When to use a rigid ruler vs. a measuring tape in knitting.

If you have a measuring tape or a rigid ruler, you may be wondering why you might need the other. Here at our studio, we all use both frequently! Let's break down some use cases for these knitting tools together. 

Rigid Ruler

PROS: 

• They hold down your fabric or swatch wonderfully for precise stitch counting. This is perfect when you need to measure gauge, and I wouldn't measure gauge any other way. 
• Perfect for making sure a short section such as a rib is the right length.
• Easy to measure on the go by just whipping it out. 
• Excellent for measuring straight distances, such as armhole length on a body where you don't want it to curve, or the distance between the neck/shoulder join and the apex of the bust for bust dart placement (you'll need a longer ruler for that, though). 
• Can come with other tools, such as a crochet hook or knitting needle gauge, in the same product (pictured here) so you get a multi-use tool. 
• I particularly like measuring sock lengths with this, since they are small and compact. You can insert the ruler INTO the sock as well to measure it toe up, or top down. 

CONS: 

• Does not measure much longer than 6"/ 15 cm. 
• Cannot measure around curves on a garment or on a body. 

Measuring Tape

PROS:

• They are excellent for body measurements which curve, which is most of them! You can't measure your size for a sweater without one, pretty much at all. 
• Some, like the ones pictured here, are retractable and are easy to carry in a project bag.
• They are good for longer distances, such as when you need to knit a sweater body to a certain length. 

CONS:

• They can shift around and twist when you're trying to count stitches for a gauge swatch. I recommend never using these for that purpose because it won't be accurate and you need absolute precision in that situation. 
• Non-retractable measuring tape formats are a pain to carry around and fold back up. 

Why not both? 

As you can see, each of these types of measuring tools have their unique place in craft and both are needed in a knitter's toolkit.

I hope that this post was clarifying and helped you organize their various uses in your brain so that you know exactly what to do and which one to pull out next time you have to measure something! 

If you're interested in checking out some of the gauge and measuring tools we have, you can check them out here.