Learning to create machine knit swatches is critical for knitting well-fitting and pleasing garments.
You can download my guide for knitting swatches for free. It includes detailed instructions on how to make swatches for both the standard and bulky machines plus my swatch tracking sheets.
Why?
The truth of the matter is that when it comes to yarn, different fiber contents behave differently. The same weight yarn varies immensely from brand to brand. And even the same brand and type of yarn may vary from color to color.
Then, of course, you must consider the machines too. Each machine behaves slightly differently. Two identical machines with the same make and model will knit differently. Plus, each knitter has their own style of operating their machine. Some knit fast, some slow. The speed of knitting will surely impact the tensions. A fast knitter does not allow much time to flow through the mast so inevitably the stiches will be tighter.
My greatest concern is ease of work during the project. While it’s relatively easy to push a hesitant carriage over a few stitches, when you use a greater number of needles, or work a vast number of rows, you may just find yourself struggling through the project with your machine constantly objecting! All because you picked the wrong tension to begin with!
The Tension Swatch
The first machine knit swatch is the Tension swatch. Start by casting on 40 stitches and just knit in pattern. I knit about 20 to 30 rows at each tension separated by 2 rows of contrasting yarn to divide the tensions. At first, you can refer to the machine’s manual to find the range of recommended tensions for each weight of yarn. As you gain experience and keep notes you will have a pretty good feeling where to start and end.
If the machine struggles, change the tension, add weights or make other adjustments like waxing or spraying the yarn. Make sure to note any adjustments for each tension. How much weight was needed, the setting of the tension mast, the behavior of the machine at various tensions is all good info. Often, knitters do not determine the best tension for the particular yarn on their particular machine. Some just take a guess and jump into making the Gauge swatch, if any swatch at all.
When you are knitting the Tension swatch, it helps you find the sweet spot tension for a particular yarn, using the desired stitch pattern on a specific machine.
Let talk about a specific example. As I knit, I make notations on my Tension Swatch form. Things like, the fact that Big Twist on my Brothers 270 ran stiff at tension 8. It ran better once I upped the tension to 8.1. But it seemed to run best around 9. Also I needed no weights at all with this yarn. It was duly noted on my Tension Swatch form.
Once you’ve gone through the full range on the tension dial, take the swatch off the machine on waste yarn with open stitches, give it a good tug lengthwise and set it aside to rest. Resting allow the yarn to relax and the stitches to return to its natural size. Relaxing takes at least a few hours so I usually let it rest overnight.
Once it has relaxed, examine the tension swatch. Now, it will yield information about the yarn. Keeping the project in mind…How does the knitting feel? Is it too hard or too limp? Does it drape? Does it feel right for this project? In my example, I loved the feel of the fabric at 9.1 for a little boy’s sweater. The stitches were firm but not hard plus I already knew the yarn ran nicely through the machine. I found my sweet spot tension.
Later, you can tear out the tension swatch since it often uses a lot of yarn. For now, hang onto it as a reference. You may actually need it!
The Gauge Swatch
Now, we are ready to machine knit the second swatch, the Gauge swatch. This is the one all the books and patterns suggest you make. Knit it at the sweet spot tension, in the same stitch pattern and on the same machine as the tension swatch.
Wash, dry and block the Gauge swatch in the same way you plan to treat the garment. From it, we get the gauge so we want to know how the swatch will behave when treated. The gauge is the number of stitches per inch and the number of rows per inch.
Here is how to machine knit the gauge swatch on the bulky machine. Refer to the guide for how to machine knit swatches on the standard gauge machine.
Cast on 40 using waste yarn at the sweet spot tension. In our example, it is 9 and 1 click.and knit a few rows.
Change to the main color and Knit 10 rows.
Create tension eyelets on the next row. Starting 5 needles from the right, using a one eye transfer tool, transfer the st on the 5th needle to the 6th, the 7 to the 8th and so on making the same number of eyelets as whole numbers on the tension dial.
In this case 9.
