How does Knitting Needle Material Affect Gauge?
In knitting, the gauge refers to the number of stitches per inch. This count depends on the yarn, the stitches, knitting needle size, the personal tension of the knitter and also the material of the needle. Knitting a gauge swatch when beginning a new project is an essential step. While many knitters are guilty of avoiding this step, other knitters will guide you how this step is necessary for great knitting projects. The most important reason for swatching is, of course, to make sure that your finished project turns out the right gauge and therefore size. If you are making a fitted garment, this is actually quite crucial. Knitting is both a time-consuming and expensive endeavor and no one wants to come to the end of a project and find out that the sweater you labored over in expensive, beautiful yarn is either too large or too small to wear. Talk about disappointing.
What is Gauge? When a pattern gives instructions for knitting a swatch it will indicate a suggested size of needles to use and the phrase “or needle required to obtain gauge.” The pattern designer had a certain size of stitches and number of stitches per inch in mind when creating the pattern and this is called gauge. The same yarn knitted on a smaller needle will yield a smaller garment with smaller/tighter stitches. A larger needle will result in a larger garment with looser stitches. This means that you may need to go up or down a size of needle to get your swatch, and therefore project, to be the right gauge and turn out the right size. The swatch instructions will tell you what size working a certain number of stitches over a certain number of rows should yield. For example, my current project says: 22 stitches & 36 rows = 4 inch square. It is important to note that the swatch must be done in the stitch to be used in the project, in this case garter stitch. But not everyone knits at the same gauge for a number of reasons. For example, I tend to knit a bit loose and usually I have to go down a needle size from the recommended size in order to obtain correct gauge. The technique used in knitting, combined with how much tension the knitter puts on the yarn, and the size of the needle all affect the gauge. But, did you know the kind of yarn and the material the knitting needles are made of can also affect gauge? Knitting Needle Material and Fibers