Determining Yarn colors and brands

I have inherited a box of yarns that have no sleeves on them. Is there a way I can find out what they are? The person I inherited them from did not purchase top rated yarns.

Welcome to KnittingHelp!
You can determine the weight or thickness of the yarn by measuring the wraps per inch. Use a ruler to wrap a strand of yarn for 1 inch. You can use a knitting needle as the base, a pencil, whatever you have then measure out the length to figure out wraps.


A table like this one converts wraps to yarn weight although this is an approximation it is a bit more information.
https://www.craftyarncouncil.com/standards/how-measure-wraps-inch-wpi

It’s not going to be easy to figure out the exact yarn brand and type however.

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A burn test can help you work out the fibre content. There are lots of tutorials on how to do it – I can’t recommend one in particular because I haven’t done it myself.

You can test for machine washable or not by trying to felt a short length of yarn. Wet the yarn, fold it in half, and rub it vigorously between your palms for a couple of bouts of 30 seconds or so. If it sticks to itself, you’ve got a feltable yarn (wool or alpaca content). You can also make a small swatch and run it through the wash.

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Thank you!

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