Your Bag

Knit Basics: How to Block and Measure a Knitted Swatch

22nd October 2021 Basics 0 min read
How to Block and Measure a Knitted Swatch | Knitting Tutorial

Moving on from our introduction post on swatching, here we are going to learn how to block and measure a swatch. 

HOW BIG SHOULD IT BE?

A gauge swatch (sometimes known as a tension square) should be around 6 inches square (15 cm square). This allows you to avoid the edges of your work where the stitches are more likely to be uneven and will give you an inaccurate result.

So if the gauge was supposed to be 20 sts = 4”/10cm you would cast on 30 sts for your gauge square.

Now if you are wondering about how to knit a circular swatch check out my next video here. 



Enjoyed this article?
Learn so much more here at Stolen Stitches

Knit Basics

Continue to explore our large library of free tutorials, or join us in a live knit-along! Here are a few articles related to this one that we think you'd like:

Knit Basics: How to Pick Your Garment Size

20th Jan 2023 5 min read

Knit Basics: Blocking Your Knits

11th Apr 2022 10 min read

Knit Basics: Short Rows Overview

11th Apr 2022 5 min read

Community

Join over 2000 like-minded knitters in our free, supportive Knithub community. It’s really easy to get started and you’ll find knitters of all levels here.

Join Knithub Free

Clubs

Join one of our clubs and get exclusive content, enjoy group learning and a supportive community - in one membership.

Learn more about our clubs
About The Author

Carol Feller

Carol trained as a structural engineer, and she brings that love of analysing structure into her knitting, creating complex patterns that are easy to understand, while her approach to process is all about testing and playing, and making mistakes along the way. That’s where the joy lies!

About Us