So many of the patterns that I see specify things like: sock yarn, fingering, worsted, double knit, sport - how do you know what type of yarn you´re looking at? Some patterns, for example too, have numbers like 1 thru 6 etc.
I live overseas and the yarn is not marked or graded the same as it might be in the states. Is there any way I can tell if I¨m getting the right yarn for a project? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks! 
Karen
Maybe this will help. It gives the numbers plus stitches per inch.
http://www.yarnstandards.com/weight.html
A few British equivalents for U.S. yarn weights:
3-ply is similar to U.S. sock weight or fingering yarn;
4-ply or double knitting is similar to U.S. sport yarn (the U.S. has been adopting the DK designation recently);
8-ply is similar to worsted.
(Please, Brits, correct me if I’m wrong.)
It becomes very confusing because the number of plies (individual threads in a yarn) has little to do with the yarn’s weight. 8 plies of fine silk can be thinner than 3 plies of loosely spun wool.
It would be nice if there were global standards for yarn weights. In the meantime, your best bet is to look at the gauge (number of stitches per inch) for any given yarn, rather than its weight designation.
Jan - great website!!! And it´s in Spanish too, so that should help me out quite a bit. It´s been bookmarked…
Knitasha - thanks for explaining the ply definition, and I guess in the end, the gauge is all that counts!
Thanks so much! :happydance: Karen
It’s in spanish?? :?? Glad I could help! :cheering:
Sorry, you can change it into Spanish, over in the column on the left. You can change it into French as well. Pretty cool, huh? :happydance: Karen