Let's Knit Magazine - Your knitting, your style

Hello everyone.  I have had a good day trying to rescue my shawl which I nearly frogged(?!) The pattern said 100g of fine mohair type wool, so I thought I was fine.  Came to the end of my wool and it is about 9inches short.  When I read the pattern again the yardage for the wool was more than mine.  What do you do?  Go by the yardage or the weight?  I have always gone by weight before.

If your pattern says 100gr then there should have been enough. But..if you have changed the specified yarn and it is short then obviously the one you used has shorter yardage. I have noticed before that there is a big difference in lengths of different makes of wool so I suppose the solution, other than using the correct one for the pattern, is to go by the length not weight.

Unless the tension is wrong?  I’ve always gone by weight.  I should have thought if the weight was right, then the yardage should be.  If the yardage is wrong, then surely the yarn is not what it should be.  If the label states 100gm 4ply, then it should be right, unless like clothing, different wool manufacturers have different thickness’s for each ply?  I could understand a small amount of difference, but not a lot.

Oooohhhh! - I’ve never gone by the weight alone.  There is so much variation between different makes/brands of wool.  For example, I was looking at a pattern that specicied a double knitting yarn that had 150m to the 50g ball (I know that’s mixing imperial and metric but I can’t remember the yardage) and yet another the (also) dk yarn I had had 120m to 50gr BUT KNITTED TO THE SAME TENSION!  So for me, I think it’s always best to go by yardage and tension.

Sash

Thanks for your tips.  I was using up some wool out of my oddment bin so I suppose I can’t grumble.  I have ended up crocheting a ‘fancy’ fringe.  Alan thought it looked better but I am not really a ‘fancy’ person.  Oh well we’ll see how we go.

I’ve had a few nightmares lately with yarn substitution (see Nemisis on my blog!!!!) so now I tend to check all three, weight, tension and yardage.

Different materials will have different weights, so if for instance you substitute an acrylic with a cotton the yardage could be significantly different. Mohair yarns can have different combinations, for instance my sirdar blur is 70acrylic/30%kid mohair yardage 205 yqrds, but my patons spirit is 75acrylic/25%mohair yardage 98 yards, so they are not just a straight substitute even though they are both mohair yarns.

I ALWAYS buy an extra ball of whatever I am getting. Which is why I have a lot of odd balls.....of wool!!!

Speaking of odd balls (arf!arf!) Kemps Wools is doing Patons Flower Garden for 59p a ball!

Sash

I knew someone would’nt be able to resist a comment

You can count on me!

Sash

Sash2 - 05 August 2008 08:34 AM

You can count on me!



Sash

OO goody, another one for the nuthouse. Welcome  

OO goody, another one for the nuthouse. Welcome

Shouldn’t that be “knithouse”?

Sash

ooooo you know it already