Yardage is a key to knowing how much you will need for a project. If you are substituting a yarn, the yardage may vary enough to require many more skeins. Do the math before you buy. I usually buy an extra skein if it is close. Better safe than sorry. Some loftier yarns will be packaged in smaller yardage and require more skeins for a project. Fine yarn will usually have more yards in a skein.
Dye lot and color number are very important. You must make absolutely sure that the individual packages of yarn you buy all have the same dye lot number. Yarn is vat-dyed in most cases and will have variations from one dye bath to the next. This results in different colors that really become apparent when knitted together. I once knit a white sweater that had a different shade of white in one sleeve. Yes, I had unknowingly picked up a ball of yarn from another dye lot, yet it wasn't easy to see until it was sewn together.
I recommend that you always buy one extra skein for your project just to be on the safe side. You might put the project down for months or even years and then discover you need more yarn but it cannot be found. Several yarn stores will take back an unopened skein of yarn for store credit. Ask before you buy. Nothing is sadder than a project unfinished because of insufficient yarn. All that hard work!
The weight of yarn, or thickness of the strand, is sometimes on the label. Manufacturers often have different standards for naming the thickness of the yarn. You can usually tell by the gauge whether it is a fine yarn or a bulky yarn, but it often remains confusing. The Craft Yarn Council of America, the industry's trade association, has worked with experts in knitting and crocheting to create an international symbol for various weights of yarns. The number pictured in a drawing of a skein of yarn means that one yarn can be interchanged with another of the same number. Fingering (1), sport (2), DK (3), worsted (4), bulky (5) and super-bulky (6) weights are then easy to identify. You can find these helpful symbols available for download at www.yarnstandards.com.
Gauge appears on most labels as a little diagram or square. The stitches per inch and the rows per inch are noted. Normally the gauge is done over 4 inches and worked for 4 inches. This requires that the number of stitches per inch and rows per inch be multiplied by four.
I must stop here to say how important working a gauge is to the outcome of your successful project. It might seem unimportant when you want to get started and the movie on TV is about to begin. It will be very important when the sweater you knit is too small because your work is too tight. I will write more about this very important aspect of knitting or crocheting later.
Catherine Hollingsworth, interior designer, artist and professional knitter, has lived in Alaska for 17 years. A past president of Knitters of the North, she currently designs knitwear patterns for publication. To reach her, e-mail kmccoy@adn.com; put "knitting" in the subject line.
CROCHET CAFE: An innovative new social gathering is coming to Anchorage. Learn to crochet, read poetry, listen to music and meet new friends who also crochet. Crochet Cafe, sponsored by One Nation Under Yarn, will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday at Metro Music and Book, 530 E. Benson Blvd. Cost is $15. Register by calling Gwen Faye at 338-5718.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.