Just Ask!

‘I don’t get it. The body is a perfect fit. Why is it so tight around my arms?!?‘

The reason turned out to be a difference in the gauge between their circular knitting and their flat knitting. The whole of the body of the cardigan had been worked flat in rows at a bang-on gauge of 20 stitches. With the help of a handy gauge ruler, we soon worked out that their circularly-knit sleeves had a gauge closer to 23 stitches.

.. All of which meant that the sleeve stitches were 86% smaller than the body ones, or put another way, a sleeve that should have measured 32cm around, had turned into a narrow tube that was only 28cm. 

So much for the explanation. What’s the solution?

Lucky for our cardigan hero, a random assortment of knitters were all on hand to advise..

‘Just switch to bigger needles when you work in the round. Simple.‘

‘Simple maybe. But you still need to swatch to work out which size to go up to. The Scandi sweater construction which has the top half knitted flat and the bottom half in the round, which is all the rage right now means we really need to get into the habit of starting projects by swatching flat and in the round, otherwise how will you know?.‘

‘Or if the body is flat, just do the sleeves flat too.‘

‘But why is the gauge is different in the first place? This is all about whether there’s any purling going on in your stocking stitch. Yes, if it’s flat, no if it’s circular. So it must be the purling which is loosening up your stitch gauge when you work flat. And given that you use a different working tip for purl rows than knit rows, the solution is interchangeable needles. Have a bigger tip for the end which works the knit rows and smaller tip for the purl rows. That should even everything out for your flat knitting. Then when you get to the circular bit, make sure that both ends use the same sized knit row tip.’

Different knitters, different answers, similar-ish stitches. I love that about knitting – that there’s rarely one right way, and also that the different ways have their own appeal to different personalities and knitting moods, yarns, projects and fabric requirements. It makes sure that our craft is in a permanent state of flux, constantly evolving as resourceful knitters puzzle out new solutions to stitch and construction problems, and then share them around, ensuring that the knitty body of knowledge carries on growing.

Now a yarn shop’s role in this process is all very well (in fact super if you happen to be the shop keeper who gets to hear all these brilliant suggestions) but we all know that good advice is not equally accessible to everyone – especially those not in easy reach of a friendly wool shop. And that’s why we’re thrilled to announce that we’re going to be back on the road to answer your questions with a special Knitters’ Question Time event at November’s Make Joy Knitting Show at Woolwich Works in east London on 8 November. So if you’ve been pondering a technical, spiritual, practical or theoretical knitting question, now is your time! Simply send it to us at kqt@wildandwoollyshop.co.uk or reply to this newsletter and if your question is picked, our panel of 5 expert knitters will each have a go at giving you an answer.

Who are they?

Helen Reed in the indie hand-dyer behind The Wool Kitchen. Based in east London, Helen, mixes a fascination with colours from her urban environment with inspiration from constellations and cosmic explosions in the night sky. She approaches dyeing as a knitter, often reverse engineering her colourways from the fabric she’d like to knit up. More recently Helen has developed an expertise in assigned pooling, where knitted stitches are led by the colour of the yarn they encounter. 

Wendy Peterson is the creator and developer of Yarnsub.com, and author of The Yarn Geeks Newsletter. She teaches a range of techniques at Wild and Woolly. Her legendary solution-seeking swatching has contributed to the development of an innovative variant of intarsia called shaped intarsia, infinitely nicer left-leaning decreases and plenty more knitting geekery besides.

Sylvia Watts Cherry is a UK knitwear designer who loves bold patterns and striking colours. Her work draws heavily on the colours and symbolism of indigenous African textiles.
Her designs have been featured in PomPom Quarterly and Knit Now magazines, and Warm Hands, a collaboration between Jeanette Sloan and Kate Davies.

Jonna Helin is the CEO, Creative Director, and Co-Founder of Laine Publishing. Raised in a family of crafters, she grew up listening to the rhythmic clicking of knitting needles, the soundtrack of her life. For Jonna, knitting is a sanctuary, offering peace and calm from the demands of daily life and soothing her busy mind.

Martyn Waite, is a prolific knitter and presenter of the Knit365 Podcast. Self confessed yarn hoarder and MKAL follower, Martyn endeavours to knit 365 days a year.

For those coming to the show, check the Make Joy show plan for the exact location of KQT and join us at 3.30. If you’re not able to get there, we are hoping to be able to record the event to put up online later for downloading. I will keep you posted!

Bring your knitting and your curiosity and prepare to be surprised..

Knitters’ Question Time will take place at the Make Joy Yarn Show at Woolwich Works, The Fireworks Factory, 11 No 1 St, Royal Arsenal, London on 8 November at 3.30.