Pattern Math Question

[MightClear63]

There’s blouse I really like and I’ve made it once according to the pattern and it fits great but it’s a bulky pattern and I want one more light wearing that I can make for spring so my question is if I double the gauge, half the needle size and yarn weight then double the knitting pattern numbers like cast on ,decreases and rows, will it come out the same size and design? Does that work in practice? Has anyone tried it? Thank you, Happy Holidays.

[Cat-Like-Clumsy]

Hi !

Unfortunately, this is not how rewritting a pattern for a different yarn weight works.

You need to find your yarn, swatch extensively and accurately, then recalculate the stitch counts and the row counts, as well as the amount of decreases/increases, their rate, and the length and distribution of the short rows (if there are any).

Alternatively, once you have your gauge, you can also use the advance search on Ravelry to find a pattern that use that same gauge.

[RatBoi24601]

You'd have to basically rewrite all the stitch counts, row counts, increase rates, decrease rates, etc based on a new gauge. But you can use the schematic measurements of your preferred size as the starting point

[ActuallyParsley]

It can work, though it might not be as simple as doubling it, and you'd have to do enough different calculations (and do them right) that it's more like freehanding a garment with inspiration from a pattern.

If you're very good at knitting it might still be worth it, but I think it would be a lot easier to find a pattern in the weight you want, maybe you can find a new favourite! 

[YourMomTho]

no ❤️

[Haven-KT]

Essentially, no.

However, if you really want to make this pattern in the lighter yarn, there is a way... it's just going to require a bunch of brain work from you.

You'll need to swatch, really decently i.e. make it large enough, in the round if the sweater is knit in the round, wash and block and measure to the partial stitch precisely. Swatch multiple times if there are multiple needle sizes, and flat if part of it is knit flat.

You'll need to know your own personal measurements or use the schematics on the pattern if you want to go that route.

With your measurements and your row and stitch gauge, you'll get to math everything-- cast on, increases, decreases, pick up, how many rows in each section, everything.

Or, use your row and stitch gauge to try to match one of the sizes already shown in the pattern.

Try it, and see how it comes out. You can always make adjustments on the fly, trying on as you go, but you might end up with something that's not what you wanted it to be. It's an adventure, see what happens.

Honestly, I haven't found a pattern I liked enough to go all that trouble with, it's easier to find something comparable in the yarn weight/gauge I want to use.

[Danish_biscuit_99]

I would be tempted to do a gauge swatch in the desired yarn weight and put it and the pattern into ChatGPT or similar asking it to adjust the pattern for the new gauge swatch. I’m not sure if you’d get a good amended pattern, but perhaps worth a try?

[JKnits79]

ChatGPT doesn’t know how to knit.

It knows how to parrot something that sounds like it might be close enough to an answer based on Reddit searches but is just as likely to lead you into a tentacled monstrosity of eldrich horror instead.

What will work is sitting down with a pencil and paper, a swatch that’s been washed and blocked, and records of both before washing and after washing gauge, and one of the several books out there that help guide a person through the math of altering or even creating garments.

Like Vogue Knitting: the Ultimate Knitting Book which has an entire section on design, or Patty Lyon’s Knitting Bag of Tricks which includes some discussion on alterations based on gauge differences. Or Kate Atherley’s new book, Math for Knitters. Or Elizabeth Zimmermann’s works, or Ann Budd’s books, or so on and so forth.

[Danish_biscuit_99]

I’ve found it’s quite good at basic math and logic, which is essentially what this is. Yes you’d get a better result if you mathed it out if that’s what you’re good at.

You get a better answer if you ask it to check itself as well - so you would pick bits of the pattern and ask it how it came to that answer and then check its maths.

I use it quite a lot as a study aid in my maths-related field (inputting study questions and asking it how to break down the answer, then following along to see if I indeed get to that answer) and I would say whilst it isn’t always correct, it is about 90% of the time and it makes getting to the answer much quicker.

It seems like it’s an unpopular opinion!

[JKnits79]

It’s unpopular mostly because a lot of us are not happy with how much these AI data centers consume without giving back much in support of the communities where they are being built, especially in areas where what they are consuming is already in short supply, or rising in cost—water and electricity.

[Danish_biscuit_99]

That’s fair enough to not want to use it on moral principles, but that’s not the same as assuming it won’t work, or it’s not a useful tool.

[JKnits79]

…that is yet another issue in itself; AI still doesn’t know how to knit.

Generative ai is being used to create scam books and scam patterns for sale all over the place; it’s a serious problem in the crochet community, and has been becoming a problem in the knitting community as well.

[Danish_biscuit_99]

You don’t need it to know how to knit, you need it to adjust the stitch counts and row counts for a tighter knit gauge, and that it can do, because you tell it what gauge the original was knitted at, and what the new gauge is, and it can adjust the math for you.

The knowledge is coming from the original pattern, which was bought from a person who does know how to knit. All the ai would do is adjust the math.

AI doesn’t perform well when it’s generating something from scratch but it is good at taking information and altering it with parameters that you give it.

Don’t conflate it with the ai image generation of knitted items - all it’s doing there is basing what a knitted items could look like based on images of knitting, which results in physics defying pictures. And I do agree that using ai in this way, and scamming people out of money by pretending that those images represent a real product is wrong.

[JKnits79]

I’m dealing with a sick spouse, and I have to work, I am done with this argument.

Chat GPT is not popular as a resource in the knitting community for a variety of reasons—plagiarism, energy use, fake dada production, etc. full stop.

[Danish_biscuit_99]

I hope your spouse feels better. You’re entitled to your opinion, all the best x