Worsted wool/knitting gauge.

I have been knitting for a year and a few months now, and up until this point I have pretty much used Bernat Premium acrylic yarn in worsted weight for all my projects. I am knitting a hat for someone for Christmas and I decided I would like to try using real wool. So I purchased some from a brand that is fairly local to me. It is worsted weight yarn. It looks very similar in size. But I noticed that when I knit a small swatch with the wool it comes out a fair bit larger than a comparable swatch in the acrylic. Has anyone else ever noticed anything like this? Is it normal?

Different gauge for different yarns in the same weight group often vary. Worsted ranges from just a little thicker than dk to just a little thinner than bulky. The best thing to do is to swatch to find out what needle size you need to make gauge. Gauge can change after washing and blocking. Based on what you wrote I think you’ll likely need a smaller needle to get the same gauge but it’s a good idea to wash and dry your swatch as you would the finished project and see what happens.

3 Likes

Totally normal for yarns of the same weight to be different gauges due to variation in the thickness and also how they respond to washing or blocking.
I have used mostly DK weight but they all vary depending on brand, fibre, how its plied an maybe also how grippy it is (I’ve used cotton which is slippery and glossy and cotton which is matt, both DK, knitted differently) and the needles you use will have an effect too, if you change from say metal to wood needles there can be a gauge change. This is why swatching is important, also to wash the swatch. Sometimes even when I get the stitch gauage with the given size needle I don’t like the fabric, it’s too loose or too tight so I might change needle size and adapt a pattern to the new gauge, based on how I want the fabric to look and drape.

I did at one time think my knitting experience would be much easier if I just used the same yarn for ever, but of course that would be dull!

1 Like

Thanks for your replies. I never thought of washing after swatching. It might have been easier to use the yarn I am accustomed to. I may even do that still and use the wool for something else, because I am not sure if my brother would bother cleaning it properly. That said, man I really love the wool. It’s pretty coarse and rugged, but it just feels so genuine.

3 Likes

I think you have the solution, to use acrylic for your brother, especially if he’d be likely to toss the wool hat into the dryer at some point!

And welcome to the wonderful world of wool! There are all different types of wool, which all knit up differently. Merino seems to be most common, but I’ve become a huge fan of BFL (Blue-Faced Leicester), which is a bit fuzzy and “woolly” but not itchy at all.

3 Likes

Maybe I could try to make a felted hat with the wool. Though, I am sure that would be even trickier to size correctly.

1 Like

There must be hat patterns intended to be felted…why, yes! Just a few…29 pages on Ravelry!
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#query=felted%20hats

2 Likes

The ravelry results are a bit misleading as they aren’t all felted, some are using rowan felted tweed yarn for instance so they’ve come up in the results.
That said, some great felted hats there! I like the cap which is the very first result.

1 Like