Helpful Swatch Part 5: Substituting One Yarn for Another

August 31, 2020| LindyBeir| 0 Comment | 8:00 am

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Many times a knitter will select a pattern to knit only to discover that the yarn used in the pattern is either not available or there isn’t a sufficient quantity available for purchase or it costs more than what the budget allows. So, that leads to finding a reasonable substitute to use. I have seen many forum posts in Ravelry where knitters have had difficulty making a proper substitution.

The first step in substituting one yarn for another is to look for a yarn of similar fiber composition that has approximately the same weight and recommended gauge as the yarn listed in the pattern. By this, I mean if the yarn used in the pattern is worsted weight (size 4), it’s best to find another worsted weight yarn to use as the substitute. If you are purchasing from a local yarn shop, the staff may help you find a substitute. If shopping online, Yarnsub.com is a helpful website that can be used to guide your initial search. Another resource is Ravelry – if the pattern is available in the Patterns database, you can look at others’ projects to see what yarns have been used. Regardless, once you pick your substitute yarn – you’ll need to swatch to find your gauge before you cast on and begin knitting the pattern.

Question: “I’m not getting the same gauge with my substituted yarn as the gauge stated in the pattern – what do I do now?

Here are some options to consider:

Change needle size and reknit the swatch to see if you can match the gauge. If you are getting more stitches than the stated gauge – go up one or two needle sizes. If you are getting fewer stitches than the stated gauge – go down one or two needle sizes. If you succeed in matching gauge with the change in needles and you like the fabric you are producing, then simply follow your pattern and knit with the size needle that helps you get gauge.
If you still can’t get gauge after changing needle sizes, but you like the fabric you are getting, calculate the number of stitches you need to cast-on to match your chest measurement and check the pattern to see if there is a size that uses the same number of stitches. You may still need to make adjustments in shaping if your row gauge is different from the pattern.
Use the pattern as a guide only – use the schematic plus any adjustments you need to make and then determine the stitch counts and rows needed to make the garment with your own gauge. (A good reference for this is Knitting Pattern Essentials by Sally Melville)

Here’s the next issue for substituting one yarn for another: Does the substitute have the same weight and yardage as the original yarn? If it does – you are in luck and can simply buy the same amount of yarn as what is given in the pattern for the size of the garment you want to knit. (Remember to buy an extra one for swatching.) However, in most cases there is a difference in yardage and/or weight between the substitute and the original yarn – which leads to the question: “How much of my substitute yarn do I need? This brings us back to the basic math I covered in my previous post: “To determine the number of skeins, balls or hanks of yarn you need: Divide the number of yards by the number of yards in the skein. Or divide the total number of grams by the number of grams of the skein. Remember that you will want one extra skein for swatching. “

Socks for CharlotteSocks for Charlotte

I knit two little pairs of socks for Charlotte shortly after she was born. In fact, while I was visiting at the hospital, my DS traced one of Charlotte’s footprints so that I could take it home a make a pair of socks for her little feet.

Her little foot measured 3 inches from the tip of her big toe to her heel. I used some sock yarn I had on hand in a variegated shades of pink and a size US 1 (2.25 mm) 32 inch long circular. The socks were knit using Magic Loop, two at a time. I knit them from the cuff down. These little socks knit up quickly and I made a second pair using another skein of yarn that was a light pink color. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the second pair. DIL reported that these socks stayed on her feet when most do not.

I wrote up the pattern for these socks. Each pair takes only 10 g of sock yarn, so it would be a great way to use up leftover yarn from your bigger sock knitting projects. 🙂
Here is the link to the pattern: Newborn Size Socks

Stitch Patterns – Garter Stitch, Stockinette Stitch & Reverse Stockinette StitchStitch Patterns – Garter Stitch, Stockinette Stitch & Reverse Stockinette Stitch

I have decided to blog about various stitch patterns from time to time. So I am starting with the time honored basics: the garter stitch, the stockinette stitch and the reverse stockinette stitch.

This discussion assumes you know how to do a knit stitch and a purl stitch. If you are new to knitting and are not familiar with these two stitches, click on this link: http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/knit-stitch.

Garter Stitch: this stitch pattern is made by knitting every row, turning your knitting at the end of each row. (You would get the same effect if you purled every row – but most knitters prefer to knit every row). If you want to knit garter stitch “in the round”, you would knit one row and then purl one row – so most patterns using garter stitch are for flat pieces rather than circular knit pieces. The pattern produces a knitted fabric with ridges on each side that is essentially reversible – it looks very much the same on the right side as the wrong side. It takes two rows to make 1 ridge. The garter stitch is great for borders because it will not curl and lays flat once knitted. Many afghan and baby blanket patterns have a garter stitch border and it is often used as the basis for wash clothes and placemats.

Stockinette Stitch: this stitch pattern is the most commonly used knitted fabric. This stitch pattern produces a fabric with flat “V” shaped stitches on the right side and bumpy stitches on the wrong side. It is also known as flat knitting, tricot or jersey knit. Stockinette stitch consists of knitting one row, turning your work and purling one row if you are knitting a flat piece. If you are knitting in the round, you knit every row. Stockinette stitch fabric curls on the edges and at the top and bottom – it makes a good fabric for the body of a garment, but usually requires another stitch pattern for edging and or borders. It also stretches lengthwise when worn.

Reverse Stockinette Stitch: this is exactly what it sounds like – it is simply stockinette stitch fabric used with the purl side as the right side. It has all the properties of the stockinette stitch, but in addition, it will also stretch widthwise. You can see how the 3 stitches differ in the picture below:

If you look at the pictures of my teddy bear baby blanket – you will see how the teddy bear is formed by using the stockinette and reverse stockinette stitches together to form the pattern. This is a good example of how they can be combined to form textured patterning. Aran knitting patterns often combine stockinette, reverse stockinette and garter stitches as part of the textural patterning. Again, here are examples where the stitching is actually very straightforward and easy – but produces a fabric that looks complex because of the wonderful textures.

Note: For information on tension issues occurring with garter stitch, stockinette and reverse stockinette stitch, see my post on Master Knitter Level I — Swatches #1, 2 & 3.

Do You Know? Swatching 101Do You Know? Swatching 101

This is the first in a series of blog posts about swatching. It has taken me years to gain an appreciation for swatching and I frequently see posts in Ravelry forums about issues coming from swatches. If you are on Ravelry, you have probably seen them too. There are usually a number from new knitters/beginners that ask why the sweater they just knit according to a pattern doesn’t fit and many times, these knitters either didn’t swatch at all or didn’t knit a proper swatch. So, this set of posts is intended to share what I have learned over the years about swatching.

Take my quiz below to check your understanding of swatches.

Question 1: True or False: A swatch must be 4 inches by 4 inches (10 cm X 10 cm).

Question 2: True or False: The needle size stated in the pattern is the size needle you must use to obtain the pattern’s stitch and row gauge.

Question 3: True or False: Row Gauge is not important.

Question 4: True or False. Swatching is necessary for knitting sweaters and other fitted garments.

Question 5: True or False: You must get gauge when knitting from a pattern.

Click here to see Quiz Answers.

My next post will cover swatching to obtain gauge. If you have a question about swatching, please post it in the comments. I will try to incorporate an answer in my upcoming posts.