Hi everyone, I hope you found this helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions about yarn weight, and grab the conversion table at bit.ly/international-yarn-weights.
I'm extremely glad to have found this video of yours because I'm starting out in knitting and am totally confused about, as you said, how can 4 ply also be worsted weight? And I still don't get it. 😞 I have a stash of yarn (who knows where it came from) with few labels to say what it is. I searched online for help and one video said to do as you did and pull the yarn apart into individual strands to count the ply. Seemed reasonable at first but eventually things weren't making sense! Then I tried the WPI which made more sense to me but didn't explain how, for example, something 4 ply could also be worsted weight. I'd be eternally grateful if you could clarify this further or point me in the direction of another video if that subject has already been covered. I was so happy to find an Aussie explaining this stuff - why there can't be an international yarn weight system, I have no clue! LOL Thank you. ❤
@@naomiledger1374 hi! Did you watch the section at the end called “A note about ply”? That was my attempt at explaining what you’re asking about, if it still doesn’t make sense, can you clarify what you’re still confused about?
Hi! I am Canadian and we use the American system here. Thank goodness...we don't need yet ANOTHER system to use! Great video with lots of useful information, especially for beginners.
So helpful. I’m an Aussie in Canada and you just saved me hours of confusion. Most yarn I see here in the US or UK/Europe weight chart. But wow was that helpful. Thank you thank you!!!
Thank you. This is so interesting and informative. We in South Africa seem to have a simpler system - or maybe it's just because we haven't caught up with the rest of the world yet. 😊 Traditionally we haven't ever used the term "yarn". We call everything wool even if it doesn't have a single strand of actual wool in it. We have 3 ply yarn, which is used mainly for baby garments and blankets, etc, 4 ply which is like fingering weight (my personal favourite but not too freely available anymore), DK or double knitting, and chunky. I see that Aran weight is becoming more available now. There also more bulky yarns available but not many. Although we are a wool exporting country unfortunately we don't have as wide a variety of yarns available to us here. It's also not easy to buy yarns from other countries because of the cost. That doesn't stop is from carrying on with our knitting and crocheting, though.
We used to call everything wool here too! I think it's a hangover from British English - yarn seems to be more of an American term. Your weight system seems to be closest to the British system too, just with some of the categories (like Aran) missing/used less. Thanks for letting me know, I find different country's systems fascinating!
Thank u , i live in the USA and purchased 2 baby outfit sets accidently in Aran yarn and have been trying to figure out how to substitute it for a medium 4 weight yarn with a recomended hook size of 5 mm. Thanx to your charts i realize its pretty much the same thing and it shouldnt matter with making these baby closthes. Ty and God bless!
Brillant international Yarn 🧶 weight/name chart!! 👏🏼 👏🏼 Brava! Also, excellent explanation overall n most importantly - recommending a gauge swatch before starting a pattern. Yarn.sub reference also good, especially for Americans n Canadians. Another topic, perhaps for another vid, would be to explain Yarn textile types n how Yarn is processed (twisted, chain, single ply, etc.). Ex: A cotton DK chained Yarn will look, feel, stretch, work up n block very differently than a spun single ply DK acrylic would do. So, added explanation of how Natural fibers behave very differently than man-made, etc. Great job 👍🏼 n nice graphics.
Hey Stephanie! So... I actually meant for this to be part of a series, and the next video in the series was going to be all about fibre types and how they'd affect substitution. So you're bang on the money. Maybe I'll actually make the video one of these days. 😅
Thank you so much for your excellent explanation of yarn weights. Thank you for the chart to convert from one system to another! I had no idea that Aran weight yarn was a UK definition that overlaps with worsted wt. in the USA! It's all so confusing, but you've helped me understand things!
Awww thanks for making this vid. Just got into crocheting and learning from YT, but it's hard when most vids are made outside of AUS and sometimes when they talk about yarn I don't understand and use the wrong ply and my project looks completely different. Thanks for the PDF! Real helpful!
You are so welcome! I'm glad you found it helpful, I was specifically hoping to find some Aussie beginners to help out 😊. If you have any other topics you'd like to see videos on please let me know!
Ha ha I’m in the U.S. and I’m completely confused now for sure. I don’t think I’ll be venturing out of my narrow comfort zone 😊 Thank you for your efforts?
