What kind and how much yarn to use for a project?

I have A lot of nice yarn and don’t know what to do with it. I see a pattern, but I don’t know understand how much yarn to use or if I have enough yarn to use
Or the right kind !

How about you tell us something about what yarns you have. Include a photo if you wish. Maybe pick the yarn you want to use next and tell us how much of it you have. Someone will surely have some ideas. This sounds like fun.

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Ok , I will do that tomorrow. Thank you so much.

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Good idea to post a couple of what you have and what sort of project you’d like to make.

Do you use Ravelry? There is a search function for yarns. You can find the yarn you have and see what patterns are available for it or see what other people have made with it. You can also do an advanced search to include how many meters/yards you have of a yarn and it should come up with some results for that amount of yarn.

It might be worth spending a bit of time working out the meterage you have for each of your yarns. The yarn band will say how many meters are in one ball, multiply that by how many balls you have.

When I choose a pattern I tend to stay within the same yarn weight (eg if a pattern uses DK i use DK) even if I choose to use a different yarn from the one used in the pattern (the pattern might use hand wash wool which I don’t want to use for example). It’s more advisable an easier to do this and you will more likely get a gauge close to what is needed for the pattern.
If you choose a yarn different to the yarn weight in the pattern you will get a very different size and fabric result.
When working out how much of the alternate yarn I need I look at how many balls of the suggested yarn are needed for my size. Then I find out how many meters are in each ball of that type. Multiply the two to find out how many meters are needed for the project. Then work out how many balls in need to buy of my chosen yarn (meters needed divided by meters per ball).

Whether I use the patternnyarn or a different yarn I tend to make sure I have an additional amount of yarn because a lot of sweater/tops patterns look short to me and I add length. I also add longer sleeves because if it’s for me I like really long sleeves over my hands, if it’s for my son he is a petite size frame and needs a young age/size for body width but he is not short so I have to add a lot of length in the body and arms for him too. It’s worth thinking of these things before you start so you can be sure you have enough yarn to make something you’re happy with.

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I knit shawls 1, 2 or 3 skeins. Although 2 skein shawls imo are the perfect size.

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Could you give me the patterns of knitted shawls please let me know what kind of yarn and how much that you use for each shawl. Thank you.

I see you have e added some photos to your first post.
I can’t tell how much each yarn type has from the pics but you can likely make a top or sweater with the knit picks comfy sport, looks like there would be niugh but jbviiusky youdnhave to check for the size you want to make.
Looks like there are 9000 projects on ravelry using this yarn, maybe you’ll get some inspiration there?
Here’s a nice top
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/sierra6266/leaving

I personally would research into learning about yarn weights and types of yarn. The weight of yarn can be measured on a kitchen scale.

So take for example you have 5 balls of yarn, 4 of them are 50g in weight and the remaining one has been used, you would weigh the one that has been used you would weigh it yourself, say for example you have 34g left from it…the grand total weight you would have, is 234g

This is 50 x 4 + 34 = 234

say for example the yarn is DK. The standard yardage for DK weight yarn is 190-300 meters/yards per 100 grams

So you have 234g in weight of DK yarn the approx yardage from that would be 380-600 meters/yards not forgetting the 34g so you would have a little bit more yardage than 380m. There are yardage calculators online you can use.

Important to remember that a finer yarn has more yardage than a bulky yarn does. Even with this the yardage is only a rough guide, you see how I didn’t take into account the 34g into the yardage measurements? That would account for how you knit, if you are a loose knitter you would need more yarn, so say for example that remaining 34g may account for that, if you are a tighter knitter then you’d use less yarn.

There’s lots of videos on youtube about it explaining in depth. Spend some time researching and understanding it, so you’ll know for sure the project you want to do, you’ll have enough yarn for.

The photos you’ve added to your post come with the original labels so that makes it easier for you, it tells you the weight of the yarn, along with the yardage so you’ll just need to add them together like I did at the start of this post, I hope this helps somewhat!

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Have a look at my projects on ravelry, you can see the shawls I’ve made. I’m normally pretty good at putting the yarn and how much I’ve used, so that will give you a good idea https://www.ravelry.com/projects/SheenaStoneKnits

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YarnPlease your work is excellent :ok_hand::+1: I love it.

Thanks :kissing_heart:

Ah, you added some photos. You do have lovely yarns. Are you a registered member at Ravelry and have access to the various features? Forgive me if what I say is too basic but I don’t know your experience with searching for things knit or crochet. I’ll take the Mainstays as an example as it’s a yarn I’m familiar with. My searches have included crochet and knit but you can specify one or the other.

The label tells you it’s a class 4 weight, or worsted.

The first thing I’d do is figure out how many yards I have. Just multiply the number of yards shown on the label by the number of skeins you have. I use yards but I’m sure you know the same applies to meters. I count 5 skeins in your photo so the yardage is 5 x 285 = 1425 if I entered correctly using my calculator.

Take that info to Ravelry and use the search function. On my laptop the search filters are on on the left. They may be elsewhere on whatever device you’re using.
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#weight=worsted&yardage-in=1200-1500&sort=best&view=large_photos

Immediately you see projects using this weight yarn. If you want you can narrow the search parameters more. Say you’d like to make a blanket, often a rather high yardage project.
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#weight=worsted&yardage-in=1200-1500&pc=blanket&sort=best&view=large_photos

If like me you dislike buying patterns not knowing whether you’ll like them you can narrow the search to free patterns.
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#weight=worsted&yardage-in=1200-1500&pc=blanket&availability=free&sort=best&view=large_photos

Enter the info of the yarn you’d like to use first and play with the filters. You might come across something you love. You can of course ask questions about your pattern choice(s) here. I hope this helps. I thought rather than recommend you do this pattern or that one getting you started filtering search results would be more helpful in the long run.

Currently I’m working out how to crochet a bespoke hexagon cardigan that will have both skull and spiral squares added and I’m using Mainstays yarn. I love your purples. I’m working with solid purple with other colors to go with.