How to adjust gauge

   Although gauge could be considered the most important thing when it comes to knitting, choosing patterns, and producing wearables that fit, it is often misunderstood or neglected altogether. Many patterns will tell you ‘make sure to check gauge!’  Gauge is also important when it comes to picking out the materials for a particular project.  New knitters often get confused by the gauge listed at the top of the pattern.  Here I hope to elucidate some of the mystery surrounding gauge.
    First of all, gauge is usually listed on patterns as a sts and rows value over 4”.  The reason they don’t just list stitches per inch, is that the gauge of a pattern is an average of stitches per inch over four inches. When you knit a gauge swatch, you should knit it four inches by four inches and measure your stitches per inch in several places to get an accurate measurement. [I will admit that I am far too anxious to actually knit a gauge swatch this big, and I usually knit a 2”x1” rectangle. However, since I have been knitting for awhile, and have fairly consistent tension, I know that this will generally be a good measure of my gauge.]
    The most confusing thing about gauge is what to do when your gauge does not match the gauge of the pattern, with the prescribed needle size. Despite how counter-intuitive it seems, the way you adjust is as follows: If you have more stitches per inch than the pattern calls for, you should try knitting with a larger needle. If you have less stitches per inch than the pattern calls for, try a smaller needle. The logic works as such: A larger needle produces larger stitches, and less of these fit into an inch than with a smaller needle. So if you want to decrease your stitches per inch, user a larger needle. Similarly, a small needle produces smaller stitches, and more of these fit into an inch than with larger needles, so if you want to increase your stitches per inch, user a smaller needle. It is basically an inverse proportion. J
    Your other options for adjusting your gauge are changing the thickness of the yarn. Thicker yarns are going to produce less stitches per inch no matter how small of a needle you knit them on, because the stitches produces by thick yarn are just large stitches. So if you have dropped 5 needle sizes and still can’t get enough stitches per inch, you may need to switch to a finer weight yarn.