Thank you for this useful info. As an Aussie knitter, I still get confused with understanding all the conversions. Only recently I was inquiring about yarn to purchase and thought that it was ‘2ply’ from the description but it was really 4ply in weight. The 2 ply was describing the 2 strands. The table chart was really helpful too. Thanks again.
No problem, glad you liked it! Yeah it's becoming a common problem, I've noticed that more American yarn companies are starting to mention what ply their yarns are and it's making a lot of Aussie knitters confused.
Love the name Oliphant!! In my language, Afrikaans in South Africa, it means Elephant! This video is very very helpful, solved lots of my crocheting problems!! I started to knit as a kid already in the 60's , so much changed that I am today totally confused, could be the age too😹Thank you Kat you where very helpful! Clicked Like and Subscribed to your Channel!
Oh yes, I had someone comment before saying they assumed I was South African before they started watching because of the name :D Welcome to the channel! If you need help with anything let me know, I know knitting's changed a LOT in just the last decade or so so it can get quite confusing.
Hey Carol, glad it was helpful! Yes someone else from Canada told me recently that you guys use the US weights - thank goodness there isn't yet another weight system to have to keep track of 😄
I am in Australia and wanting a substitute for an outdated cotton yarn that is described as 5 ply (12 wpi). What is wpi? And what problems are there if substituting a boucle yarn? Loved your video, your explanations are right on target.
WPI refers to “wraps per inch” This is more commonly used by spinners and is another way of measuring the yarn thickness, because handspun yarn can differ due to the technique used in spinning. If you wrap the yarn gently but firmly around a ruler or a wpi tool and count how many strands fit within 1 inch, this will give you an idea of the yarn weight and help to make other calculations. Each yarn weight Katrina mentioned in this video will have a corresponding wpi range, but some of them overlap depending on the yarn weight, density and construction.
What A Wilesmith said 😄. Ravelry has a good chart that's similar to the one I presented but has the WPI conversion on it too: www.ravelry.com/help/yarn/weights
Thank you so much for your tutorial, things make more sense to me now. Just wondering if I can get your conversion charts. I don't seem to be able to download them when I click on the link. Cheers
Hey Leanne, thanks for letting me know the link was broken! You can download the charts here: www.dropbox.com/sh/k5jcpjghj2wtphc/AAD4AlqTqwGfOCIh9ckhDPm2a?dl=0
Oct 4, 2022. Hi, this was extremely helpful. I’m Canadian, also an expat Brit so I’ve been very very confused by all this stuff - weight, ply, categories, etc. still a bit confused but your video was great and the chart I screen shot is so helpful. I don’t think Canadians have their own yarn weight/categories but tend to use either US or UK. Not very helpful to you who wants to learn more 🤷♀️🤣. I watch a lot of UK podcasts and their constant use of the term DK drives me nuts! We don’t get DK in Canada. Brits call DK a 4 ply yarn but as you and I know 4 ply is a misnomer as ply has nothing to do with it. I therefore believe that DK is a US equivalent of ‘worsted’ or ‘medium’. To my mind, worsted was always thicker than DK??? So, still confused 🤷♀️. I don’t knit garments, too much faffing (ie fiddling) around with fit, I knit and crochet mainly blankets and lacy shawls and I tend to go with the ball band ‘3’ or ‘4’ ie medium type yarn. I do hats though and have had good success with ‘4’ yarns. I think ‘4’ is really equivalent to a UK DK. Have I confused you yet🤣. Anyway thank you for taking the time to try to sort us all out and straighten out the mess of all these categories. I found your video thru an IG/blogger called Knit Like Granny. FYI.
Hey! Sorry for the late reply on this. So from what I understand (after people told me on the comments in this video), Canada uses the US system. So if you're seeing a "3" or a "4" on Canadian yarn, those are the CYC categories I was talking about. 3=DK, 4=worsted. I *think* that DK in the UK and DK in the States is the same, and 4ply in the UK is what they'd call fingering in the States, but honestly given your background you'd know more than me I assume (I know the least about the UK terminology). Thanks for the heads up about Knit Like Granny!
I chose YT for the visual aspect. This tutorial (for me) would have had more impact if u displayed swatches for substitutions. Just a thought. Thanks for the info.
