Choosing Yarn

Yarn Weight

The weight of the yarn refers to its thickness and it’s usually called one of the following – lace, super fine, fine, light, medium bulky and super bulky. Double knitting, aran, worsted and light worsted are other terms you may also hear. The best thing to do is to use the yarn recommended in the pattern you’re working on. If you can’t get that particular type of yarn or the pattern doesn’t say exactly what yarn just go to a yarn store or google to find an alternative.

Yardage

On every ball band there will be an approximate length of the ball of yarn and most of the time you’ll need to do a little calculation to make sure you’re buying enough yarn. Don’t freak out about the maths associated with crocheting. It seems tricky at first but it’s all very simple I promise.

If the pattern says you need 500 metres of yarn and each ball has 78 metres here’s the maths you need to do to figure it out:

500m (Amount of yarn you need) ÷ 78m (amount of yarn per ball of your selected yarn) = 6.4 (balls of yarn you need)

I’d buy 7 balls of 78m to do a project that requires 500m.

Cones, Balls and Donuts

You can use these styles of yarn immediately but most yarn will come in a ‘ball’ which is actually a football shaped ball of yarn.

Hanks

Luxury yarns are often sold in hanks and these hanks must be wound by hand or by a ball winder before you use them. Tip: Definitely don’t skip this part. You cannot crochet or knit straight from a hank. It will end in tears.

Questions and Next Steps

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Next Steps

It’s time to learn about Hooks!