Knitting guides
The questions we answer at the counter every week, written down — each one short, and each one pointing at the yarn it is about. The sums behind them are on the tools page.
Choosing yarn
Alpaca yarn: baby, suri, blends, and does it itch?
How alpaca differs from wool — warmth, drape, no lanolin, little memory — what baby alpaca and suri mean, why alpaca-wool blends are the all-rounder, what to knit and what not to, how to wash it, and the alpaca yarns we stock by weight.
Read the guide →Aran vs worsted, and what "8 ply" means
The difference between aran and worsted weight yarn, how the British and Australian ply names (4 ply, 8 ply, 10 ply) line up with American weights, and which of our yarns a pattern written in either language wants.
Read the guide →Caring for hand-knits: washing, blocking, storing, moths
How to wash wool, superwash, alpaca, cotton, cashmere and mohair knits without ruining them, how to block and dry and how blocking differs for wool, superwash, alpaca, cotton, silk, mohair and acrylic blends, how to deal with pilling, how to store knits and keep moths out, and the care rules for socks — with the care line on each of our yarn pages explained.
Read the guide →Cashmere and luxury fibers: what you are paying for
Why cashmere, silk, suri alpaca, yak and kid mohair cost what they do — fineness in microns, yield per animal, dehairing and hand-dyeing — what a 20% cashmere blend actually gives you compared with pure cashmere, where the money is worth spending and where it is not, how to buy luxury yarn by the yard rather than the skein, how to care for it, and the cashmere and luxury-blend lines we stock.
Read the guide →How to choose sock yarn
What makes a yarn wear well in a sock — fibre, nylon content, twist, superwash — how much a pair takes, and the sock yarns we stock, from self-striping to hand-painted.
Read the guide →Cotton, linen and summer yarn: which to knit with
How cotton, linen, hemp and their blends behave on the needles and in the wash, why they knit differently from wool, which to choose for a top, a tee or a summer shawl, and the warm-weather yarns we stock by weight.
Read the guide →The gauge swatch: how to knit, measure and fix one
Why every pattern says swatch, how big to knit one, how to wash and measure it honestly, what to do when the stitches or rows are off, what a swatch tells you besides gauge, and why a swatch in the round for a project in the round.
Read the guide →Holding yarns together
What happens when two strands are knit as one — which weights two held strands add up to, how to hold a mohair-silk lace with a merino for a halo, how to work out the yardage and the needle, how to swatch a held pair, and the lace and fingering yarns we stock that are made for it.
Read the guide →How to choose yarn for a knitting project
The order to decide things in when picking yarn — the pattern's gauge, how the piece will be washed, who wears it and where, the stitch pattern, the yardage and the budget, and only then the color — with a table of which weight and fiber suit which project and the lines we would start with.
Read the guide →How to read a ball band
What every line on a yarn label means — fiber content, weight class and the Craft Yarn Council symbol, skein weight and yardage, suggested needle and gauge, care symbols, colorway and dye lot — and how the spec card on our yarn pages maps to it.
Read the guide →How to read a dye lot
What a dye lot is, where to find it on a ball band, why two lots of the same colour differ, how we match lots on every order, and what to do when you run short mid-project.
Read the guide →How to substitute yarn in a pattern
How to pick a yarn a pattern was not written for — matching gauge, yards per gram, fibre and construction — with the arithmetic for recalculating the number of skeins.
Read the guide →Mohair and halo yarns: kid silk, brushed suri and how to use them
What mohair is and why kid mohair is the one in yarn, whether it itches and what to do if it does, why a mohair-silk lace is held with another yarn and what one strand does to gauge, drape and warmth, how to knit it, rip it out and wash it, the brushed suri alpaca alternative, and the mohair and halo lines we stock — Artyarns, Dream in Color Billy Kid Silk, Berroco Aerial, Schoppel Silky Cat, Blue Sky Prairie and Brushed Suri, Plymouth Suri Stratus, Lamb's Pride and Noro Silk Garden.
Read the guide →Self-striping yarn explained
The three kinds of self-striping yarn — short repeating stripes, long gradients and Noro's color runs — why the stripes come out a different width in a sock, a shawl and a blanket, how the stripes behave in a sweater and how to make the sleeves match the body, how to match two socks, and the striping yarns we stock.
