Trying to choose a yarn and getting gauge confused

General Knitting
1

I want to make ‘coachella’ from knitty.com and am trying to find a yarn. It suggests using berroco suede, but it is a little on the pricy side and im struggling to find a UK shop that sells it.

I was thinking of substituting for another ribbon yarn or somthing like SWT Bamboo or a-Maizing.

the problem i am having is the guage. The pattern calls for a slightly larger (looser) guage than the yarn suggests, so when i am looking for another yarn i keep getting confused when i try and compare the guage. How do i go about knowing if somthing is a suitable guage if it is supposed to be knitted to a larger guage than suggested to get the right fabric?

so two questions, which yarn should i go for (buying in the UK) and how do i figure out the guage?
oh heres a link to the pattern: http://knitty.com/issuesummer07/PATTcoachella.html

2

Choose a yarn that has a gauge similar to the Berrocco which is about 19sts and 28 rows /4" (10cm) on a size 8/5mm. That would be something like a heavy worsted.

3

On Ravelry there was a couple people who used A-maizing. Both used 5.5 mm needles. I also saw Rowan Calmer, Brown sheep Cotton Fleece, Simply soft to name just a few. One person used the SWTC Bamboo but she double stranded. I also saw people who went up or down a size depending on their gauge.

4

thanks for that. I may be lucky and win an ebay auction for some teal berroco, which would make things much simpler!