What the Guage?!

All my knitwear mentions ‘gauge’ in their descriptions. But what do I mean by this and how can you work out which weight is right for you? Simply put, the smaller the gauge number, the heavier the knit. The higher the gauge number, the lighter the knit. 

Why? Because gauge is the number of stitches per inch on a piece of knitwear.

In general, the thicker the yarn is, the larger the needles need to be to knit it. And because the needles are larger, they will create bigger stitches which means you need less stitches to make a certain size or shape.  

The thinner the yarn is, the smaller the needles you knit with need to be. This results in smaller stitches, so you need more of them to create a certain shape or size.

Think of it like ducks and swans in a pond. Ducklings are 'thin yarns' and swans are 'thicker yarns'. It will take more ducklings than swans to fill the same amount of space.

The gauge of my garments vary, from medium gauge (7-10 gauge) merino wool blends, to my signature fine gauge (12-18g) luxury cashmere pieces. The most classic knitted sweaters are 12-gauge, perfect all-year-round pieces to wear alone to layer up depending on the weather. 

3-7g - hand and chunky knits