Can I switch these yarns?

General Knitting
1

I want to make the “Ladders & Ropes Cardigan” from a booklet called “Knitted Sweaters for Her”. Here is a picture of the sweater from Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ladders--ropes-cardigan

The pattern calls for Lion Brand yarn Kool Wool, which is discontinued. Can I substitute using 2 strands of Red Heart Soft yarn for this?? Since I’ve never seen Kool Wool in person, I’m not sure how thick it is or how the ‘feel’ of it is. My dad wants his sweater in brown and I couldn’t find any browns I liked in LB yarns in the store like Jiffy or Wool Ease Chunky.

Let me know if you think I would be able to use 1 or 2 strands of RH Soft instead of the Kool Wool.

Thanks!!!
knitcindy

2

It may work, though I think it could be too thick. You can try just a single strand of Soft and see what it looks like on the same needles. You might have too small a gauge with one strand, but you could knit a larger size of the pattern.

3

I checked at their site and the Kool Wool is a number 5 yarn. I would swatch it and you might have to go up a needle size to get gauge.

4

Lion’s Kool Wool used to be a worsted weight, at least that’s what it seemed like. Doubling a regular worsted would make a 6 or large yarn, a super bulky, but you could try the Soft single then double stranded to see how it comes out.