Worst weight yarn

General Knitting
1

im douting myself right now. i’ve orderted some 4 ply after googlijng what worst weight is and it came up with 4 ply.

no worried i’ve got it wrong.

you know when you just have this nagging feeling its just not right and this is opne of those times

susi

2

Where did you order your yarn from? If you ordered it from the States you are fine. In the US 4 ply is worsted weight. If you ordered if from New Zealand or Australia, 4 ply is only fingering weight.

This is the chart I found that explains yarn weight conversion.

Hope this helps,
Susan

3

hi

i ordered it from the uk. i havent knitted with it before so have no idea about tension etc.

now very worried i’ve bought the wrong yarn. i’ve just been told that the needles i ordered wont be in for at least 2 months just to add to it.

i’m doing a sock kniotting class with mitchie on thursday, me thinks this is going wrong somehow. oops

thanks for the link i will def save that

susi

4

in the UK, 4ply can meen worsted or fingering/sock, it depends on the brand! I have some 4-ply worset and some 4-ply sock yarn at home.

5

oh great just to confuse me even more.

ok, its Jaeger Siena 4 Ply, Lobelia brand. any ideas please as im now totally confused.

why oh why cant there be the same weights all over the world. it really would make life easier on clueless people that rarley have to buy yarn (i enherited tons opf it so have been using that).

now very confused :shrug:

susi

6

http://www.yarndex.com/yarn.cfm?yarn_id=158

According to this, Jaeger Siena is a fingering-weight yarn.

7

thanks ingrid

i have been googling it to try and find out but found nothing.

oh well looks like i’m going to have to pull out of my sock class then.

thanks for finding that for me though ingrid

susi

8

No, wait, fingering weight is the same as sock yarn. Unless you need worsted for the socks, you’re fine.

9

yeah i did, its for a class and the pattern says i need worst weight yarn. i will still have ago at the socks using the yarn i’ve bought (its a shame to waste it).

i have sent a pm to mitchie asking if theres anything i can do as i sooo wanted to do the class.

i’m guessing tha fingerweight is a lot finer yarn so knits up smaller than worst weight. if thats the case its ok if its smaller as i have a 5 year old ds who could either wear them now or grow into them.
i’ve just wanted to learn to knit socks for about 2 years, and have no lys to learn from. this is just soo frustrating.

10

You can make socks out of just about any yarn. You could double the fingering weight to make it a little heavier, not quite worsted, but almost. There would probably be enough for your son.

11

Hiya susi,
Worsted weight yarn is the most popular weight for yarn (also the most popular weight for a majority of patterns out there).

Lot’s of people have used worsted for making their first pair of sox because it’s easier to see the stitches and the work goes much faster. Yeah the end result for the sox will be a bit chunkier than if you used fingering weight but, it’s all good.

Now as for other 4-ply ( I don’t particularly go by the ply to determine weight because different yarn designers do different things). Take for instance brown sheep’s lambs pride worsted weight, it’s only 1-ply .

Ply just means how many threads they have spun together to get the finished yarn. That could be thick or thin or anywhere in between. It all comes down to how many stitches per inch on recommended needles by the designer. Usually you can tell what weight a yarn is by just looking at the recommended needle size.

Fingering weight yarn usually calls for needle sizes 2.0mm to 3.25mm (yankee sizes would be 0 -3) Next size up would be sport (needle sizes 3.25- 3.75 mm’s, us sizes 3-5). Next size would be dk or double knit, ( 3.75-4.5 mm’s or us sizes, 5-7) next would be your worsted weight and that’s recommended for needles, 4.5 - 5.5, us sizes 7-9.

I know I have left out lace weight yarn, but that’s for a reason, it is superfine n thin but, depending on the effect you are trying to achieve with your lace the needle sizes run the gamut.

Then comes aran weight (just a tad thicker than worsted because of the way it’s spun), then chunky, then bulky then your funky specialty yarns like lion brand’s BIG.

I haven’t written this for ya’ll to be the end all to yarn weight, it’s just what I have observed over the years as to what is usually called for for each weight of yarn.
Hope this helps ya!:thumbsup: