Crochet Gauge: How to Read and Measure Them

What is a crochet gauge? What is it used for in the needle arts? Is it important? If you notice, all my free patterns include a crochet or knit gauge to follow.

The crochet gauge for a particular pattern is your stitches and rows per inch. This is usually expressed in 4″x4″. They look like this Gauge blocked : 16 dc X 8 rows = 4″ It’s crucial information if you want to alter a pattern’s size or design.

This is the first part of a DIY crochet pattern project where I’m going to show everyone how to alter these free patterns to make it to your own size.

Learning what a crochet gauge is, how to read them, match them and alter them is a fundamental crochet skill. When I learned all of this, it made making patterns SO much easier.

The video below is a quick guide to measuring your gauge. In the next tutorial, we’ll look at using the crochet gauge to adjust a pattern.

I highly recommend picking up a couple of tools to make the task much easier. You’ll need a swatch ruler and having a hook gauge is pretty helpful as well. They’re really cheap and accessible.

I get a lot of questions and comments from people that are struggling to make the right size from a pattern, or people that want to use a pattern but also use whatever yarn and hook they have.

I used to try to help them juggle the math etc, but I’ve come to realize it’s just making things so much more difficult for them.

I always recommend now that if you don’t have the right weight yarn and hook for a pattern, to find a pattern that matches what you have rather than vice versa. It will be far more enjoyable.

That is, unless you master the basics of crochet gauge, then you can start to do whatever you want with whatever you have. It’s something to strive for if you’re serious about crochet. Such a useful skill to have.

Some key takeaways from the video are:

Crochet gauge =stitches and rows per inch (almost always expressed in 4″x4″)

Why using the right hook size is so important when following a pattern, as well as the yarn weight, brand etc.

How to match your yarn, hook and tension to a specific crochet patterns gauge.

If you’re ready to move onto learning to adjust patterns on your own, check out my tutorial on how to adjust a pattern to your chosen size.