I've never paid much attention to the gauge called for in patterns. I've always figured that if I used the right needles and the right size yarn it would be close enough.
I was wrong.
I have learned that yarn doesn't always play nice, like, it grows when you wash it. I believe the technical term for this is "bloom" and I don't like it.
I made a beautiful sweater that I swatched before I started so I knew the gauge was pretty close. However to get a really accurate picture of your own gauge on any given project you have to knit a gauge swatch, and take the time to block it. Blocking it, apparently, is critical. My lovely Silky Wool sweater fit perfectly straight off the needles, then I decided to wash and block it. Big mistake. It stretched out and now would be more appropriate for someone else. Sad.
I looked it up, only after I washed it of course, and found that this particular yarn tends to stretch and the recommended mode of blocking is the pin and spritz method. Boo. If I would have blocked the swatch I would have known that. Dang.
Ah well, live and learn. I will from here on out be blocking all of my swatches.
Hopefully the days of ill fitting items are gone. I will have to exercise my fortitude muscles to do this, but it seems it is not worth it to skip the swatch step.
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