A New Test - Part 1

Since I test patterns for other designers occasionally, I thought it would be great to walk through the whole journey on one of my latest ones here.

The intended gauge is 18sts and 26 rnds per inch. My yarn is Paton's classic wool worsted in natural mix colorway.

I tried my gauge with two different needles: US 8/5mm and US 7/4.5mm. The following pictures will demonstrate how being off on gauge will produce ill-fitting results. Both gauges are exactly the same number of sts and rows and lightly steam blocked. Do you notice the difference in finished size?

The one on top is giving me the right stitch gauge and is done with US 7/4.5mm needles.

The one at the bottom is off my a couple of sts and quite many rows and is done with US 8/5mm needles.