – if you place your sleeves next to each other so that the tops of the sleeves are parallel – you have a parallelogram. To get the area of this parallelogram you simply multiple the width(15”+ 8” = 23”) by the length(18”). Try it – you’ll get the same number as above.

Add the square inches for the front and back to the square inches for the sleeves and you have the total number of square inches of fabric in the sweater. Now that you know the total number of square inches of fabric you need, you will need to use the yardage and weight information of the yarn you want to use to estimate how many skeins or balls of yarn your sweater requires. The yardage per weight of the yarn will be found on the yarn label – see image below:

You will use the yards per gram value in the estimate for total yardage. Now you need to knit a swatch. The swatch should be in the same stitch pattern that you plan to use for the body of your sweater. This swatch does not need to be the same size as your gauge swatch, but it should be wide enough and long enough to get an accurate weight, length and width measurement.  After you knit this swatch, you will measure its weight using a scale that measures to the nearest tenth (0.1) of a gram. Next measure the length and width of the swatch and multiply these values together. This gives you the number of square inches in your swatch. Now divide the number of grams by the number of square inches.(Do not round). You now know what 1 square inch of your yarn weighs. This is the number you need to calculate how much yardage you need for your sweater.

Example: My swatch measures 3.5 inches by 4.5 inches, which gives me 15.75 square inches. The swatch weighs 9.6 g. Dividing 9.6 by 15.76 gives me 0.622 g/square inch.

Here’s the final set of calculations:

Take the total number of square inches of fabric and multiply it by the number of grams per square inch. This gives you the total weight in grams for your sweater.

Total Number of Square Inches * grams/inch2  = Total grams of fabric

Total Grams/Square Inches = (1120 + 414) * 0.622 = 954.148 g

Now take the yards per gram value from the yarn label. (For example 218 yds/100grams). Divide the yds by the grams to get the number of yards in 1 gram of yarn.  (For example: 218yards/100grams = 2.18 yards per gram.)  Multiply the total number of grams of fabric by the number of yards per gram to get the total yardage for the sweater. Using the numbers from the examples above:

Yards per gram = 2.18 yds/g

Total Yards of Yarn = 954.148 * 2.18 = 2080 yds

To determine the number of skeins, balls or hanks of yarn you need: Divide the number of yards by the number of yards in the skein. Or divide the total number of grams by the number of grams of the skein.  Remember that you will want one extra skein for swatching. (In my example, I would need 9.5 skeins, so I would want 11 skeins with one extra for swatching)

What to do if you don’t have the yarn label

To determine how many yards of yarn you have when you do not have the yarn label or any information, simply measure out 10 yards of your yarn and weigh it. Divide the weight by 10 and you have the weight for 1 yard of yarn. Now weigh the skeins/hanks of yarn and multiply by the weight of 1 yard.  This will give you the number of yards for each skein/hank.

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Mirrored Cables – Front Cross & Back Cross CablesMirrored Cables – Front Cross & Back Cross Cables

May 13, 2010May 13, 2010 | LindyLindy | 0 Comment | 11:03 am

Front Cross and Back Cross Cable Stitches are mirror images of each other. The Front Cross cable twists to the left, while the Back Cross twists to the right. Both cables are done over four stitches.

Mirrored Cables

In the sample – I have knitted a swatch with 3 Front Cross Cables and 3 Back Cross Cables to demonstrate how they mirror each other and also to show how these two cables would look in a ribbing. Remember that cables are usually separated by a few purl stitches in most textured pattern designs. In this swatch, I separated the cables by 2 purl stitches on each side. (I also blocked this swatch and stretched it to separate the cables. If you were using these cables as a ribbing, you would not want to block your garment this way.)

Front Cross Cable Stitches

The Front Cross Cable is often written in patterns as “C4F”. To knit this cable, you slip the first two stitches onto a cable needle and hold them in the front of your knitting while you knit the next two stitches. Then you knit the two stitches off the cable needle. This results in the cable twisting to the left.

Single Front Cross Cable
Tension can be an issue here, as many knitters tend to stretch the last stitch of the four a bit too much and end up with a looser stitch on the left edge of the needle. If you look closely at the left edge of the cable in the picture above, you will see that I do have looser stitches on the left edge.

Montse Stanley, in the “Knitters Handbook”, suggests knitting through the back of this stitch, rather than then front will tighten it up. You must remember to purl through the back loop again on the next row or you will have a twisted stitch if you do this, however.

