How I get a perfect fit (nearly) every time

General Knitting Questions | December 27, 2008
By Mme. du Farge

The notable exception was the Salish Sea sock (December 2007), and that was because I goofed up my arithmetic.  :-(  But it’s good now.

The sock patterns usually indicate size with small, medium, large or some variant thereof.  Sometimes they give a circumference to go with the size.  But this isn’t always just right, so here’s what I do.

I knit at least 3 gauge swatches with different sized needles about 30 sts wide and 2-4″ long.  Then I measure very, very carefully to get the sts/in and row/in on each.  Then I make a table showing what I’ll end up with in circumference for each size and how much ease I’ll have for my 8.25″ circumference foot (or the foot of the intended victim), like this (this could easily be done in a spreadsheet, but I just did it with a pencil and calculator right on the pattern):

Size     sts/in   rows/in   48 sts/ease  52 sts/ease  56 sts/ease  60 sts/ease  64 sts/ease
00       8.25     12              5.8″/-.3        6.3″/-.23      6.79″/-.18   7.27″/-.12    7.75″/-.06
0          7.75     11               6.2″/-.25     6.7/-.19        7.23″/-.12    7.74″/-.06   8.26/+.001
1           7.5       11               6.4″/-.22     6.9″/-.16      7.47″/-.09   8.0″/-.03     8.5″/+.03

I like about a -.10 ease (that’s a negative ease of 10%).  Several of these are close to that, so I look at the gauge swatches and see which one has the nicest look to it.  In this case, I decided to go with the size 0 needles with a 56-st circumference, which gave me a negative 12% ease.  Size 00 needles and 60-st circumference would have yielded the same negative 12% ease, or I could have gone with size 1 needles and a 52-st circumference.  The larger needles would knit up faster, and the smaller ones would yield a finer fabric.

When it comes to length, I just make them about .5″ shorter than my foot.

I’ve been using this method for quite some time now, and I get just the sort of fit I want every time.

One caveat:  Your gauge swatch may differ from your gauge on the actual piece, so it’s good to check your gauge after you’ve done a couple of inches.  If it’s markedly different, you can just rip it all out, recalculate, and start over - or else adjust your tension or switch to larger or smaller needles.

Frogging is not something I cringe over.  I think it’s wonderful that, unlike in the rest of my life, I get all the do-overs I like with knitting - and there are no scars, hurt feelings, or negative consequences.  A corrected mistake is indistinguishable from no mistake at all.

Mme. du Farge, the Frog Queen