Heliopath Vest KAL - Week 1 - Gauge Swatching

Can I start out with an apology? I had MEANT to get this written up last night so that it would go live at 7am PST for all the folks joining us from the east coast (and across the ocean) but then the Hubbs stayed home from work yesterday and was on the computer all day, and then I got sucked into my knitting chair and just couldn't get out and I was dead at the time. Ok, not really. I'm alive. But the other stuff happened.

Regardless! Let's get this KAL party started, shall we?

Here's what we're making:

The Heliopath Vest by Emma Welford

And here's the long list of what you can win:

2 Skeins of Wooly Worsted by Ewe Ewe Yarns in Saffron along with a copy of the Angel Food Cake Cowl also from Ewe Ewe Yarns

A skein of "Just. Perfect" from Black Market Wool in a sock weight (a BFL/Nylon blend)

A skein of Madelinetosh Pashmina Worsted from JustRunKnit

Or a pattern of your choosing from the designer of this vest herself, Ms. Emma Welford!!!!

Seriously?! 4 PRIZES? That means we'll have 4 WINNERS!!! So generous all these folks wanting to donate. I'm blown away. And I even managed to save a few donations of prizes for my future KAL coming up in May. More on that later.

Let's talk about swatch baby! (in my head I'm singing that to the tune of "Let's Talk About Sex Baby"). Funny, right? No? *le sigh*

Ok, so when I started knitting I didn't get a "Gauge 101" class included and apparently I was too lazy to look it up online so I just willy nilly knit away and hoped things would fit. No bueno when you've got a yarn investment for a project like this one. Let's make sure this beautiful vest is going to fit. So please! Do a gauge swatch. I know some of you giggle at your riskyness and love that you don't gauge swatch. And that's fine, my pleading won't change your mind, but if you've considered it and didn't know how best to do it, as I didn't, here's what I've learned since (I actually DID take a gauge class).

First rule: don't knit a teeny tiny little gauge swatch. It won't tell you anything about how the overall fabric of the vest will behave. I decided to knit a swatch the width of the entire pattern panel for my size. In my case that was 56 sts wide. I was going to do one repeat of the pattern panel but found it to be too short so I worked a panel and a half high (so 24 rows). And I learned a lot.  First, here's the panel without the dropped sts.

I've pinned it so you can see what it looks like and it's SOOOO pretty. You'll notice I haven't bound off that top edge yet. I read a little bit about dropping sts and it seems like it's best to do it when you're about to bind off. And prolly way more fun since you can watch those sts fall and stretch. At least I like that part. 

Ok, so where's what it looks like after I bound off the sts. Notice how I've had to turn the blocking board so that it fits. It gets wayyyyyy longer.

To bind off while dropping the sts is super easy. You bind off the sts until you get to the row that says "Dropped St Row" and instead of binding off that st, just let it fall off your left needle and continue binding off to the next st. I do recommend going up a needle size or two for the bind off so it's loose enough. You want that top edge to be the same width as the bottom edge so you don't get a wonky gauge reading. 

Now to the blocking. Everyone has a preference for blocking their swatches. I'll tell you how I do my blocking and you can choose to do it this way, or your own way. I just had a total lightbulb moment when I took my gauge and swatching class and now I feel way more confident in my knits.

With the yarn I chose, Wooly Worsted by Ewe Ewe Yarns, I can throw this sucker in the washing machine. Yep! That's the beauty of Ewe Ewe. So I did. I put the swatch right into the washer and let it go. When it came out, I had a wet piece of wool that needed to be blocked. 

How many of you block like this?

Yep, me too. Or rather I used to. Ain't nobody got time for that when it comes to blocking a sweater!

Now when I do my swatch blocking I just lay it out and push it to the dimensions that I think make the fabric look best and let it dry. No pins (except with lace, of course). What happens when you block like the picture above (and note: it's not WRONG, just not how I do it anymore) is that when you get your gauge from a swatch like above, you'll have to block your work like this. Every. Time. You. Wash. It. I much prefer to just wash it and lay it flat, after pushing the yarn into shape. Makes sense, right? Ok. Moving on.

Now that my swatch is dry I can cake a gauge measurement. I prefer using a clear ruler and normally I would put it right on top of the work so I can read the sts through the ruler but it was hard to photograph so I lay it beside the work for the stitch count. 

If I could from the "0" line I have 4 sts in the cable, 2 sts in the P valley, 4 more sts in the cable, 2 more sts in the P valley, 4 MORE sts in the cable, 3 sts in the dropped st/P valley and then it looks like 1 sts in the first part of the cable. That's 20 sts over 4" which is gauge. Yahoo! This doesn't always happen, lemme tell ya!

Now moving on to the row gauge:

See, I've laid the ruler over the work. It's harder to see the ruler but in real life it's easy peasy. As I mentioned before I knit 24 rows of work (not including the cast on or bind off row). So I see 24 rows over 3 - 1/8".  This equates to 7.68 rows per inch or 30.72 rows over 4". I would likely round that up to 31 rows per inch. 

The pattern calls for 20sts and 28 rows per inch. I have the stitch gauge but not the row gauge. OMG. The world is ending. I'll never be able to make a project that fits!!!! Take away all my yarn. Lock me in a small room. 

Kidding. 

All this means is that when the pattern says to knit for 10" (for example) I'll have to do some math. If I need 10" of pattern (POST BLOCKING) then I'll have to take 10" and divide by 4, which is 2.5. Then I multiply 2.5 by 31. In my case, that would be 78 rows (I always round up since I'd rather have a slightly too long project than too short).

Clear as mud?! Yeah, you get it! I know you do.

So what are you still doing here? Go swatch. Love your yarn. And get pumped for next week when we start the cast on and ribbing. By no means do you have to wait until then if you're itching to move forward but we wanted to set a reasonable timeline so we could all finish by April. If you want to see the full schedule check out my previous post that introduced the KAL .

Also, please keep in touch in our Heliopath Kal Ravelry discussion board, on Instagram using #heliopathkal and tagging me, @socalmeaghan, and my good buddy @ghostfaceknitter.

Keep in mind, to be eligible for a prize, you need to finish your Vest (and post images... not blocked is ok, but ends woven in) by 11:59 PST on Saturday, April 12th. Use the tags above on Instagram or post to the discussion board.  

Happy knitting! I'll be watching for your updates!