Note: making modifications may change the yardage needed for your pattern.

Have you ever found a pattern that you love, but didn't have access to the yarn used in the sample? Have you ever felt intimidated by the idea of using your own yarn that you love, instead of what the pattern suggests? If so, you are not alone. We get this kind of question all the time, and we hear people talk about these issues in nearly every knitting forum. The good news is, we're here to help! 

CHANGING YARN WEIGHT & GAUGE

If you use a non-pattern yarn in your project, you might end up with a non-pattern gauge as well. That's okay! With a few simple math formulas and a little patience, you can still make nearly any yarn work for your pattern.

If you've knit from patterns before, you've probably noticed that the difference between sizes is all about changing the number of stitches and the number of rows. This post is all about helping you figure out how to change those stitch and row counts to make any yarn choice still knit up at the size you want.

The two main numbers that you'll want to start with, in order to do any adjustment math, are your "stitches per inch" and your "rows per inch".

Stitches per inch

[stitches in swatch] ÷ [inches in swatch] = [STS PER INCH]

For example, if your swatch has 24 stitches in 4 inches:

24 sts ÷ 4 in = 6 sts per inch

Rows per inch

[rows in swatch] ÷ [inches in swatch] = [ROWS PER INCH]

For example, if your swatch has 24 rows in 4 inches:

24 rows ÷ 4 in = 6 rows per inch

Knitting and measuring your swatch

Making a swatch is not always 100% necessary. But when making modifications, it can be very helpful to know your actual gauge, so you can use accurate numbers in your Doodle Math. 

If you have knit your swatch and it came out at the correct gauge for your pattern, you probably don't have to do much more thinking - you can just use that yarn! But if your gauge is 'off', there are a few more useful tools you can use to still make the yarn/pattern combo work.

If your stitch gauge is off

Your stitch gauge is the horizontal gauge, or the number of columns of stitches within your swatch dimensions.

If you've made your swatch, and you find that you have a different number of stitches in 4 in [10 cm] than what is listed in the pattern - you will want use one of the options below:

OPTION 1 Adjust the stitch count in your project to use a different gauge

If you've decided to use a different yarn weight or gauge (such as adapting the pattern to use fingering weight rather than DK weight yarn) this one is for you!

Use the steps below to figure out how many stitches you would need to cast on in order to still get the dimensions listed in the pattern:

Step 1: Find your [stitches per inch] using the formula at the top of this section.

Step 2: To find out how many stitches to cast on, use the following:

[desired dimension in inches] x [sts per inch] = NUMBER OF CAST-ON STS

For example, if I want my cowl to still be 24 inches around, but my gauge is 8 sts per inch:

[24 inches] x [8 sts per inch] = cast on 192 sts

Check your stitch repeat: If you are using Doodle Charts to knit in colorwork, ensure that your new stitch count remains divisible by 24 or 12. See note below about rounding to the nearest multiple of 24 or 12 or read our post about Doodle Repeats. 

OPTION 2 Adjust your yarn or needles to get back on pattern gauge

If you want to get back on pattern gauge, you may need to make a few adjustments, and likely knit another swatch or two to make sure your choices created the right corrections.

Because gauge is impacted by both yarn and needle, you may consider the pros and cons of adjusting one or the other (or both!).

Change your yarn: There is endless variation in what "DK weight" might mean, which is why we often suggest a heavy sport, DK, or light worsted weight yarn. 

• If your gauge is smaller than the pattern (i.e. more stitches per inch) then you may want to try a slightly thicker yarn. 
• If your gauge is larger than the pattern (i.e. fewer stitches per inch) then you may want to try a slightly thinner yarn.

Change your needles: There is also variation in gauge based on how you knit, and where your loops end up being made on the actual needle. This can also be impacted by how tight or loose you typically knit.

• If your gauge is smaller than the pattern (i.e. more stitches per inch) then you may want to try a slightly larger needle. 
• If your gauge is larger than the pattern (i.e. fewer stitches per inch) then you may want to try a slightly smaller needle.

Sometimes, you may even want to adjust both yarn and needle. Either way, you may end up making a few swatches in order to get back onto the pattern gauge, but that's okay! Because now you can be confident that you'll end up with something that fits!

If your row gauge is off

Your row gauge is the vertical gauge, or the number of rows of stitches within your swatch dimensions.

If you've made your swatch, and you find that you have a different number of rows in 4 in [10 cm] than what is listed in the pattern - you will want use one of the options below:

OPTION 1 Adjust the number of rows in your project to use a different gauge

If you've made your swatch, and you find that you have a different number of rows in 4 in [10 cm] than what is listed in the pattern - you may need to knit a different number of rows in parts of the pattern to achieve the same pattern sizing.

The height of some simple patterns is very easy: if you are making a hat, you can just measure or try it on as you go, and the exact number of rows isn't terribly important.

But, if you have some shaping (where certain sections need to be the right height/length), or if you are knitting colorwork (and want to know a more exact row count in order to plan out your charts), you can get a more accurate number by doing a bit more math.

Use the steps below to figure out how many rows you would need to knit in order to still get the dimensions listed in the pattern:

Step 1: Find your [rows per inch] using the formula at the top of this section.

Step 2: To find out how many rows you need to knit, use the following:

[desired height/length in inches] x [rows per inch] = NUMBER OF ROWS

For example, if I need to knit for exactly 12 inches, and my swatch is 6 rows per inch:

[12 in] x [6 rows per in] = knit 72 rows

 

OPTION 2 Adjust your yarn or needles to get back on pattern gauge

The steps for adjusting your yarn and needle to get closer to the pattern gauge are the same as the steps above under "If your stitch gauge is off". Try playing around with a different yarn, or change the size of your needles, and see if you can get the number of rows listed in the pattern gauge!

Time to try it out!

These formulas for changing stitch and row count to accommodate a non-pattern gauge will cover most of your bases for swapping out yarns. By using a combination of these, you should be able to still achieve the pattern dimensions for most relatively simple patterns (complex sweaters are going to be more time consuming to adjust and usually required full grading work to accommodate changing yarn gauge).

NOTE Rounding to the nearest multiple of 24 or 12 stitches

Worried about how changing your stitch count will affect your Doodle project? Here is one last formula to use to work backwards (to get a dimension in inches when you already know the stitch count).

[number of stitches] ÷ [sts per inch] = DIMENSION IN INCHES

For example, if I had wanted my cowl to be 21 inches around, at 6 stitches per inch:

[21 inches] x [6 sts per inch] = 126 sts

But if I also want to use only full, 24-st Doodle Charts, I might round that to 120 sts. So then, to see how close 120 sts will get me to my desired dimension of 21 inches:

[120 sts] ÷ [6 sts per inch] = 20 inches

Maybe that's close enough for me, maybe it isn't. But now you have all the tools you need to play around with your numbers until you have exactly the project you want. Check out Doodle Repeats: 12 vs. 24 Stitches for more information about using Doodle Charts. 

 

Happy Doodling!

Blog co-written by Jamie Lomax and Grey Lundy