Needles, Yarn Sizes & Gauges...Oh My!

Time does fly when your having fun?, loading the wood stove to keep warm at 0-15 degrees...but I did have the scale drop 4 lbs! As hard as it is, maybe keeping away from the chocolate is not a bad thing. Hey, I did buy a yoga mat, weights and a dvd to do yoga for weight loss. Looks like I'll have to buy another more preliminary dvd as in Yoga for the stiff & inflexible!

Well, in the past week you have all that lovely yarn spun, soaked and dried, ready to knit (or crochet).

But what size yarn is it? In order to know what needle size to use, you must know the yarn thickness. The easiest way to determine that is by measuring wraps per inch or WPI. I used a cheap wood ruler and cut out a one inch section in the middle of the ruler about 1/4" deep, say between numbers 4 & 5 . It doesn't matter which set of numbers you use just that it is an inch measurement. So now you have a ruler that looks like it has a 1" tooth missing. Now take your handspun yarn and carefully wind it in that inch space without overlapping but make sure the winds are next to each other with no space showing. Do not pull the yarn or wind it tight, just normal wrapping. When the 1" space is filled with yarn count the number of wraps it took to fill the space. If you can't cut a space in a ruler  you can carefully wrap yarn around the ruler for 1" but don't exceed the numbers or go past the lines.  Now that you know the WPI number here are the yarn sizes and needle ranges that go with the number!

WPI     YARN SIZE      STITCH GAUGE         NEEDLE SIZE          YARDS/LB.


 18+    lace weight           8+ sts / inch                  00-2                             2600+


 16       fingering/sock    6-8 sts / inch                1-3                          1900-2400


 14       sport weight        5-6 sts / inch                 4-6                          1200-1800


 12       worsted weight   4-5 sts / inch                 7-9                           900-1200


 10       bulky weight        3-4 sts / inch                 10-11                        600-800


  8-       very bulky             2-3 sts /inch                 13-15                        400-500


Well, I hope this clears the air a bit with yarn sizes. Handspun has thick & thin spots in it and with the bulkier size yarns I would choose the higher size needle unless you want a dense, tight knit. 

Truly the best way to know your gauge is to knit a 4" x 4" swatch on the needles you want to knit with and then count your stitches within an inch using a ruler.  You can always go up or down a size on your needles to adjust your gauge for a pattern.

How about we talk about some dying wool & yarn next time????

I'll be back soon!
Arlyne ~ http://www.thewooleywhale.com