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Understanding Gauge in Intarsia Knitting / Spiral Hill Sweater Vest Knit Along Lesson 1

October 1, 2023 Leave a Comment

Understanding Gauge in Intarsia Knitting: Learn about aspect ratio in knitting, how it relates to gauge, and how understanding it can help you achieve better intarsia knitting results

First off, welcome to the first blog post of the Spiral Hill Sweater Vest Knit Along, running for the month of October. Everything you need to know about knit along logistics can be found in this blog post. Since the book/pattern reveal was just last Tuesday, I realize folks might still be waiting for yarn and books to arrive. For that reason, we’re starting the knit along with a lesson* in gauge, everyone’s favorite subject in knitting! For real though, the topic of how to knit intarsia that doesn’t look squished, stretched, or otherwise suspicious consistently comes up in emails & comments I get from knitters. (The other topic is weaving in ends, but that will be something we talk about in a few weeks!)

*This is an educationally-focused knit along, I’m going to refer to each blog post & video as a lesson. I tried to come up with something cute, but all of my ideas were too confusing. 😆

On to the lesson!

Spiral Hill Sweater Vest Knit Along Lesson 1: Why does my intarsia look squished?

In knitting, the first thing we (are supposed to) do when we start a new project is knit a gauge swatch. We look at the pattern, figure out the recommended yarn, needles, and stitch or pattern for the swatch, and then we knit up a little rectangle, that is (or should be) at least 4 inches by 4 inches. After wet blocking and letting our swatch dry completely, we can measure how many stitches and rows comprise an inch in our knitting, and hopefully, our gauge is the same or pretty close to that listed in our pattern.

Let’s say you measured your blocked swatch and the number of stitches and rows per inch that you’re knitting at isn’t the same as what’s listed in your pattern. That’s referred to as “not getting gauge.” You can try switching up your technique or switch to a smaller/larger needle and swatch again to help you get gauge. Particularly for knitting garments like sweater vests, getting gauge will make the difference in your finished project fitting or not. For knitting intarsia colorwork, getting gauge also helps ensure the design you’re working hard to knit into your project looks correct (not squished or stretched).

Understanding Gauge in Intarsia Knitting: Learn about aspect ratio in knitting, how it relates to gauge, and how understanding it can help you achieve better intarsia knitting results

Knitting stitches aren’t square, and for intarsia, that’s a big deal.

You may remember this from school geometry: the difference between a square and a rectangle is the fact that squares have an equal width and height measurement, whereas rectangles have a different width and height. Despite the charts we work from regularly featuring graphs with squares to indicate each knitting stitch, knitting stitches aren’t actually square. They don’t have an equal width and height.

What is aspect ratio & how does it impact my knitting?

An aspect ratio is a proportional relationship between a shape’s width and height. Most often in daily life, you’ll hear the term aspect ratio referring to the size of the image on your TV, phone or movie screen, describing just how rectangular the image is. Is it a tall and thin rectangle? Is it short and wide? Square images have a 1:1 aspect ratio because they are as wide as they are tall. A tall and thin rectangle might be 1:10, and a short and wide one could have a 10:1 aspect ratio.

Learn about stitch aspect ratio in knitting, how it relates to gauge, and how understanding it can help you achieve better intarsia knitting results.

On average knitting stitches clock in a 5:4 aspect ratio, meaning they are slightly wider than they are tall. Stitches knit with intarsia colorwork tend to have an even more rectangular aspect ratio. (Why? Because there’s tension happening horizontally in each row at color changes.) In the example of the Spiral Hill Sweater Vest, the gauge is 19 sts and 28 rows over 4 inches. To calculate the aspect ratio of our stitches based on this gauge, we simply divide 19 sts by 28 rows (width divided by height) to get ~0.678.

Again pardoning the school math, we need to convert this into a fraction before reducing it to get our aspect ratio. 0.678 = 678/1000, which equals about 6.5/10 or 3.25/5 with rounding. The short explanation for what to do next to get your aspect ratio is simply to flip the numerator and denominator, the top and bottom numbers, and you’re in business with a 5:3.25 aspect ratio. For whatever reason, colons (:) are used when aspect ratios are discussed rather than slashes (/).

The long, mathy explanation for why you can simply flip your numerator and denominator isn’t going to interest everyone, so I am saving it for another video & blog post combo for the die hards who want to understand why this works.

For people whose brains have shut down because they are just not here for the numbers that’s ok. This concept is another way to help explain why gauge matters, and aspect ratio comes in to play especially when it comes to intarsia.

