This week, I thought it would be helpful to talk about yarn weight! Besides coming in all sorts of colors and textures, yarn also comes in different thicknesses, called weight.
You can find the weight of the yarn on the label of a skein (another term for a ball of yarn that you would purchase). If you’re buying yarn online, you will also be able to tell the weight of the yarn by looking for certain keywords.
Understanding this terminology is important when picking out a yarn, especially if you’re incorporating different brands of yarn together in a single project.
Skein labels
When looking at a label, it gives you a lot of great information. It tells you what crochet hook or set of knitting needles is recommended for that yarn (as well as the gauge it’ll work out to be), the number of yards or meters (for when you’re deciding if you’re buying enough), and the weight! This is just to name a few helpful pieces of information of course, but today, we’ll be focusing on the weight.
You’ll typically see a number and a word paired together in a box, and this is what you’ll use to figure out the weight of the yarn! In the case of this skein, the yarn weight is medium, or 4. We’ll talk about this in a minute!
Purchasing yarn online
You may be thinking: But what if I’m buying my yarn online? How do I see what’s on the label when I’m not physically looking at it?
This is part of the information included with the description of the yarn! Because it’s so important to have available when deciding what yarn to buy, you should always be able to find it before you buy it!
Here’s an example of what a yarn listing looks like on the Michael’s website. The weight is listed with the terminology and the number.
What does it mean?
Now that you know where to find it, it’s time to talk about what it means! While I typically go by matching the number (like the 4 from the yarn skein photo), it’s still important to understand the names of the weights because a pattern may not always use the number to talk about the recommended weight.
Some yarn weights have several names. I put together a table of this information so you can see what the number of the weight is, the name it goes by (with other common ones), and their common uses.
The information in this table comes from Craft Yarn Council and Herrschners.
This doesn’t mean you have to use light worsted yarn only for garments, but it’s a nice guide if you’re looking for a place to start.
One thing these recourses didn’t mention is amigurumi. You can play with different weights to create larger and smaller amigurumi, but the medium weight yarn is my go to for amigurumi. It’s easy to use, easy to get, and you can find cheaper options for when you’re starting out!
Yarn weight hacks
So now that we know where to find the weight, what that terminology is, and some of the common uses, I want to share some of my hacks.
1) You can usually mix and match yarn brands as long as the weight is the same.
You’ll probably see a small difference so if you’re making something where measurements need to be exact (like a garment), you may want to stick to the same brand. This is great for using up scrap yarn!
This is a project I’m working on now. All of these yarns are a medium weight, but my Red Heart yarn is a little on the chunky side, while my Caron Simply Soft is a little on the thinner side. This doesn’t bug me too much here, and I crochet a little tighter for the Red Heart and looser for the Caron to make up for that.
2) You can hack a yarn weight by using different hook sizes.
Your tension and hook size can help you achieve different looks with a single weight of yarn! If you use a smaller hook than the recommended size, you’ll have a tigther stitch. Using a bigger hook means it’ll be looser, so there will be gaps in your stitches. Both looks have situations where they’re useful, so experiment to find what you like!
Here is just to show you. This is the same yarn. The top section is done with a 3.25 mm hook, the middle is with the recommended 5.0 mm hook, and the bottom one is with a larger 6.5 mm hook.
Lacey looks typically use a bigger hook than what is recommended for the yarn, while things like amigurumi that require tight stitches to keep the filling in either use the recommended hook or smaller.
3) Where sizing is important, don’t skip the gauge test!
I used to take the gauge for granted, but mainly because most of what I crochet doesn’t really matter with how it works up in size. However, if you’re doing something like clothing where you’re making a cardigan or hat, don’t skip checking your gauge!
Clothing patterns will often have different stitch counts to accomodate different sizes, and if you’re starting off with the incorrect gauge, your project will be doomed from the start. Especially if you’re working with a different weight of yarn, the way you crochet, the yarn you use, and the hook you use all play a part in determining how something will turn out. For me, most of the time I end up needing to change to a different hook size than what the pattern calls for.
The gauge is usually listed at the beginning of the pattern. It’ll tell you the size an area of crocheted yarn should be. The pattern creator will give you a stitch to use, the number of stitches in a row, and the number of rows you need to do, as well as what width and height that area should be.
4) If you’re just starting to crochet, medium weight (or #4) is the most versatile.
I spent most of my crochet “life” using the same weight of yarn, 4. It’s a great weight to learn on. It’s big enough to be susbstantial so it’s harder to drop stitches and you aren’t cramping your hands to work with it, and it’s not so big that it becomes cumbersome to work with.
If you want to learn how to make clothing, you can swap in a bigger hook to give it that flowier feel. You can make blankets to your heart’s content. You can experiment with amigurumi!
All made with a weight 4 yarn!
It’s also the easiest to find in stores, so if you’re just trying to see if crochet is something you’d enjoy, you can pick up a skein and a hook pretty easily and cheaply.
And that’st a few things to know about yarn weight! Are you curious about something else? Let me know down in the comments!