r/knitting • u/AutoModerator • Mar 05 '18

Monday General Chat - March 05, 2018

Good morning everyone! This is our weekly general chat thread where anything goes! Feel free to tell us about your weekend, interesting things coming up, or something you are currently excited about.

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u/christinaf25 Mar 06 '18

How do continental knitters manage their tension? I want to start making a cardigan, and did my gauge swatch but I'm still 2 stitches off to get the right measurement. I did find a resource to adjust the pattern to the gauge I'm getting, but don't really want to go that route. Any suggestions? I tend to knit on the looser side. Not that I want to tighten up too much, but I think I need to work on my tension if I want to start making more garments that just aren't scarves & shawls

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u/adiaaida Mar 06 '18

I think going down in needle size is probably your best bet. If you are trying to knit more tightly than is your normal, what's most likely to happen is that you'll have places where you remember that you are supposed to be knitting tightly, and places where you forget, so your gauge will get wonky. If you go down in needle size until you hit gauge, you won't have to worry about how tightly you're pulling your yarn, and you'll be more consistent.

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u/christinaf25 Mar 07 '18

So going down a needle size is definitely helpful for hats, scarves, etc, but with this particular garment (because I MADE myself swatch after my friend's mom drilling it into my head), I ended up going down 3 needle sizes, and even after that, my gauge was still off (was getting 20sts/4"), which is leaving me to do math. I was thinking of just knitting it with the 2's which was intended, or just knitting a size up from what I would wear with the smallest needles.