Read the guide →Single-ply vs plied yarn
What ply means as a construction, how a single-ply yarn knits, wears, pills and felts compared with a plied one, which projects suit each, and the singles and plied yarns in stock at the same weight.
Read the guide →Superwash vs non-superwash wool
What superwash treatment does to wool, how it changes the way the yarn knits, washes and drapes, when to choose each, and which lines in stock are which.
Read the guide →What makes a yarn "premium"?
What you are paying for when a yarn costs more — fiber fineness in microns, staple length, how it was spun and plied, dye consistency, traceable sourcing — how to tell it on the needles, when a cheap yarn is the better buy, and the lines we stock at each end.
Read the guide →Which yarns can be felted?
Which fibres felt and which never will, how to test a yarn before committing a project, how much it will shrink, and the yarns we stock that felt best.
Read the guide →Working with hand-dyed and variegated yarn
Kettle-dyed semi-solids, hand-painted variegateds and tonal layered dyes — why a hand-dyed skein pools, flashes or stripes depending on what you knit it into, how to alternate skeins and choose stitch patterns to tame it, when to let it pool on purpose, why hand-dyed has no dye lot in the usual sense and what we do about that, and which of our hand-dyed lines behave which way.
Read the guide →Wool, alpaca, cotton, silk, linen, mohair and cashmere compared
How the fibers knitting yarn is made of compare on warmth, elasticity, drape, durability, washing, softness and price, which are softest for sweaters and scarves, what blends are for, and the lines in stock in each.
Read the guide →Choosing yarn for baby knits
What a baby yarn has to be — machine washable, soft, nothing that sheds — which fibers and weights work for blankets, cardigans and hats, how much yarn each takes, and the machine-washable lines we stock for babies and children.
Read the guide →Yarn for stranded colorwork
Why Fair Isle and Icelandic yoke knitting want a grippy, non-superwash wool, which fibers and constructions float well and which slip or sag, how many colors and how much of each a yoke sweater takes, how to pick a palette, and the colorwork wools we stock.
Read the guide →Yarn textures explained: tweed, slub, chainette, halo, marl and more
What the texture words on a yarn page mean — tweed, slub and thick-and-thin, chainette and blown, brushed and halo, marl and gradient, felted singles, heathers, sheen and glitter — how each knits and what to make in it, with the lines in stock, and which textures knitters are asking for now.
Read the guide →Yarn weights explained
Lace, fingering, DK, worsted, chunky and bulky — what each yarn weight means, the gauge and needle size it knits at, how much a skein holds, and what to make in each.
Read the guide →How much yarn
How much yarn for a blanket?
How many yards a baby blanket, a crib blanket, a throw and a bed-sized blanket take in DK, worsted, chunky and bulky yarn, the arithmetic from your own swatch, and why a blanket is the project where buying it all at once matters most.
Read the guide →How much yarn for a hat, scarf, cowl or mittens?
How many yards an adult hat, a scarf, a cowl, an infinity scarf and a pair of mittens take in fingering, DK, worsted, chunky and bulky yarn — which of them really are one-skein projects, and a line-by-line table of what one skein of the yarns we stock will and will not make.
Read the guide →How much yarn for a sweater?
How many yards and skeins an adult sweater takes in fingering, DK, worsted and chunky yarn, by size — with the arithmetic for turning a pattern's yardage into a number of skeins.
Read the guide →Will I have enough yarn? Weighing your way out of yarn chicken
How to tell from a kitchen scale whether the yarn you have will finish the project — weigh the knitting, weigh what is left, do the sum — how many yards are in 100 g of each weight, how much extra to buy, and what to do when the answer is no.
Read the guide →Yarn for shawls, and how much a shawl takes
Which weights and fibers make a shawl drape, bloom and block — fingering, lace, mohair-silk, alpaca, silk blends — how many yards a shawlette, a medium shawl, a large wrap and a lace shawl take by weight, why blocking is half the yarn choice, and the shawl yarns we stock.
