How to adapt a pattern to a different gauge

I’m sure that it happened to you before: that you want to use a pattern but it calls for a different gauge. I want to share with you how I approach this.

Note: This method works for my patterns, which always include schematic measurements. And my schematic measurements are always calculated directly from the stitch counts. Some designers work differently and sometimes their schematic measurements are not related to their stitch counts.

Backstory: My son has asked for a Rainbow Trail for him but he wants the style of Briki. My new gauge is 16.5 sts x 22 rows and the pattern gauge is 18 sts x 26 rows.

If you are not interested in how it works but just want the formulae, go to the end of this article.

The first step is picking the right size. I need a size 4yr in the original pattern. In the schematics of Briki, the finished chest circumference of that size is 71 cm (28 inches). So that is my desired finished chest circumference.

Next, I go to the Lower Body section to see the stitch counts of different sizes, then I calculate the new chest circumference based on my new gauge (16.5 sts x 22 rows). I start by going down 1 size. Size 3yr has a stitch count of 120, which gives a finished chest circumference of 120 / 1.65 = 72.7 cm where 1.65 is the number of stitches per cm (calculated by dividing my stitch count by 10; if you do your calculation in inches, you should divide 16.5 by 4 to get your number of stitches per inch (i.e., 4.125 sts per inch), then divide 120 by that number to get 120 / 4.125 = 29 inches). That is a close enough match. If it’s too big/small, you should try the next size down/up. So the new size that I am going to use is size 3yr.

Then, I also want to verify two other key measurements, which are sleeve circumference and raglan depth.

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