Changing yarn weights for knitting?
Hi, I was shopping for a new knitting project last week, and I found a pattern that I liked, but it called for lace weight yarn, which the store I was in did not have. The owner suggested I could use sock weight yarn instead, so I went ahead and picked out some beautiful yarn, came home and knitted a swatch, my gauge was correct on the recommended needle size. Though now that I have thought about it a bit, is this going to work? I trusted the store owner, she has 25 years of experience and gives classes, but now that I have thought about it, I don’t think that you are supposed to change yarn weights. Help!
The store owner won’t lead you wrong. She knows the effort put into knitting a piece and she wants to make sure you are a happy customer who will return again and again.
If your gauge is correct it should be ok. Depending on the size of your swatch you might want to knit a larger swatch to make sure the yarn drapes similarly to the yarn originally called for in the pattern.
Most of the time I too can’t find the yarn called for in a pattern or decide it is too expensive and substitute a similar yarn with good results as long as the fiber is similar to what is recommended in the pattern. Wool blends and acrylic will respond in a similar way but substituting cotton for wool will not respond the same way.
Knitting Help – Substituting Yarns