Understanding Gauge in Intarsia Knitting: Learn about aspect ratio in knitting, how it relates to gauge, and how understanding it can help you achieve better intarsia knitting results

Graph Paper vs. Knitting Paper & its impact on intarsia designs

Everyday graph paper, the paper many folks will have on hand or first reach for (particularly when drawing up their first intarsia knitting design!) is square. Often, charted patterns we find in knitting publications/books feature graphs with square cells. So if we grab a generic pixel art drawing app or standard piece of notebook graph paper to draw up our first intarsia design, the picture we are drawing might be accurate to that app or piece of paper, but when knit up at an aspect ratio that is not the same 1:1 as the chart we’re working from, our finished intarsia sweater looks a bit… squished.

I’ve heard people say that they just don’t like how their finished intarsia knits up. Or worse, that they think all intarsia looks kind of wonky. When an intarsia project looks off, it often makes me wonder about this aspect ratio concept.

Understanding Gauge in Intarsia Knitting: Learn about aspect ratio in knitting, how it relates to gauge, and how understanding it can help you achieve better intarsia knitting results

Looking at the chart for the Spiral Hill Sweater Vest chart and reference image is a great example, especially because they’re side by side in Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Official Knitting Guide to Halloween Town and Christmas Town. The chart used in the book features graph paper with a 1:1 aspect ratio. I designed the pattern with aspect ratio in mind, but for printing they used a 1:1 chart, which isn’t uncommon. As you can see, Spiral Hill looks sort of tall and oddly proportioned in the chart compared to hill in the movie. That’s because the chart knits up at a 5:3.25 aspect ratio but the chart depicts a 1:1 aspect ratio.

Please please reach out in the comments if I can help clarify this concept. I think it’s an important one to help better understand intarsia.

Another way to think of it in terms of resizing images on the computer

Here’s another example to help explain aspect ratio. If you’ve ever resized an image on the computer, you’ll know that it’s easy to accidentally make it look a bit off. If you grab one side of the image to resize it, you can easily make an image look squashed or stretched. If you grab the image by the corner, you’re scaling it, which changes the width and height of the image at the same rate. Rather than making the image just taller or just wider, scaling makes the image get proportionally wider and taller, preserving the aspect ratio.

Video Lesson

Learn about stitch aspect ratio in knitting, how it relates to gauge, and how understanding it can help you achieve better intarsia knitting results.

Filed Under: Knit Along, Knitting Tagged With: aspect ratio, intarsia, intarsia gauge, kal, knit along, spiral hill sweater vest, spiral hill sweater vest kal, spiral hill sweater vest knit along, squished intarsia, stitch aspect ratio

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad (she/her) is a craft book author & designer specializing in yarn crafts. Her work combines vintage and modern design elements, prioritizing color and graphic motifs. Her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now.

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), and I’ve been helping yarn crafters untangle various techniques on the internet since 2010. I got my start here, as a blogger, and since then I’ve shared more than a few tutorials here and on YouTube as I’ve grown as a pattern designer. 🧶 

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Heidi Gustad 🧶 knitting & yarn crafts

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Knitting & yarn crafts designer 🧶
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Stay up-to-date 💌 & shop new patterns ⤵️

