Buying yard

[RoseyB]

I believe I originally posted this in the wrong place, so reposting it here:

 

I just recently started crocheting. My first project was a baby afghan this summer, and I just finished the Baby Rosey Ballet Slippers from The Lovely Crow. I LOVE crocheting! I'm hooked! My question - I need info on yarns. What all those things mean: worsted, ply, weight, and how to buy according to a pattern. It seems simple enough, however, when buying my yarn for the baby afghan at a craft store, the salesperson who helped me explained they didn't have the "exact" yarn. What I bought was perfectly fine, but without that person's help, well...I don't think I would have known what to do. I'm self-taught so far and I just need to know where to go to learn the vocabulary and definitions and how to use them. Is there something on this site? Thank you SO much! I can hardly wait to do another project!

[magiccrochetfan]

Here is a chart of yarn weights http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/weight.html

You can go to the store and look at labels, look for the number symbols, and see the differences between the weights.

 

Substituting yarn is a bit of an art, we often have to experiment to find just the right yarn. Sometimes it is simplest to just go ahead and use the suggested yarn, even if it has to be ordered online.

 

You can look in the show and tell sections here for others who have made the pattern and see what yarn they used. If you sign up at ravelry.com you can search projects also.

 

To sub, generally you want to look for a yarn that is the same weight, texture, and similar fibers. you can look up yarn info at yarndex.com to learn about the original yarn. On sites like Annies Attic http://www.AnniesCatalog.com/yarn_and_thread/index.html and yarnmarket.com you can search by weight to narrow down your choices.

 

Worsted is usually used to denote a weight, but it is also a spinning method. I would go to the library and look for a book about yarn, C Parks' Knitters Book of Yarn is very comprehensive.

[Becky Morgan]

If you can take a little time and go to a large craft store (Michael's, JoAnn, etc.) and look at the kinds of yarn they have, it'll give you an idea of what the various weights feel and look like. A lot of the big box stores have swatches hanging on the shelf so you can see what the yarn looks like worked up in either knit or crochet. There are also free patterns with a lot of the yarn. That's part of the fun!

 

When you need to substitute yarn, at first you'll want to get as close as you can to the weight, material and appearance of what's in the pattern. The yarn weight chart Kathy referred you to was made so it would be easier to describe the size of a yarn. I forget what process "worsted" meant, but just think of it as ordinary #4 yarn, used in a wide variety of projects.

 

The next thing you need to think about is what the item is going to be used for. For instance, a pattern made for felting and calling for Patons Classic Wool needs to be made out of worsted weight, not-superwash-processed wool, because you'll want it to mat and shrink. If you want a very washable baby afghan, and the pattern calls for...I dunno, Bernat Baby, you'll want something with the same number on it (2, 3 or what have you) and about the same texture, and you'll want to make sure it's either superwash wool or acrylic. Getting a pattern to work when it was written for a novelty yarn is trickier, but it can be done once you get a little experience.

 

As you get used to using different kinds of yarn and changing patterns to suit yourself, you'll lose all fear and crochet with grocery bags, macrame cord and the zip string off the cat food bag