Gauge swatch

What a gauge swatch is

A gauge swatch is a small square you crochet before the project, in the hook and yarn the project will use, so you can count how many stitches and how many rows of yours make up a set measurement. Most patterns give their gauge over 10 cm, about 4 inches: the example above is 18 stitches and 10 rows of double crochet to 10 cm.

Not all stitches and rows come out the same size, so a pattern's counts only produce the size it promises if your stitches are the size the designer's were. The swatch is how you find out before you have made the whole thing.

What changes the count

Three things decide how many of your stitches fill 10 cm.

Hook

The size and shape of the hook you are using.

Yarn

The weight, ply and fibre of the yarn you are working with.

Tension

Your own way of crocheting, and how tightly you like to make your stitches.

The pattern fixes the first two by naming a hook and a yarn. The third is yours, which is why the swatch has to be worked by you.

How to work one

Use the stitch the pattern asks you to match. For a double crochet swatch, like the example:

1. Start with a foundation chain, or a row of foundation double crochets, a little longer than 10 cm: with the hook and yarn the project will use, that is a few stitches more than the gauge asks for across.
2. Turn, and work one double crochet into each stitch along the row.
3. Keep turning and working rows until the piece is a square a little taller than 10 cm.
4. If the finished piece will be washed or blocked, wash or block the swatch the same way before you measure it. Yarn relaxes, and a swatch measured dry off the hook is a different size from a garment that has been through the wash.

How to measure it

Lay the swatch flat without stretching it. Measure 10 cm across the middle and count the stitches inside that span, then measure 10 cm down the middle and count the rows. The square is worked larger than 10 cm on purpose: the outer stitches and rows behave a little differently from the ones inside, so the middle is what you count.

If the pattern says 18 stitches and 10 rows to 10 cm, and you count 18 stitches and 10 rows, the pattern will come out the size it says.

When the count is off

More stitches than the pattern's count in your 10 cm means your stitches are smaller than the designer's, and the piece would come out small. Try again with a hook one size larger. Fewer stitches means your stitches are bigger, and the piece would come out large: try a hook one size smaller. Change one size at a time and swatch again.

If the stitches match but the rows are off by a little, you can usually leave the hook alone and work more or fewer rows where the pattern gives a length to reach rather than a row count.

The pattern builder's gauge

Every garment in the pattern builder is written to a gauge, and its counts for your size are only right if your swatch matches it.

Garment

Top

Gauge

18 sts × 10 rows / 10 cm

Stitch

Double crochet