Read the guide →Brands and lines
Blue Sky Fibers: which one is which?
Organic Cotton, Organic Cotton Sport, Printed Organic Cotton, Sweater, Woolstok, Woolstok Light and Woolstok North, Metalico, Extra, Suri Merino, Brushed Suri and Prairie — how the Blue Sky Fibers lines we stock differ in fiber, weight and put-up, which one was Spud & Chloe, and what to knit in each.
Read the guide →Brown Sheep: which one is which?
Lamb's Pride Worsted and Bulky, Nature Spun, Prairie Spun DK, Harborside Aran, Top of the Lamb and Cotton Fleece — how the Brown Sheep lines we stock differ in fiber, ply, weight and the way they felt, which ones have the mohair, which is the cable yarn and which is the colorwork yarn, and what each is best for.
Read the guide →Looking for a discontinued yarn? What to knit instead
Substitutes in stock for yarns that are no longer made or that we no longer carry — Crystal Palace, Debbie Bliss, Spud & Chloe, Karabella, Classic Elite, Cleckheaton Country 8 ply, Misti Alpaca, Reynolds and Tahki Donegal Tweed — matched by weight, fiber and feel.
Read the guide →Donegal tweed yarn: Soft Donegal, Darnie and what tweed means
What makes a yarn a Donegal tweed, how Studio Donegal's Soft Donegal and Darnie differ in weight and fiber, the other tweed yarns we stock, what to knit in a tweed and how it behaves, and what to use for a pattern written for Tahki Donegal Tweed.
Read the guide →HiKoo: which one is which?
Simplicity, Simpliworsted, Sueño, Sueño Worsted, Madrona, CoBaSi, Popcycle, Rylie, Concentric and Merino Lace Light — how Skacel's HiKoo lines differ in fiber, weight and washability, which are the machine-washable workhorses and which the luxury ones, and what to knit in each.
Read the guide →Juniper Moon Farm: which one is which?
Cumulus, Zooey, Bud, Cotton+Merino, Herriot, Moonshine Fine, Rambouillet, Bluefaced Leicester, Iris, Saxony, Findley — how the eighteen Juniper Moon Farm lines we stock differ in fiber, weight and yardage, which are the summer cottons and which the winter wools, what the Rainbow, Spray, Stripes and Dappled versions add, and what to knit in each.
Read the guide →Malabrigo Rios vs Malabrigo Worsted
Rios and Worsted are Malabrigo's two worsted-weight merinos, in largely the same colourways. One is superwash and plied, one is a non-superwash single. Which to choose, and for what.
Read the guide →Malabrigo: which one is which?
Rios, Worsted, Arroyo, Caprino, Verano and Rasta — how the Malabrigo lines we stock differ in weight, fiber, ply, washability and yardage, which share colorways, and which to buy for a sweater, a hat, a shawl or a summer top.
Read the guide →Noro: which one is which?
Kureyon, Silk Garden, Ito, Haunui, Madara, Tsubame, Kakigori — how Noro's yarns differ in fiber, weight, put-up and the way the color moves, which Noro is DK and which is worsted, and what to knit in each.
Read the guide →Plymouth Yarn: which one is which?
Worsted Merino Superwash, Baby Alpaca Grande, Baby Alpaca Worsted, Homestead and Hearty Homestead, Roam, Quaker Hill, Hearthstone, Yakima, Suri Stratus, Alpaca Lino, Tussah Kissed, Davila and Pima Rino — how the Plymouth Yarn lines we stock differ in fiber, weight and washability, which to use for a pattern written for Encore, and what to knit in each.
Read the guide →Schoppel Wolle beyond Zauberball: Reggae, Ambiente, Silky Cat and the rest
Reggae Ombre and Reggae Solid, In-Silk, Ambiente, Edition 3, Alpaka Story, Zauber Perlen, Cotton Ball, El Linio, ALB Lino and Silky Cat — the Schoppel Wolle lines that are not Zauberballs, how they differ in fiber, weight and the way they are dyed, which are machine washable, and what to knit in each.
