.... Think I got the right yarn ....

I tried out making my swatch last night with my new yarn and the 3.5mm hook.  It honestly looked to me like it was working up too big, but when I measured it, it was still 1/2 cm too small !!!

Tried again with a 4mm hook and it came out just about bob-on.  I think I must crochet really tight.

I decided that I didn't really like the colour of yarn I had so I've ordered a couple more colours.  Its so hard to tell what the colours will turn out like when you can't really see the yarn texture and the colours are dependant on the quality of your monitor.

So in the end I've ordered up one each of numbers 5, 9, 19, 33, 58 & 95.  I'd previously got a 48 and 20.  The 48 is a little bit "school jumper" and 20 is quite nice but I think it might be a bit dark for the cardigan I am making.



I will always find a use for the various yarns, so I don't feel too guilty about ordering such a selection of colours.

Trying to get the right yarn...

This is kind of proving a point, I mentioned in my last post that I had found a couple of projects in the Crochet so Fine book.  One of them is a hooded cardigan that I really like the look of (lets see if I can do it justice!).

The pattern calls for "lace weight" yarn, and names the variety used in the photos - unfortunatly it is a brand that is not available in the UK so I have set about trying to find something that will do.

So lace weight yarn is 0 - 3ply - so I thought I'd start with 1ply yarn.  I found some at Buttercup Miniatures

So I got myself 1 skein to see if it would do the job.  The hook size called for is 3.5 mm.

I created the swatch required for measuring the guage and it was WAY too small - so I tried again and used a 4 mm hook, better but still too small.

So I have just bought a 3ply yarn to try it out and see if the size is right, the colours aren't as good but I'll worry about that if the guage is OK.

I think we should start laying bets now on me acutally needing 2ply yarn !!!



Yarn weights & hook sizes

I don't know about you but I get royally frustrated with yarn weights quoted on patterns, I make an "educated guess" as to the correct weight and quite often end up getting it very wrong - which can be costly.  The patterns state to check the gauge first (which I highly recommend) but to check the gauge you need to have already purchased your yarn and given that a  lot of patterns simply refer to a yarn category rather than a particular yarn you need some information so you can make the best choice.

There are 7 categories of yarn, I've listed them below with their closest UK type and also the hook size that is usually used with the yarn category.

To add to the confusion the hook size and the knitting needle size are often different for a yarn ... and usually the yarn band only states the knitting needle size (what is this crocheter discrimination ???!!!)

I have tried to put all the information that you would need to "calculate" the correct yarn in the table below.


Here is a handy PDF file containing all of these conversions and more Conversions

Symbol	US Type	Ply	UK type	hook size (mm)	Needle Size (mm)	Wraps Per Inch
	Thread, cobweb, lace, fingering	1 -3 Ply	10 count thread	1.4 - 1.6	1.5 -2.25	18 +
	Fingering, stocking, baby	3 - 4 Ply	3-4 Ply	2.25 - 3.5	2.25 - 3.25	14
	Sport	5 Ply	Light DK	3.5 - 4.5	3.25 - 3.75	12
	DK, Light Worsted	8 Ply	DK	4.5 - 5.5	3.75 - 4.5	11
	Worsted, Aran	10 Ply	Aran	5.5 - 6.5	4.5 - 5.5	8 or 9
	Bulky	12 Ply	Chunky	6.5 - 9	5.5 - 8	7
	Super Bulky, Roving		Super Chunky	9  and larger	8 and larger	5 or 6

I've included the wraps per inch (WPI) measurement, you can use this where you don't have the yarn band anymore or if you are recycling old jumpers etc.

To measure the WPI you need a pencil or pen and a ruler or measuring tape.   I find it easier if you cut a nick into the top of the pencil to hold the yarn tight, then just wrap the yarn around the pencil until you have covered 1 inch - using your ruler or measuring tape to measure.

When you have covered exactly 1 inch count the wraps (in the image below 13) and that is your WPI.  You may find that the WPI doesn't match a yarn type exactly but you will get a reasonable understanding of the yarn type you have.

Then comes the question of hook sizes, clearly it would be too simple to have a standard :)

There are metric, US and old UK sizes.  Rather confusingly there is a cross over between the steel (or thread) hooks and the plastic hooks in sizes.  I've split them out to (hopefully) aid clarity.

Here are the conversions;

Steel/Thread Hooks

Metric (mm)	US	UK
0.60	14	6
0.70	13	-
0.75	12	5
0.80	11	-
1.00	10	4
1.25	8	3.5
1.50	7	2.5
1.75	6	2
2.00	1	1
2.50	0	0
3.00	00	2

Plastic Hooks

Metric (mm)	US	UK
2.00	-	14
2.25	B/1	13
2.50	-	12
2.75	C/2	-
3.00	-	11
3.25	D/3	10
3.50	E/4	9
3.75	F/5	-
4.00	G/6	8
4.50	7	7
5.00	H/8	6
5.50	I/9	5
6.00	J/10	4
6.50	K/10.5	3
7.00	-	2
8.00	L/11	0
9.00	M/N-13	00
10.00	N/P-15	000
12.00	O-16	000
15.00	P/Q	-
16.00	Q	-
19.00	S	-

Another link to that conversions file.