Substituting yarn

This very thin recycled cashmere can be doubled or tripled to be
used in a pattern calling for thicker yarn.

If you want to knit something, but you don’t have the yarn the pattern calls for or you can’t afford the yarn, you can substitute. Be careful! One yarn isn’t always the same as another.

You need to figure out the weights of the yarns in question. How many WPI (wraps per inch)? This is figured out by wrapping a piece of yarn around a ruler. Depending on the number of wraps in an inch, you can figure out if the yarn is worsted weight, sport weight, fingerling, lace or bulky.

Sometimes it is possible to use two strands of thinner yarn in place of a thicker yarn in which case you should make sure you get twice as many skeins.

If you are knitting a scarf or something that the size is not critical, you don’t have to be as careful. If the pattern is for something like a sweater, that needs an exact size, knit a sample swatch and see if you get the right number of stitches per inch and rows per inch before you begin on the project.

It is better to take the time to knit a swatch and check your gauge than to have an entire completed project that doesn’t fit.