Hi Cher here from New Zealand, I have a beautiful pattern book Inca, but want to use other wools as I couldn’t find Inca wool. I am an average Knitter, but need some help. Any thoughts
When you want to substitute one yarn for another, you have to find a yarn that has the same gauge or tension as the yarn you want to replace. You need to get the same number of stitches per cm when knitting so that your knitted item is the correct size.
This is what I found about Inca:
[COLOR=Blue]Inca is an Fashion Yarn Blend with NO ply rating as it does match any ply.
It is comprised of 50% Wool, 30% Acrylic and 20% Alpaca.
[I][B]The tension is 13 Stitches and 18 Rows to 10 X 10 cm over stocking stitch on 7.00mm needles.[/B][/I]
Ball size is 50gms with 58 metres per ball.
[B]This is a classic fingering yarn[/B]. Constructed with 2 spun strands of complimenting colours and has good stitch definition.
The Alpaca helps to proved a luxury feel and due to the tension of 13 stitches is a Quick Knit while being surprisingly light in weight.
Yarn is Hand wash and cannot be Spun Dry or Tumble Dried.
May be warm ironed
Can also be Dry Cleaned.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=Black]So you need to find a yarn that will give you the same number of stitches [/COLOR]per cm as the Inca.
If you have a local yarn store, you can just ask someone to help you find the fingering yarns and make your choice from there. Check the yarn labels and make sure the yarn you are choosing has the same tension listed as the Inca and you should be fine.
Here’s the link where I found the information on Inca:
They are in Australia and it seems like you can order online from them. I don’t know what shipping is like from Australia to NZ but you might be able to get the Inca from them.
Inca is BULKY.
Try multistranding thinner Yarn to get gauge with a nice drape (Inca & Jet are very drapey due to the alpaca, so keep that in mind) or look for other 7mm recommended yarns, again, playing to get gauge.
FV