Hello, I bought a pattern for a lovely long cardigan in a DK, but decided to use a different yarn. The pattern specified 5 balls for my size, which didn’t seem like many. I double checked that both yarns were DK, both were 100g balls, and both gave the same tension. So I went ahead.
I have just started the first section and am getting increasingly uncomfortable that this doesn’t look or feel like enough wool. So I dig deeper into the yarn details, and discover that the one I have bought has 240m per 100g ball, whereas the one specified on the pattern has 550m - more than twice as much! Yet they are both DK and knot to the same tension.
my simpleminded thinking is that I should get 550/240 = 2.29 times as many balls in order to get the same length of yarn…. What do you think? That would be 11.45 balls, but I’m sure I would be fine with 11 or every 10, as mine is the first size which asked for 5 balls, the previous 2 sizes wanted 4. And the next two wanted 5 as well, so I definitely won’t need 11!
Anyone got any experience of making this adjustment? Both yarns are James C Brett, the pattern is for Shhh DK but I’ve bought Marble DK.
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The only thing I know is that Shhhh! is a mohair style yarn, while Marble is 2 plied strands which I think does make a difference to the fabric/gauge. It feels more similar in weight to the 4ply yarns I use often than the DK yarns I’ve used.
You can often find the equivalent yardage calculation on yarnsub, if you’re already familiar haven’t checked there already?
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I sub yarn a lot and the way you have now calculated it sounds good. I don’t go by weight of balls because fibers weigh different amounts, I always check out the total length in meters/yards for the recommended yarn and then calculate how many balls are needed in the sub yarn.
Looking at the other sizes as you have done is also useful. When deciding between 12, 11 or 10 balls look again at the total yardage you would get rather than number of balls, it might make it easier to decide. Might you want some wrist warmers, scarf or hat to match in left over yarn.
Another estimation can be done with the knitted fabric you have worked up. Transfer the stitches onto very light thread, embroidery thread or similar then weigh the knitted piece (kitchen scales, ball of working yarn attached goes on the counter top so you don’t weigh that yarn, do not weigh the needles) and measure it in cm/inch squared. From this calculate how many grams it takes for 1cm squared. Then calculate the total area, in cm squared, of the cardigan, length multiplied by width for two fronts, back and sleeves (as a guide on sleeves, 2 sleeves can fit into one rectangle if they were placed side by side and cuff to arm hole so width of widest part + width at cuff is one side of a rectangle and length of sleeve is the other… you don’t have to calculate decreases). Once you have the total area multply this by your grams per cm weight. And hey presto, an estimate of weight of yarn needed for entire sweater. It may sound long winded, it is not really too time consuming and could save you the upset of not buying enough yarn, or save your wallet if the yarn is very expensive. I have used this method of estimating (also another where I calculated number of sts and rows per gram) and it worked brilliantly.
I hope this helps.
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Thank you - I am a very sporadic knitter, never heard of yarnsub, will have a look.
Thank you.
The first two sizes ask for 4 balls of the original yarn, and the combined length of those is 9.2 balls of my yarn. The 3rd, 4th and 5th sizes all ask for 5 balls, equivalent to 11.45 balls of my yarn. I’m doing the 3rd size, so I’m increasingly confident that 10 balls will do me.
Let’s hope they’ve got the same dye lot still in stock…. will go tomorrow.
I hope they have the yarn for you. I recently needed an additional 1 but to be safe 2 and thought the shop would have loads left but they only had 3 balls left! I was lucky to get it.