I get my yarn from china and it’s so confusing. Apparently 5 ply yarn from there is similar to dk while 8 ply is a worsted or bulky depending on the brand and it’s so confusing
Oh that's so interesting! Sorry, I can't be much help - I don't think I've ever bought any yarn from China. If you're not familiar with "wraps per inch" go look it up, it'll help you figure out what weight your yarn is when you're unsure.
Hahah omg I know, I made the chart with the idea that it'd be a lead generator and then I ran out of time to set it up before the video came out and I just never came back around to it. Thanks for reminding me! If you still want to sign up to the newsletter I won't complain, it comes with a free beanie pattern 😝
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Hi everyone, I hope you found this helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions about yarn weight, and grab the conversion table at bit.ly/international-yarn-weights.
I'm extremely glad to have found this video of yours because I'm starting out in knitting and am totally confused about, as you said, how can 4 ply also be worsted weight? And I still don't get it. 😞 I have a stash of yarn (who knows where it came from) with few labels to say what it is. I searched online for help and one video said to do as you did and pull the yarn apart into individual strands to count the ply. Seemed reasonable at first but eventually things weren't making sense! Then I tried the WPI which made more sense to me but didn't explain how, for example, something 4 ply could also be worsted weight. I'd be eternally grateful if you could clarify this further or point me in the direction of another video if that subject has already been covered. I was so happy to find an Aussie explaining this stuff - why there can't be an international yarn weight system, I have no clue! LOL Thank you. ❤
@@naomiledger1374 hi! Did you watch the section at the end called “A note about ply”? That was my attempt at explaining what you’re asking about, if it still doesn’t make sense, can you clarify what you’re still confused about?
Hi! I am Canadian and we use the American system here. Thank goodness...we don't need yet ANOTHER system to use! Great video with lots of useful information, especially for beginners.
Oh thank goodness, that's a relief 😅. Thanks for letting me know!
Thank you so much finally someone from Aust to answer our questions. Great video thanks.
No problem, glad it was helpful!
So helpful. I’m an Aussie in Canada and you just saved me hours of confusion. Most yarn I see here in the US or UK/Europe weight chart. But wow was that helpful. Thank you thank you!!!
You are so welcome!
Thank you. This is so interesting and informative. We in South Africa seem to have a simpler system - or maybe it's just because we haven't caught up with the rest of the world yet. 😊
Traditionally we haven't ever used the term "yarn". We call everything wool even if it doesn't have a single strand of actual wool in it. We have 3 ply yarn, which is used mainly for baby garments and blankets, etc, 4 ply which is like fingering weight (my personal favourite but not too freely available anymore), DK or double knitting, and chunky. I see that Aran weight is becoming more available now. There also more bulky yarns available but not many. Although we are a wool exporting country unfortunately we don't have as wide a variety of yarns available to us here. It's also not easy to buy yarns from other countries because of the cost. That doesn't stop is from carrying on with our knitting and crocheting, though.
We used to call everything wool here too! I think it's a hangover from British English - yarn seems to be more of an American term. Your weight system seems to be closest to the British system too, just with some of the categories (like Aran) missing/used less. Thanks for letting me know, I find different country's systems fascinating!
Thank you so much
Learning about yarn is such a headache but you made it so easy
Can’t thank you enough
Thank you so much, this is such a compliment! I'm glad it was helpful.
Thank u , i live in the USA and purchased 2 baby outfit sets accidently in Aran yarn and have been trying to figure out how to substitute it for a medium 4 weight yarn with a recomended hook size of 5 mm. Thanx to your charts i realize its pretty much the same thing and it shouldnt matter with making these baby closthes. Ty and God bless!
So glad it was helpful! Sorry this reply is so late - I had a baby myself 😅. How did your baby outfits turn out?
Brillant international Yarn 🧶 weight/name chart!! 👏🏼 👏🏼 Brava! Also, excellent explanation overall n most importantly - recommending a gauge swatch before starting a pattern. Yarn.sub reference also good, especially for Americans n Canadians. Another topic, perhaps for another vid, would be to explain Yarn textile types n how Yarn is processed (twisted, chain, single ply, etc.). Ex: A cotton DK chained Yarn will look, feel, stretch, work up n block very differently than a spun single ply DK acrylic would do. So, added explanation of how Natural fibers behave very differently than man-made, etc. Great job 👍🏼 n nice graphics.
