Math

I am making a stealth project. Oooohh, that sounds cool. Really...I'm knitting a Thorpe hat for Rob for Valentine's Day and I haven't told him that's what I'm working on as he sits beside me. LOL.

Math. I thought the yarn I'm using would work at the same gauge as the pattern. The pattern says 14.5st/4 inches, the yarn says 12-16sts to 4 inches....after knitting to the point of 80sts, I took a gauge check....It appeared to be 18sts to 4 inches (admittedly, hard to measure on the hat). But, I wouldn't want the fabric any looser. I had thought it seemed to still fit on the double pointed needles quite well, when she says you'll have to switch to a circular! So I did the math. 18/4=4.5x22"=99sts. I check the dpn, they are really snug going in the 5mm but do go in. My 5mm circular is in the FLS; I find one that is slightly bigger than 5mm but seemed too small for 5.5mm. I knit some more, doing the increases up to 96st, then another round with only 4 increase.

I re-measure the gauge (it doesn't look any different) and it's 17st/4 inches. I measure the diameter, it appears to be 8" which makes the circumference to be 25.12"! How is it that 100st/4.25=23.5" but the actual measurements say something else? It is hard to measure the diameter though. In any regard, the increase in needle size has meant that it's now 1 1/2" too big....so I'd have to rip back 3 rounds to get back to 93.5sts (yes, I know. I'll go back to either 88st or maybe 94sts...once you're past the increasing, you don't need to stick with a 8st repeats...I'd have to be doing math once I get to the flaps anyway). It doesn't look like the gauge changed that much....but here's the lesson.....it DOESN'T take much to make a change!