Read the guide →What weight is Lopi? Álafoss, Léttlopi and the rest
The Icelandic Lopi family compared — Álafoss Lopi, Léttlopi, Bulkylopi, Einband and Plötulopi — by weight, gauge and yardage, what each is for, how Lopi knits and washes, how much Álafoss a lopapeysa takes, and how to steek it into a cardigan.
Read the guide →Yarn brands we stock, and what each is known for
The 24 yarn and needle brands on our shelves, grouped by what they do best — hand-dyed merino, self-striping and gradient yarns, American and British wool, alpaca, luxury fibers, summer cottons and linens, needles — with the line to start with from each.
Read the guide →Zauberball: which one is which?
Zauberball, Zauberball Crazy, Starke 6, Crazy Cotton, Edition 3 — how Schoppel Wolle's gradient yarns differ in ply, weight, fibre and the way the colour changes, and what to knit in each.
Read the guide →Needles
addi: which one is which?
addi Turbo, Rockets, Rocket2 Squared, FlexiFlips and Clicks compared — what each tip and cord is for, which sizes and lengths we stock, whether the interchangeable set is worth it, and which addi to buy for socks, lace, sweaters and plain fast knitting.
Read the guide →Bamboo, metal or wood: choosing needle material
How bamboo, nickel-plated metal and rosewood needles differ in speed, grip, weight, warmth and noise, which suits which yarn and which knitter, and the Crystal Palace bamboo, addi metal and Reynolds rosewood needles we stock.
Read the guide →Which circular needle length do I need?
How to pick a circular needle's cable length for hats, sleeves, sweaters, shawls and blankets, when to use magic loop instead, and the difference between addi Turbo, Rockets and bamboo.
Read the guide →Circular vs straight knitting needles
When a circular needle beats a pair of straights and when it does not — weight on the wrists, wide pieces, knitting in the round, travel — how to knit flat on a circular, the bamboo-or-metal question, and the circulars and straights we stock.
Read the guide →Crochet hook sizes: letters, numbers and millimeters
Every crochet hook size from steel thread hooks to jumbo with its millimeters, why the US letters disagree between makers, which hook goes with which yarn weight, why crochet uses more yarn than knitting, which of the yarns we stock crochet best and which fight the hook, and the addi Swing, Comfort Grip and Crystal Palace hooks we stock.
Read the guide →Are interchangeable knitting needles worth it?
What an interchangeable needle set is, the sums against buying fixed circulars one at a time, who a set suits and who it does not, where the join can let you down, what to check before buying, and what the addi Click Starter Set we stock actually is — one pair each of the Turbo, Rocket and bamboo tips in three sizes with two cords, a sampler rather than a full set — and what to buy after it, by what you knit.
Read the guide →Knitting needle sizes: US, metric and UK chart
Every knitting needle size from US 000 to US 50 with its millimeter and old UK equivalent, which size goes with which yarn weight, why the maker's stamp beats the chart, and the crochet hook letters alongside.
Read the guide →Knitting socks: double-pointed needles vs circulars
The four ways to knit a sock — double-pointed needles, magic loop on a long circular, two circulars, and a short bent circular like addi FlexiFlips — what each is like to work, where ladders come from, the needle sizes socks need, which method wins for sleeves, hats, mittens and other small circumferences, and the sock needles we stock.
Read the guide →Square knitting needles: are they better for your hands?
What a square-shafted needle like the addi Rocket2 Squared does differently — grip, tension, hand strain — who it helps and who it does not, whether the stitches come out square, and the sizes and lengths we stock.
Read the guide →Your first knitting needles: what to buy and why
What a new knitter actually needs to start — one circular needle in the right size and material, one skein of the right yarn, and three small things — with the sizes and lines we would hand over the counter, and what not to buy yet.
Read the guide →Using the site
Buying yarn online: what to check before you order
The six things to check on a yarn page before buying — yardage per skein, dye lots, the photos, fiber and care, stock against your project, the return terms — what a higher price should buy you, and how this shop handles each.
Read the guide →The Color Board: compare yarn colors side by side
What the Color Board is for, how to put colorways on it from any yarn page, how to move them next to each other on a light, grey or dark ground, buy from it, share it, and what it remembers.
Read the guide →