Cylinders

Opal 3-ply yarn is slightly thinner than Opal 4-ply (1 less ply). With the hope of making slightly thinner and narrower socks, it was time to make a gauge swatch on both a 60 and a 72 needle cylinder. The results were not what was expected, but eventually made sense when the yarn and the cylinders were analyzed as a whole. It was noted that 3-ply yarn does not have as much stretch as the 4-ply due to the yarn being thinner and having fewer plies.

The optimum tension for this yarn (Opal 3 ply) was achieved by slowly increasing the tension 1/2 a turn at a time until the stitches would no longer fall back down the needles and/or skipped stitches. This was done using the weight hook plus 2 additional weights (all 3 weights). This is the usual method of determining optimum/maximum gauge for a yarn if one wants a very tight gauge. Note: some people prefer to use less weight and that is also acceptable but the maximum gauge will be slightly less.

Cylinder Pitch

Opal 4-Ply / Opal 3-Ply

Even though the gauge is different for each cylinder, the resulting sock will be the same circumference regardless of whether it is made on the 60 or the 72 cylinder.

The cylinders are the same circumference but they have different needle counts, therefore, the 60 cylinder needles are further apart from each other than the 72. This distance is known as "pitch" and the pitch on the 60 is greater than the 72.

Because of the larger pitch and a yarn with limited stretch, the 60 cylinder cannot make stitches as tight/small as the 72 cylinder. Although the circumference is identical for both socks, the 72 needle cylinder will make a more dense fabric.

The pitch also explains why knitting with EON (Every Other Needle) results in a very loose fabric. By skipping every other needle, the pitch is twice a wide for that cylinder then it would be by knitting with every needle.

← 60 needle cylinder

Pitch is approximately 0.6 cm