Buying Yarn for a Project

CRAFTS · GLOBAL

Buying Yarn for a Project

Weight and gauge, British wool, substituting yarn and buying enough

Yarn is bought on colour and the project succeeds or fails on weight and gauge. A garment knitted in the wrong yarn weight comes out the wrong size however carefully the pattern was followed.

Weight and gauge

Yarn weight describes thickness, running from lace and 4-ply through double knitting and aran to chunky. Gauge — stitches and rows over ten centimetres — is the number that actually matters and is printed on the ball band.

Substituting a different weight changes the finished dimensions entirely, which is why a pattern specifies both.

Knit a swatch, every time

Individual tension varies enormously, and two people using identical yarn and needles produce different gauges. Knit at least fifteen centimetres square, wash and dry it exactly as you will treat the finished item, then measure.

Washing changes gauge in many fibres, which is why unwashed swatches mislead. If you have too many stitches, go up a needle size; too few, go down.

British wool

Different breeds produce genuinely different yarn. Bluefaced Leicester is soft with a subtle sheen; Shetland is light and slightly rustic and blooms when washed; Herdwick and Swaledale are hard-wearing and coarse.

Breed-specific yarn tends to have more character and less uniform softness than a generic merino, which suits outerwear and textured stitch patterns.

Substituting yarn

Match the gauge first, then the fibre behaviour. A cotton substituted for wool will not spring back the same way and a garment will grow lengthways under its own weight.

Check the metres per hundred grams rather than only the weight category, since two double knitting yarns can differ considerably.

Buy enough, in one dye lot

Dye lots vary noticeably and a ball from a different lot shows as a band across the finished piece. Buy everything at once plus a spare ball.

Needles and hooks

Metal needles are slippery and fast; bamboo and wood grip the yarn and suit beginners or slippery fibres. Switching material can change your gauge at the same size.

Fix gauge by changing needle size rather than by trying to knit tighter or looser, which is not sustainable across a whole garment.

Storage

Keep yarn away from damp and from moths, which target wool specifically. Sealed containers work, and freezing a suspect skein for a few days kills eggs.

Supporting British wool

Buying breed-specific British yarn supports a supply chain that has struggled, and the yarn frequently has more character than generic imports. Many producers name the farm or the breed.

Care labels

Keep a ball band from every project, and include washing instructions if you gift a handmade item.

WHERE TO BUY

Ready to shop The Great British Yarn Company? Use the link below to visit the official store.

→ Shop The Great British Yarn Company — official site

Visit this site