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I have made a few items based on the patterns that manufacturers place in the yarn departments of the stores that sell their products. Here is a tale of two crocheted baby sweaters. The first is the little hoodie.
This is absolutely the softest little sweater. It is done almost exclusively in half double crochet. It is very easy to make. And, more importantly, my gauge worked out really well. The resulting garment is the size the pattern wanted it to be. The second is the striped sweater. It was more of a challenge.
I bought the yarn that was specified in the pattern. And I started working the back. After a couple of inches, I decided to check the width. It was waaaaaaaay too wide. Hmmmm. Obviously I was crocheting loosely. But my stitches seemed normal to me. When your sample is too wide, the rules say that you should switch to a smaller hook. So I ripped out my work, and redid it with a smaller hook. I also conscientiously made the stitches tighter than normal. The result: the sample was still too wide. By at least 10%. But there was a bigger problem. With the smaller hook, and working tighter, the resulting fabric was, in fact, quite stiff! It was so stiff that even my husband agreed that it really did not seem appropriate for a baby garment. And I knew that if I used an even smaller hook, the result would be stiffer. Obviously, if I wanted to make this garment, there needed to be a Plan B. The answer, after testing the gauge, was to use different yarn entirely. I had some other baby yarn lying around, and it got worked into this sweater. This photo shows the crochet fabric that I gave up on, compared to the sweater that I finally made.
While I am curious as to why I was unable to successfully use the manufacturer’s suggested yarn, I am quite happy with the end result. I am also really glad to have both pieces to demonstrate the issue to any of my crochet students - it is always useful to be able to touch and feel something. If anyone has had similar experiences (difficulty in achieving the manufacturer’s suggested gauge), share your story by emailing me. |