Now we will accommodate the number of clicks. Skip 4 needles. In the same manner, create an eyelet to represent the number of clicks in between the whole numbers (0, 1 or 2) Since our tension is 9 and 1 click. We would create 1 more eyelets.
Then knit 10 more rows.
Knit 2 rows of contrasting yarn.
Knit 10 rows in main yarn.
Pull out the 11th needle right and left of zero and manually knit the stitch with a short length of contrasting yarn. I like to create a loop in it and knot the ends as this is less likely to come undone in the wash.
Knit 10 rows, and manually knit the 11th stitch on both sides of zero with contrasting yarn.
Knit 10 more rows in main yarn. This gives you a total of 30 rows in the main section.
Knit 2 rows in contrasting yarn.
Knit 10 rows in main yarn.
Knit a few more rows with the contrasting color and cut the yarn leaving an 18-inch yarn tail.
Thread the tail into a double-eyed needle or yarn needle, and remove the stitches from the machine and onto the yarn tail. Arrange the stitches on the tail so they are not bunched together and secure the end with a few stitches. This ensures that the stitches do not come undone while going through the wash!
Give the swatch a tug lengthwise as before and let the swatch relax overnight. Then wash, dry and block the swatch in the same manner you plan to treat the garment.
If the swatch is acrylic and won’t lay flat, give it a light pressing. Pressing is different from steaming. Avoid steaming acrylic as it gets killed really easily… that is unless you want to kill it for a really drapy effect. But for a little boy’s sweater, I want the knitting to maintain its natural body and bounce back after washing and drying.
Now let’s take a look at the Gauge swatch!
The reason you start making eyelets at the right edge is, the purlside is most often the backside of the knitting. When you take the knitting off the machine, from the knitside, the tension eyelets will read from left to right as in 9 and 1 click! If you do it the same way for every swatch, you have built in notations! Great when you are reviewing your swatches.
The Evaluation
When I wash, and dried the gauge swatch, it was limp. It could work out for a different project since it had good drapey qualities but not this project. I learned a lot about this yarn! It loses body when washed. POne thing for sure…Tension 9.1. is not suitable for a boy’s sweater.
If the Gauge Swatch does not feel suitable for the project after washing, drying and blocking, go back and compare it to the Tension Swatch. So I returned to my tension swatch and notes and added more comments. But from what I could see I needed to tighten my tension since the yarn relaxes a lot. Compared to the Tension swatch, the Guage Swatch was even looser than the tension at 10. This meant I needed to go down at least 2 clicks and try again.
I remade my Gauge Swatch at 8 and 2 clicks to get a firmer fabric but I also knew my machine worked well at this tension. That’s because I made sure to note it on my Tension Swatch form!
Well, my new 8.2 Gauge Swatch, washed, dried and was absolutely perfect! On to the next step!
Measuring for Gauge
Only the center section between the side markers and the contrasting rows will be measured. These outer areas simply protect the stitches in the middle from being influenced by any variations that occur on any of the edges. This assures that you will get accurate measurements.
Use a straight edge ruler to measure. But if you use a tape measure, make sure to measure starting at the 1 inch or 1 cm mark. The reason is that the end of the tape measure where the metal or plastic end is attached is often crooked . This means the measurements would not be accurate.
If you start at the 1 inch or 1 cm mark, just remember to reduce the reading on the tape measure by 1 to compensate for starting at the 1.
Take the measurements from the rightside of the fabric. For stockinette stitch, that’s the knit side.
First, measure the width of 20 sts by taking the measurement between the 2 sets of side markers.
Then, measure between the rows of contrasting yarn at the point of the side markers and in the center to determine the length of 30 rows.
The center measurements are usually the most accurate but if there is a slight variance, average the measurements for the width, then average the measurements for the length.
Note the measurements on you Gauge Swatch form. In this case the width is 5 inches and the length is 5 5/16 inches which equals 5.3125.
Calculate the stitches per inch by dividing the 20 by 5 and the rows per inch by dividing 30 by 5.3125. For exactness, I like to record 3 or 4 digits after the decimal point.
You are ready for knitting
