I'm a loose knitter.
I want to start with that statement because it's very important for those of you who choose to follow one of my patterns to know this. When I list the needle size and gauge for a design it always indicates what I achieved with the sample piece shown in the photos. If I were to fudge the needle size and choose something larger than I have no way to determine accuracy or know if it's me or the yarn that wants to use a certain needle size.
Getting gauge is important. (We've all heard this before.) On hats, sweaters, and other wearables we know it's crucial to achieve gauge for the obvious reason of wanting the knit to fit. It's also important on pieces where it tends to get ignored like shawls and scarves. Most people would probably agree that the greatest reason it's important for these items is yardage. If you stray from the designer's gauge you may end up using far more (or less) yarn than the pattern calls for. If you have the yarn then you might not consider it for long at all. BUT if I'm a loose knitter and I'm giving you a 4.5 stitch per inch count on size 5s with fingering weight yarn and your a tighter knitter and jump into the size 5s without checking then you might end up with a teeny tiny shawl. I've seen it happen. A lot. So even if you're only working on a shawl, check your gauge and make sure you're actually getting the same count and go up to size 7s if you have to.
Now that I've pointed out these things I'm going to throw you for a loop.
It's possible to get the same gauge as the pattern calls for and have it still be wrong. As if you needed something else to worry about. (And yes, you read that right.)
Keep in mind that this isn't true with all yarns, gauges, needles, and patterns. I usually run into the misleading gauge issue when dealing with fingering weight yarn, needles 4-6, and lace shawl patterns. It's shawls, specifically in lace and fingering weight, that I really want to focus on now. In the last week I've had a chance to see several unblocked shawls that were knit from my patterns. They were all much smaller and tighter knit than the shawls of the same design that I'd knit myself. And for the most part they were also spot on gauge. Seeing these shawls made me realize that pointing out "misleading gauge" might be a helpful thing to do.
Never blindly trust the needle size listed on a lace pattern. Just because the piece doesn't need to "fit" you doesn't mean that the designer's needle is the best needle for you. Try out a few needle sizes and select one that gives you the best fabric. In the case of lace designs you want to
use the largest needle possible to get the listed gauge. If you're getting the 5 stitches per inch on the size 4s that the instructions call for give it a shot with size 5s anyway and see if it looks better. You might be surprised to find that you still get 5 sts per inch, but the drape is better.
Now go forth and knit shawls! Lots of them.
