Gauge is Good. Gauge is your Friend.

Let me start out by saying I have been crocheting for more than twenty years and up until about a year (or so) ago, I never used gauge.  Yes, I saw it on patterns but I just blew right past it.  It wasn't until I started pattern testing for another designer that I stopped myself right in my own tracks.  Gauge? What was the point? Just a waste of time I could be using to work on the actual project, right? Oh, how wrong I was.  Figuring out which size hook/needle would obtain the right size stitches opened my eyes to a mysterious problem that had been nagging me for a very long time.

Many years ago, I wanted to crochet some gloves.  So, I started on it. I got all of my necessary tools and yarn just like the pattern listed.  I made the gloves and they looked just right..... well, almost.  Had they been for a giant, they'd have been absolutely perfect. Those suckers were huge!! I could not understand what had happened.  I followed the pattern to a "T" and all of my stitch counts were correct but I had still done something wrong, I just didn't know what. 

As the years went by, I continued to crochet (or knit) and most of the time my finished projects turned out just fine.  Every so often, I'd end up with a bigger than it should be blanket or sweater and sometimes, a smaller than I planned hat.  However, I just kept on trucking and forgot about those not quite right items. It wasn't until I actually stopped at that word, GAUGE, that everything became so clear and the mystery unraveled.  Now, I know about gauge, how very pertinent it is to a pattern and I always use the right hook to obtain that gauge.

If you want to know more about gauge, Lion brand has a nice little FAQ about it right here.

By the way, if I had a picture of those enormous gloves I would post it but that was before camera phones, digital cameras, etc. :)