So, you’re feeling ready to crochet (or knit) your first garment – CONGRATULATIONS! This blog post is going to help you ensure that you are ready and hopefully help you build up your toolbox a little to ensure the first garment you make is a huge success! Also available in video version on my Youtube channel.

Choosing the right yarn for your crochet wearables can be a difficult task but it doesn’t need to be! In today’s blog post we are going to walk through the most important things to consider when choosing your yarn including budget, fibre content, colour, ethics, and of course GAUGE!

Welcome back to part 4 of the Gauge Week blog series! Today is probably the most important day yet – how to adjust your gauge! This blog post will cover when and how to change your hook and how to adjust when no matter which hook you try either the height or width is off. Every gauge IS achievable and we show you how!

It’s day 3 of Gauge Week – the day a lot of you have been waiting for! Today’s topic is how to gauge in the round.

Typically, we gauge in the round when the pattern is worked in the round. This is common in yoke style sweaters, hats, socks, and amigurumi, among other things. When you work in the round your stitches all face the same direction. The stitches can behave slightly differently when worked flat versus in the round – that is why it is important to gauge in the round if it is specified that way in the pattern. Find out two different ways to gauge in the round in today’s post!

Welcome to day 2 of Gauge Week! Today’s post covers a basic gauge swatch – one that’s worked flat, in rows, back and forth. A plain and simple gauge swatch is what most patterns call for so that is where we are going to start!

A flat gauge swatch like we’re going to learn today can be done in 5-20 minutes depending on the weight of the yarn/hook size you are using, and can save you from creating a whole piece that ends up being ill-fitting. I know, I know we’re all super excited when we find the perfect pattern and the squishiest yarn that we just want to hop right in, but gauging first can save you a LOT of frogging later.

Welcome to the start of Gauge Week Day 1: What is “Gauge” and Why Do We Do It?

Very basically, gauge is the size of our stitches. Every single person crochets slightly differently than the next – we hold our hooks differently, we tension our yarn differently, we sit differently while crocheting – the smallest things can affect gauge in a big way!  The type of fibre or yarn we use to make something can also affect the size of our stitches – acrylic, wool, alpaca, cotton, superwash, bamboo – they all hold onto stitches differently. But don’t let that scare you! You are always welcome to use a different fibre than the designer – you just need to swatch in your chosen fibre.

Who says knitters are the only ones who can enjoy a good Fair Isle style sweater? Not me! In designing my Marzanna sweater I learned a lot about colourwork in crochet and I’m here to share all the deets! I am by no means a colourwork expert and this blog post is just a quick overview of how I managed the two colours while making the Marzanna sweater.