What weight of yarn is this?

General Knitting
1

I picked up a book called “Knitting Today’s Classics” at the library last week and I found a pattern I want to make from it!! It’s the “Broken Rib Cardigan” and it calls for La Gran Mohair yarn from Cascade Elite yarns.

The instructions to find an equivalent BULKY yarn. But when I looked up the La Gran Mohair yarn on Ravelry, it’s listed as ARAN yarn. This is really confusing!!

Anybody out there who could help me figure out which weight it REALLY is?? And then to direct me towards something I could buy at JoAnn Fabrics/Michaels/A C Moore???

THANKS!!!
knitcindy
(who’s still trying to get this figured out) :shrug:

2

The most important thing you need to look at is the gauge. La Gran Mohair knits at about 16 st over 4 inches. According to this that is just barely a worsted/aran weight. Gauge is more important when knitting a sweater.
http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/weight.html

What I do sometimes is see what other people have knit it in. I looked up the book on Ravelry, but there’s no pattern by that name. Is this the book?
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/knitting-todays-classics/patterns

3

Yes, that IS the book but this particular pattern isn’t on Ravelry. Thanks for your help!

knitcindy

4

If it’s a fluffy yarn it would usually be knit at a larger gauge than the yarn appears to be, the fluff fills in the sts.

5

This is the gauge for this sweater, from the pattern:

Gauge: Broken rib stitch on size 10 1/2 needles:
11 sts and 13 1/2 rows = 3 inches

And the broken rib is as follows:
Row 1: *K1, p1; rep from *; end k1
Row 2: P all sts

In case this helps!!!
knitcindy

6

That is definitely a bulky yarn gauge. It could also be from the needle size. The larger the needle the looser the gauge.

7

Thanks Jan!!

So I could use something like Lion Brand Jiffy for this? Any other recommendations??

knitcindy

8

So I could use something like Lion Brand Jiffy for this?

Maybe. What gauge and needle size does the pattern say?

9

If you look earlier in this thread, I mentioned it…

knitcindy

10

Ahh sorry, forgot and I scrolled past the post looking to see if you had. Jiffy might work okay, I prefer to knit it on size 11s and you may have to use them to get that gauge with it anyway.

11

I have enough of Lion Brand Homespun, maybe I’ll try making a swatch with that. It wouldn’t be “fuzzy” but I like the color.

Any yarn recommendations you have would be greatly appreciated!

knitcindy

12

Homespun should work okay too, but still needs to be knit on size 11s with a loose hold on the yarn or it’s kind of a pain to knit with. If you have any sort of bulky yarn, try it out on both 10½s and 11s to see if you’re close to the gauge. Bernat softee chunky isn’t fuzzy, but would work good too.

13

Thanks for all your help suzeeq!!! I will have to get over to the store and see which yarn has the color I want. Believe me, I ALWAYS do a swatch when I work on a sweater. I almost always have to go down 2 needle sizes to get the right gauge.

I don’t know if that’s because I knit Continental or what. It’s just what happens!

Thanks again!!!:muah:
knitcindy