Converting afghan from fingering to DK - How much yarn needed?

[NinaTO]

Hi.  I am making a complicated afghan from a pattern that uses fingering weight yarn.  I need it to be bigger, so I want to use DK yarn.  I'm struggling with how much yarn to buy in each colour.  The amounts given are in grams.  Should I convert that to length? I don't know how much bigger the afghan, or each square, will be.  Ideas?

[Granny Square]

There isn't a 'formula' that will work for that, there are too many variables - your stitch tension (tall/short? tight/loose?) versus any given designer, plus the stitch pattern.  And in your case, plus the multiple colors.  Yardage needed is the important factor, forget the grams/ounces.

The 'least amount of work' solution I can think of, is: Make a swatch in DK yarn that matches the fingering pattern's swatch requirement (stitch pattern, number of stitches across, and rows) that would comprise a 4" square, according to your pattern, in fingering yarn.  Measure the area of your square and unravel your DK square and measure the yardage used.  Let's say your square ended up 6" square, and took 25 yards (not even sure that is a reasonable outcome, but let's pretend).

There are four 6" squares in each square foot, so each square foot of your DK blanket will use 100 yards.  How many square feet did you intend your blanket to be?  A typical 'sofa throw' is usually in the neighborhood of 4'x5', so 20 square feet.  Twenty one-foot squares, times 100 yards per square, would be 2,000 yards for the blanket (using my made-up numbers).  Don't go by my numbers, that yardage sounds low actually.

That doesn't take into account the distribution of the multiple colors I'm afraid, in other words the number of total yards in my fantasy example would comprise all the colors so you'd have to figure out the proportion of each of the colors in the blanket. 

Also, if the stitch pattern isn't consistent throughout the blanket, the above logic goes out the window.

[NinaTO]

Thank you!  A swatch would certainly make this easier; that's a good idea.  I don't know if I have any DK yarn; my stash includes a whole lot of worsted weight and not much else.  I will check.  Any 'more work' solutions in case I come up empty?

[Granny Square]

Your stash sounds like mine, well if I had a stash, which is mostly leftovers from other projects - 99% either worsted weight, sock weight, or doily thread.  Maybe treat yourself to a skein of DK weight that you think would make a lovely hat or scarf for yourself if you changed your mind on the blanket, or would work towards the blanket, after the swatch?

I meant less work than trying to find a way to 'math' how much DK weight yarn you'd need.  To me, a swatch is something I expect to do (for most things), not extra work.  I'd also thought to suggest using the fingering and adding a border to bring it to the size you want, but that's a lot of extra work and yarn. 

 

 

[Tampa Doll]

Here is some information that was given to me by someone who does nothing but graph ghans on another site.  I found it helpful.

Yarn count information

Add the number of stitches and divide by 800.  This gives you the ounces of yarn needed per color.

Hope this helps.

 

[NinaTO]

That does sound like it will help; thank you!