I am planning to make an argyle vest, but I'm having a few problems. When I made a test swatch for the diamonds (to see how they shaped up) the hight of the rows were shorter than they should have been. Is this going to be a problem?

Have you blocked out your gauge swatch to see if you can meet the gauge requirements? If so, do you like the fabric you achieved? If yes, then this is not a problem. If no, the fabric is too flimsy or drapey for your taste, this is a problem.

If you want taller diamonds in your argyle, this is a problem. If you want to knit the pattern, as written, this is a problem.

If you can adjust the pattern to accomodate the difference in your row gauge, it is not necessarily a problem.

If you are close but not quite to row gauge, I suggest knitting a large swatch -- 10-12 inches square. Then hang your swatch for a couple of days -- maybe even put some paper clips or a clothes pin on the bottom -- to simiulate what will happen with your vest when you wear it. You may find that your row gauge will grow enough without affecting your stitch gauge.

You should also try swatching with larger needles, and if this distorts your stitch gauge, try swatching with alternating needle sizes on each row.

In many instances row gauge is less important than stitch gauge because you can knit to length. However, anytime you have a specific stitch pattern where you have a limited range where you can end the stitch pattern and have it look good -- such as an argyle -- row gauge is as important as stitch gauge.

Thanks for your help! No, I haven't blocked the swatch. To tell the truth, I've never done any blocking on anything I've made. I didn't think it was that important until somewhat recently, when I learned about all of its benefits. I plan to block my projects from now on.

You should now, though, that the swatch I made was not with the yarn I'm making the vest with. I haven't decided what yarn to use; I need to go to a yarn store with better quality than I can get in my area.

Also, I'm not sure how much yarn I'm going to need. How many balls for each color, if I have three colors for the solid diamonds, not counting the hollow diamonds I'm going to add with my crochet hook, as an embellishment?

Lastly, I'm coming up with the pattern myself; I haven't been able to find a pattern for an argyle vest. I have a great book to use for a reference, but otherwise I'm pretty much on my own.

If you were trying out a pattern or technique with yarn that you will not be using for your project then don't worry about gauge.

In doing a project gauge swatch, it is important to use the same yarn AND needles you plan to use for your actual project. The needle type -- metal, plastic, wood, bamboo -- can affect your gauge because these different surfaces will have a different "drag" effect on the yarn.

If you are making up your own pattern, you can adjust for the gauge you get so that your diamonds start and end at good points in your garment.

There are some charts, etc. that give approximate yardage amounts in different weight yarns for different size garments. A knowledgeable staff person at an LYS can give you an idea of how much yarn you need to knit a vest in the size you have planned but you will need to figure out what percentage of your vest each diamond color represents and then break-down your yardage that way. For example, if you need 800 yards for your vest and 1/4 of the vest will be color A, you could approximate you need 200 yards of color A, etc.

The alternative to calculating yarn amounts is to buy single balls of each color of the yarn you will be using then knit up a large swatch and either weigh the swatch with a good digital scale, or after you are confident of your measurements rip it out and measure how much yarn you used for the diamonds, etc.

A final thought -- if you have seen patterns in a similar size using the weight yarn you want, you can use those patterns to give you an approximate idea of how much total yarn you will need. Then you need to break-out your percentages to calculate how much you need of each color.

Thanks!

I was thinking of using a worsted weight yarn, using size 8 needles (5mm). The needles I made the swatch with was an 8.

I was going to get myself some circular needles I heard were great on Knitpicks.com; they aren't supposed to twist up on you, and they're decently priced. The same website also carries yarn, and I was looking at their selection for ideas on yarn choice. I'm thinking of two different shades of blue and a tan for the solid diamonds, with the crocheted-on hollow diamonds black. So far, I haven't really found what I'm looking for. I should probably get a color card for some of the websites choices and go from there.

You know what I mean by using a crochet hook for the 'hollow' diamonds, right? Do you think it would be better to work them in my knitting, instead of adding them afterwards?

I had not heard before of using a crochet hook to slip stitch the line that crosses the solid diamonds but that should be doable. I have heard of doing duplicate stitch aka swiss darning to embroider in the lines. My only concern with slip stitching the lines is to be very careful of your tension so you don't pucker your work.

Knitting single stitches of color in intarsia can be a pain in maintaining proper tension, etc. but I think it is a matter of personal preference whether to knit in the lines, duplicate stitch them afterwards or try the crochet hook. I think that for me, if I had lots of lines, I actually would prefer to knit them in because I get bored with duplicate stitch work.

I hadn't thought of duplicate stitch. My concern with doing it, though, is that the lines would not cross where they should because the diamonds will not have a stitch that is exactly in the center. After thinking about it, working the lines in as I knit would yield the same problem as duplicating, so I guess I'll be using my crochet hook.

Actually, I think it would add to the interest of the vest.

It may be a while, but I'll let you know when I have everything and start the project.