All About Yarn

Happy Monday!

Hello and welcome to Knitting with Liz! If this is your first article feel free to follow and join our little knitting community and comment below with any projects you are completing!

Let's talk yarn.

Whether you're at a craft shop or your local walmart, walking down the yarn aisle can be intimidating. There are all sorts of colors that draw the eye, brands to learn, and inevitable price tags. 

All yarn can be organized using the following categories: Weight, Fiber, and Hue. Weight is the thickness of the yarn and can be identified while looking at the yarn. The bulkier the yarn the faster the project. The lighter the yarn, the more intricate the project can be. Fiber is what the yarn is made of. For example, yarn could be made of wool, cashmere, cotton, acrylic, and silk as well as other fibers. Finally, hue is the color of the yarn itself. When shopping I tend to gravitate toward bright, attractive colors in my favorite weight of yarn.

Weight

Weight is the thickness or heaviness of a yarn. In America, yarn will typically have one of the following numbers, and labels as shown below: 

1. Super Fine: 

2. Fine

3. Light

4. Medium

5. Bulky

6. Super Bulky

7. Jumbo

Here is a helpful graphic that helps explain each category with a bit more detail (original website and image can be found here).

When I started knitting, I actually began using Super Bulky yarn. As I have grown my skills, I have chosen to buy and start projects with lighter weights, but still tend to choose the larger yarns and larger needle sizes. When looking at a pattern it is important to check which weight of yarn is called for!

Fiber

When shopping at a normal craft store, you are most likely to be able to find cotton, wool, and acrylic blends. Velvet fibers are currently popular (Michaels even gave the fiber its own page on their website!) but are not particularly common or easy to find.

Many yarn choices are also a blend of different fibers. For example on the Hobby Lobby yarn page, you can look through specific blends of fiber. Here are a few of them shown below:

Typically, when working on a project choose your fiber based on the feel you want your piece to have. If you know you or a client has a particular fiber allergy, then just make sure to stay away from that product and its blends. 

Hue

ROYGBV... Let's talk color. 

Hue is simply the color we see when walking down the yarn aisle. The basic hues, of course, are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. However, there are many different tints and shades that makes each and every hue unique.

When choosing your yarn, find a color that speaks to you! Find a color that is going to inspire you to finish your project and get you excited about doing so. 

How do you pick your yarn? Do you go for the brightest color or feel each skene to find the perfect texture? Leave a comment below with your thoughts or in progress projects you're completing!

As always, thank you and enjoy!

Elizabeth