Lace Swatch Help!
I’m planning on knitting Jessie Mae’s Petite Pointelle Tank. I completed my swatch yesterday and I’d love some advice on how to proceed.
The pattern includes specific instructions for a swatch and what size it has to be. So I knit up that swatch, using the exact needle size and yarn recommendation, but my gauge is off. When blocking it, I stretched it out to the size prescribed in the pattern. Picture of my blocked swatch included. I think my tension is too tight, so I think the “stockinette” parts of my swatch look too stretched out at this size. So I’m trying to figure out what my next move should be.
- Do I go up in needle size? This swatch was knit with US4 needles. I’m thinking maybe I should go up to US6 needles?
- Do I go up in pattern size? I could make one pattern size up. But then I’d worry about how the fabric would drape since my tension is off.
- Am I overthinking this? Does my swatch actually look fine and not overly stretched and I should just continue with this size needle and garment size?
Another thing I’m trying to figure out is if I have enough yarn to knit up another swatch on bigger needles. I think I might not. I have 656 yds of yarn. The pattern calls for up to 575 if I stay at my current size, or up to 625 if I size up. I’m assuming the yarn recommendations in the pattern does not account for swatching. Based on my queationable math, my swatch is about 15 yds already. So am I playing too much yarn chicken if I make a second swatch?? I guess I can always frog a swatch. But since this is a lace pattern I would want to block it… can I reuse blocked yarn?
Any advice welcome as I am clearly overthinking this 😂