This might be news to some people, it certainly was to me:
Your project is more likely to turn out right if you make sure you’re getting the right gauge by swatching.
Getting the right gauge means you have the same number of stitches per inch and per row as called for in the pattern. Knitting a swatch means you knit a square (usually stockinette) with the yarn and needles you will be using for the project in order to measure your gauge.
If you have too few stitches per inch, you will need to go down a needle size or two. If you have too many stitches per inch, go up a needle size or two. And you will need to make a new swatch with the new needles, so you know you got it right.
Stitches per row is not quite as critical and if it’s a little bit off, you can do more or fewer rows to get the length of garment you want.
It took a lot of non-fitting projects for me to learn my lesson. I used to skip swatching every time, and nothing ever fit. Everything usually turned out too big. This was especially silly since I pretty much never have the exact yarn the pattern calls for.
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