Substituting Yarn

[emmilyx3]

Hello everyone!

 

I hope you are having a wonderful morning/day/night where ever you may be.

I'm wanting to make this blanket: http://www.thesweetersideofmommyhood.com/blog/art/2012/12/hot-applejuice/#more-4140 The person states they used Lion Brand Vanna's Choice yarn which is a 4 medium weight yarn. Unfortunately, where I live I just have a Michael's for yarn selection and they didn't have anything I was looking for colour wise in a 4 medium, I ended up getting baby yarn which is a 3 light yarn. My question is, will I be okay to substitute? I still consider myself in the beginner stage of crocheting as I don't crochet as often as I'd like to and normally I follow a pattern to a T other than maybe changing a colour. My thoughts are that it may be okay but to get the desired length I'll possibly have to add more stitches and may need more than just five skeins like in the pattern. But how do I ensure that while the width may match, the length will match also?

Info of yarn differences
Yarn used in pattern: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice is a 4 medium, 100g/3.5oz, 170yd/156m

The yarn I bought: Loops & Threads 3 light, 141g/5oz, 446yd/408m

Both are acrylic

 

Thank you in advance!!!

[magiccrochetfan]

How big do you want your blanket to be?

 

Does the pattern tell you the gauge, the number of stitches in an inch?  usually this is given as stitches and rows in a 4 inch square.

 

Since your yarn is lighter than the Vanna's, you will need more yards to make a blanket the same size as the pattern.  

 

Basically, since this blanket appears to be all single crochet , you can simply make as many stitches across as you want, for width, then make as many rows as you want, for length.     If you want to do more exact planning then you need to know what your gauge is in the yarn you bought and then figure from there.  

 

Also you don't have to exactly count your beginning chains.  just make the chain as long as you want the item to be wide, then make about 10% more chains.  Work the first row until it's as big as you want it to be.  Ignore the unused chains, then when you are finished crocheting the blanket you can unpick them and fasten off the tail and weave it in just as you normally do.  

[emmilyx3]

I would like to make the blanket the same size as the pattern. Unfortunately there is no gauge.  I understand the part where I make however many stitches necessary to match the width of the blanket in the pattern, but I'm a little confused as to what the point is of the unused chains. Actually, if I just did the amount of stitches needed for width and then just do a bunch of rows, measure and multiply that by 5 (the number of colour blocks I plan to do) and once I get to a certain amount of rows that will end up close to the length of what I want it to be, I guess I could just copy that for all of the other colour blocks? Sorry I hope that makes sense, I feel like I sound kinda dumb haha I'm just so afraid of getting mostly done and realizing I messed up. 

 

Do you suggest I use the same size hook as the pattern? Or the hook size on the label of the yarn I purchased? Or a totally different hook?

Thank you for the help, you don't know how much I appreciate it!!!!!!

[bgs]

Achieving an exact width is tricky. I can do the same number of chains in making multiples of the same afghan and each afghan will turn out to be slightly different widths. The width will turn out shorter than the lenghth of your chains and if you want a specific width it easier to make more chains than you think you will need. Do your first row of stitches until you reach the width you want at which point you may have chains left that you dont need. These chains can then be picked apart.

[bgs]

Hook size is your choice and depends on your tension and what you are trying to achieve. The smaller the hook the tighter the stitch and the more dense the afghan will be. You probably want to use a smaller hook than the pattern suggests since you are using a lighter weight yarn. You can do a small swatch with different hooks to see which you like best.

[emmilyx3]

Thank you so so much for your help! I'm not too picky on making it EXACTLY that size, as close as possible though, but if it's off by a bit that's fine. Time to just give it a go and hope for the best! 

[Granny Square]

I have been able to sub DK ('double knitting' weight, US size 3) for worsted for some items, but it may depend on the pattern and which brand of yarn I and the designers used.  The key is swatching, you may be able to get away with the same size hook, maybe not....everyone's tension is different.

 

I am guessing that Magiccrochetfan may have meant re: the extra stitches -- for SC, which is not a fancy/complex stitch pattern, you can just chain the length you want, and go with it, with no extra chains.  But as a rule of thumb, if you find an item with a complex stitch pattern with a repeat that is several stitches wide, and the pattern doesn't tell you what the stitch multiple is (the width of the repeat plus some number for turning and end stitches), you can just make a chain wider than the end width you want, turn and work back until you can't fit another pattern repeat into the chain, turn and continue - and later pick out the extra chains,  Crochet won't unravel from the start of the chain direction.