POV: Showing you how my new Bevelled Tank pattern POV: Showing you how my new Bevelled Tank pattern fits with no ease vs. 4” of positive ease. There’s a bit more length to the cotton (brighter color) sample, but both are cropped and feature shoulder seams designed to sit an inch back onto the shoulder instead of on top, giving it a little swing. Length is easily adjustable for folks looking for less of a crop. 
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Pattern: Bevelled Tank by @handsoccupied for @pompommag x @hobbii_yarn summer 2024. Available for free from Hobbii at the 🔗 in my profile.
Yarn pictured: @kelbournewoolens Skipper and Camper. 
Dress form is adjusted to a 36” chest and ~5’3”ish in height. 
Human has a 40” chest and is 5’5”.
Both skirts are vintage.
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#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #handsoccupied #intarsia #handmade #knitting #colorwork
Let’s talk about fit and ease! . During the Beve Let’s talk about fit and ease!
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During the Bevelled Tank design process for @pompommag, I knit 2 samples using 2 different @KelbourneWoolens yarns. One was in Skipper (100% cotton, second photo) and the other was in Camper (100% 2 ply wool). The Skipper sample was knit for a 36” bust, which measures in at 40” with 4” of positive ease. And I knit the Camper Sample for my 40” bust with a 44” finished measurement. (BTW, I’m 5’5” for folks that find that measurement helpful in visualizing fit.)
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Based on the size chart for the Bevelled Tank, that means I knit one size 3 sample and one size 4. As designed, I conveniently fit a size 4 as intended with 4” of positive ease. When I wear the 3, there is no ease at all because the garment and my body are both 40” in size. Comparing the 2 garments, you can see how the fiber content (cotton vs. wool) and fit (no ease vs. 4” of positive ease) makes a difference in the look and feel of the finished garment. 
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These samples are a great way to compare what ease looks like on different bodies. While I can fit both a size 3 and 4, the garment with no ease feels more like pajamas or a bralette when I wear it. On the other hand, when I wear the one with 4” of positive ease, I feel comfortable enough to wear it to work, even as a crop top. Plus, it leaves me with enough room to layer it with a nice button down if I’m not feeling the cropped look one day. 
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I’m curious - how would you style this tank? Would you modify it with a few stockinette rows for added length? I’m so curious now that this pattern is finally out in the world. :) 
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#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #bevelledtank #handsoccupied #knitting #intarisa #handmade #kelbournewoolens #croppedsweater #summerknits
After a 6 month hiatus, I am happy to say I’m ba After a 6 month hiatus, I am happy to say I’m back with a brand new pattern in 9 sizes, and it’s FREE as part of @pompommag x @hobbii_yarn’s summer design collection! (Link is in my bio.)
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In my December newsletter, I announced that I was soliciting test knitters for a pattern that had originally been selected for the summer ’24 issue of Pom Pom Quarterly magazine. However, the magazine ceased publication after its spring ’24 issue, leaving in-progress designs unpublished. (It happens.) As a result, I’d begun the long process of editing, testing, and photographing the pattern for independent release through the Hands Occupied pattern shop and Ravelry.
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Before I was done with that process, Pom Pom Quarterly’s former editors reached out with an exciting proposal for the pattern. Post-magazine, they’ve begun to partner with yarn companies to produce high quality pattern collections. They wanted to include designs from the would-be current issue of Pom Pom Quarterly in a new collection for Hobbii yarn, including my Bevelled Tank. I worked with the same technical editors I would have for the magazine on this one, and as you can see from the photos, Pom Pom’s team did an amazing job of styling the garment to the beautiful standards they’re known for.
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You can learn more about the pattern on my blog and get the free pattern from Hobbii yarn - links to both in my profile. I’ll post sizing info in the comments for quick reference too. 🧶
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#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #knitting #intarsia #sponsored #colorworkknitting 
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Photos: @dianascarrunz 
Model: @angel.jade_
Here’s a nice throwback for you: my take on a vi Here’s a nice throwback for you: my take on a vintage knitting pattern from 1938 called the Fernlace Pullover. A pattern so nice, I knit it twice.
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Yellow version 💛: knit with Despondent Dyes’ Vintage Vixen Sport after attending a @squidneyknits vintage knitting retreat in 2019 & learning *so much*. Paired with a self-drafted circle skirt pattern. 
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Blue version 💙: knit with @eweeweyarns Ewe So Sporty in Sky Blue. Paired with the 1940s Boardwalk Duet sewing pattern from @decades_of_style 
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Head to my stories for 🔗🔗 to the handmade wardrobe blog posts I wrote about each take on the Fernlace Pullover, working with a vintage pattern, where to find vintage patterns (including the one I used), & some thoughts on sizing. 
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Image descriptions available in alt text. 
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#handsoccupied #handmadewardrobe #fernlacepullover #vintageknitting #vintageknittingpatterns #knitting_inspiration
Frogging is a word in the knitting world that mean Frogging is a word in the knitting world that means to rip out your knitting. It’s called frogging because frogs say “ribbit,” and when you’re tearing out your knitting, you will “rip it” out, and that sounds like ribbit. No really. 🐸 Did you know this fun fact? 
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P.S. I did like this design concept, but to make the pattern more knitter friendly as well as more wearable, I am making some tweaks to the construction. Excited to share when it’s ready! 🥰🧶
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Yarn: @blueskyfibers Woolstok North in Morning Frost & Highland Fleece 
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#handsoccupied #knitting #frogging #blueskyfibers #knittersofinstagram #blueskymakers #knittingvocabulary #bsfmakers #knitdesign
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