Yarn comes in many colors, textures, and thicknesses and varies greatly in cost. Selecting the right type of yarn is the first step toward creating a great knitting project.
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Choosing Yarn for a Project
When choosing yarn for a project, consider three factors:
- Cost: Yarns range in price from very affordable to very expensive. Though you might want to knit a scarf using costly, luxurious yarn, even the cheapest yarn will suffice for learning all the stitches and techniques in this guide.
- Personal taste: If you don’t like a yarn’s color or texture, then it’s not right for the project. There’s no fun in knitting with a yarn you don’t like.
- Project suitability: The suitability of a particular yarn depends on its weight (thickness), texture, and washability (which varies from fiber to fiber).
Yarn Weights
From thinnest to thickest, here are the most common yarn weights and the projects that suit each one best:
- Fingering (baby weight or 4-ply): Fine baby wear, socks, lace shawls
- Sport (double knitting or DK): Baby wear, thin socks, thin sweaters
- Worsted: Afghans, gloves, hats, scarves, sweaters, handbags, and virtually any other knit item
- Heavy worsted (Aran): Afghans, gloves, hats, scarves, sweaters, and almost any other knit items
- Bulky (chunky or double-double): Heavy gloves, scarves, sweaters, and home décor items
- Super bulky: Sweaters and home décor items
Types of Yarns
Yarns can be made from animal hair fibers, plant fibers, synthetic fibers, or a blend of these types.
Yarns Made from Animal Hair Fibers
Yarn made from animal fibers insulates well, absorbs moisture without feeling wet, and is highly breathable. Still, animal fiber yarns can be itchy and allergenic, making them unsuitable for items worn directly on the skin and for people with allergies or sensitive skin, such as newborn babies. Unless specially treated, animal fiber yarns must be washed with great care or dry cleaned.
| Type | Pros | Cons | ||
| Wool | Light, absorbent, good insulator | Can itch; clean only in cold water | ||
| Alpaca | Strong, warm | Same as wool | ||
| Mohair | Warm, attractive, fuzzy | Itchy; shouldn’t be worn against skin | ||
| Silk | Strong, light, not very allergenic | Expensive, easily damaged in wash | ||
| Angora | Fluffy, warm | Sheds |
Yarns Made from Plant Fibers
Cotton and linen yarns are ideal for summer clothing: absorbent and strong but also light and breathable. Other plant fiber yarns include hemp, jute, bamboo, and soy.
| Type | Pros | Cons | ||
| Cotton | Soft, light, strong, absorbent | Inelastic, making knitting difficult | ||
| Linen | Soft, very strong, cool | Can be stiff; wrinkles easily |
Yarns Made from Synthetic Fibers
Synthetic (man-made) fibers such as acrylic, polyester, polyamide, viscose, and nylon are used to make yarn that’s inexpensive, hypoallergenic, and easy to wash. These yarns are neither absorbent nor warm so are best for light clothing.
Yarn Blends
Yarn blends combine different fibers to get the benefits of each. For example, a wool-acrylic blend may feel as warm as 100% wool but cost less and be machine-washable.
Balls, Skeins, and Hanks of Yarn
You can buy yarn in three different forms: a ball, a skein (a ready-to-use wrapped coil), or a hank (a loose braided coil).
With balls and skeins, you’ll be able to start knitting with the yarn right away. With hanks, you’ll first have to wind the yarn into a ball before you can start knitting.
How to Wind a Hank of Yarn into a Ball
- Leaving a tail about 10″ long, wrap the yarn into a loose figure eight shape around your thumb and pinky about 15 times
- Remove the figure eight from your fingers and fold it in half so that the two loops look like one thick loop.
- Being careful not to stretch out the yarn, wind the remaining yarn around the folded figure eight, changing directions as needed to keep the growing ball round. As you wrap, make sure that you can still see the 10″ tail hanging out from the middle of the ball.
- When you’re ready to knit, start pulling the yarn from the tail emerging from the center of the ball.
Reading a Yarn Label
Yarn labels provide other vital information about the yarn, beyond weight and fiber content:
- Length: The length is simply the amount of yarn, in yards, contained in a ball, skein, or hank.
- Color and dye lot: Yarn manufacturers mix their dye in batches called dye lots. Different dye lots of the same color are often slightly different shades. When buying yarn for a single project, make sure it’s all the same color and comes from the same dye lot. If you’re not sure how much yarn a project will require, buy an extra skein from the same dye lot just to be safe.
- Needle size: Needles come in different sizes based on their widths (see Knitting Tools and Supplies). Certain needles work better with certain yarns.
- Gauge: The gauge is the number of stitches per inch that you can expect to produce if you work with the recommended needle size. Gauge becomes particularly important in more advanced knitting projects that involve following knitting patterns.
- Washing instructions: Laundering guidelines vary greatly from yarn to yarn. Be sure to follow these instructions or you may ruin your project in the wash.
Novelty Yarn
Novelty yarn is any yarn with unusual qualities, such as fuzzy protruding strings or knobby bursts of color. Novelty yarns have become very popular in recent years and can produce beautiful fabrics. But it’s best to hold off on using them until you’ve mastered basic knitting skills. The extra fluff or uneven thickness of these yarns can make it difficult to monitor the quality of your stitches as you knit.