Back Cross Cable
The Back Cross Cable is often written in patterns as “C4B”. To knit this cable, you slip the first two stitches onto a cable needle and hold them in the back of your knitting while you knit the next two stitches. Then you knit the two stitches of the cable needle. This results in the cable twisting to the right. The same tension issues occur with this cable as with the Front Cross Cable.

In my swatch, I have varied the number of rows between cable stitch repeats to demonstrate how the appearance of the cables changes with the number of rows. The first two cables are based upon a four row repeat (meaning that the cable was done on the fourth row) and the last two cables are based upon a six row repeat.

These two cable patterns are very versatile – uses include: all-over cable patterning in a sweater (the popular “baby cable” sweaters found in stores today), a border for another textured pattern in an Aran style sweater, a decorative ribbing for a pullover sweater, the patterning found in my Cable Rib socks. I’m certain you can find many more examples as you look through sweater and sock patterns.

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Master Knitter Level I – Swatches #4, #5, & #6 – IncreasesMaster Knitter Level I – Swatches #4, #5, & #6 – Increases

March 4, 2010March 4, 2010 | LindyLindy | 0 Comment | 7:54 pm

Swatches 4 through 6 in the Master Knitter Level I program are all about increases. Specifically, each swatch demonstrates a particular type of increase. The increases are done on each side, with three stitches before the right edge increase and three stitches after the left edge increase.

Bar Increases

Swatch 4 - Bar Increase

Swatch 4 demonstrates the Bar Increase. This is probably the increase most knitters first learned to make when knitting. It often written as “KFB” in patterns — which means “Knit in the front and back loops”. When you knit into the front loop of a knit stitch and then knit in the back loop of the same knit stitch, the resulting increase has a purl bump where the second stitch was made. It is clearly visible as you can see in this picture.

I learned a few things working on this swatch. Since I am now much more aware of my tension, I found that the purl bumps looked much better if I made certain I kept the tension even with both stitches. It’s much the same issue as when I had trouble getting even tension in ribbing.

Also, through my research, I learned that you should never make your increases on the very edge of your knitting — you should have at least one stitch on the edge before doing the increase. This makes it much easier and neater to do seams. This is something to pay attention to when you are knitting pieces that will be sewn together — I know I will practice this in my future knitting projects.

Swatch 5 - Knitted Make 1 Increases

Swatch 5 - Make 1 Increases

Swatch 5 demonstrates Make 1 increases. On the right edge, I knit an M1R increase — which means “Make 1 Right” — this is a right-slanting increase. It is made by inserting the left needle from the back and lifting the horizontal strand between stitches onto the left needle and knitting into the front of this strand.

On the left edge, the increase is an M1L — which means “Make 1 Left” — a left-slanting increase. It is made by inserting the left needle from the front and lifting the horizontal strand between stitches onto the left needle and knitting into the back of this strand.

M1 increases are tighter and there is no purl bump on the front of the knitting.

Swatch 6 - Lifted Increases

Swatch #6 - Lifted Increases

Swatch 6 demonstrates the Lifted or Raised Increase. This is the most invisible of increases — and was an increase I had never used before, so the entire swatch was a learning experience.

Again, I knit a right-slanting increase on the right edge. This increase is done by lifting the stitch below the stitch on the left needle and knitting it.

The left-slanting increase on the left edge of the swatch gave me the most difficulty. I had to search out several different pictures of it in my references before I figured it out. The left-slanting lifted increase is done by lifting the stitch below the stitch just knitted on the right needle and then knitting it.

The best pictures and explanations I found of this increase, as well as the others, were in an online article at Knitty.com, entitled “Techniques with “Theresa – Increases”.

So, these three swatches improved my technique when knitting increases and I learned a method of increasing that I had never used before. Check out the article on Knitty.com if you want to explore these methods.

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WIP: Baby Romper for New GrandsonWIP: Baby Romper for New Grandson

January 17, 2010January 17, 2010 | LindyLindy | 0 Comment | 5:30 pm

My first grandson is due January 30. I have already knit a couple of items for this coming grandchild – but I want to knit a romper and matching cardigan for him as well. I’ve posted about the swatches for the cardigan, but not about the romper.

BabyRomper_Legs1

I am about 50% done with the romper. I am using Baby Ull (Dale of Norway) in a navy blue colorway. The legs were knit using size US 0 (2.00 mm) needles and then once joined together for the hip section, knit using US 1 (2.50 mm) needles. Tiny needles, lots of stitches. The pattern is #203 from Dale of Norway.

I doubt I will get this done before the baby arrives – but since I am knitting the 12 months size, it shouldn’t matter if I finish it after he comes home from the hospital.

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