Hey Stephanie! So... I actually meant for this to be part of a series, and the next video in the series was going to be all about fibre types and how they'd affect substitution. So you're bang on the money. Maybe I'll actually make the video one of these days. 😅
Congrats on starting a podcast! So good to see more Aussie Knitters on here! I’m a knitter in Melbourne! ❤️
Thanks Jess! I'm in the middle of your first episode now 😉
Thank you so much for your excellent explanation of yarn weights. Thank you for the chart to convert from one system to another! I had no idea that Aran weight yarn was a UK definition that overlaps with worsted wt. in the USA! It's all so confusing, but you've helped me understand things!
You are so welcome! I'm glad it was helpful 😊
Best explanation ever! Sure wish i had found this alot sooner. Saving this for reruns as im sure im gonna need it❣
Glad it was helpful!
Awww thanks for making this vid. Just got into crocheting and learning from YT, but it's hard when most vids are made outside of AUS and sometimes when they talk about yarn I don't understand and use the wrong ply and my project looks completely different. Thanks for the PDF! Real helpful!
Yay, I'm glad it was helpful! I have some videos about specific local yarn too, you might find them handy 😊
Thank you!!! So much of the crochet and knitting community online is US related and as a complete beginner in Australia this is super handy!!
You are so welcome! I'm glad you found it helpful, I was specifically hoping to find some Aussie beginners to help out 😊. If you have any other topics you'd like to see videos on please let me know!
this topic was excellent Kat. Thankyou for your explanations and visual illustrations
No worries, I'm glad it was helpful Cheryl!
Ha ha I’m in the U.S. and I’m completely confused now for sure. I don’t think I’ll be venturing out of my narrow comfort zone 😊 Thank you for your efforts?
Up to you, but there's a lot of beautiful yarn available overseas! It's a lot of info to absorb, maybe come back sometime and watch it again 😊
This was very hellpful. Thank you!
Thank you for this useful info. As an Aussie knitter, I still get confused with understanding all the conversions. Only recently I was inquiring about yarn to purchase and thought that it was ‘2ply’ from the description but it was really 4ply in weight. The 2 ply was describing the 2 strands. The table chart was really helpful too. Thanks again.
No problem, glad you liked it! Yeah it's becoming a common problem, I've noticed that more American yarn companies are starting to mention what ply their yarns are and it's making a lot of Aussie knitters confused.
Thank you so much. For a beginner knitter, this is really helpful information!!👍🏻👍🏻
No problem, its the stuff that I wish I'd known when I was a beginner so I'm glad to hear it's helpful for beginners 😄
Love the name Oliphant!! In my language, Afrikaans in South Africa, it means Elephant! This video is very very helpful, solved lots of my crocheting problems!! I started to knit as a kid already in the 60's , so much changed that I am today totally confused, could be the age too😹Thank you Kat you where very helpful! Clicked Like and Subscribed to your Channel!
Oh yes, I had someone comment before saying they assumed I was South African before they started watching because of the name :D Welcome to the channel! If you need help with anything let me know, I know knitting's changed a LOT in just the last decade or so so it can get quite confusing.
This is great! Thank you for putting this together and providing the chart! So helpful. 💛
No problem, glad it was helpful!
Thank you, Kat! This is good information! I live in Canada so I guess I fall under the US weights.
Hey Carol, glad it was helpful! Yes someone else from Canada told me recently that you guys use the US weights - thank goodness there isn't yet another weight system to have to keep track of 😄
This video is so useful thank you Kat for this information 😊
No problem, glad it was helpful!
I am in Australia and wanting a substitute for an outdated cotton yarn that is described as 5 ply (12 wpi). What is wpi? And what problems are there if substituting a boucle yarn? Loved your video, your explanations are right on target.
WPI refers to “wraps per inch”
This is more commonly used by spinners and is another way of measuring the yarn thickness, because handspun yarn can differ due to the technique used in spinning.
If you wrap the yarn gently but firmly around a ruler or a wpi tool and count how many strands fit within 1 inch, this will give you an idea of the yarn weight and help to make other calculations. Each yarn weight Katrina mentioned in this video will have a corresponding wpi range, but some of them overlap depending on the yarn weight, density and construction.
What A Wilesmith said 😄. Ravelry has a good chart that's similar to the one I presented but has the WPI conversion on it too: www.ravelry.com/help/yarn/weights
Thank you so much for your tutorial, things make more sense to me now. Just wondering if I can get your conversion charts. I don't seem to be able to download them when I click on the link. Cheers
Hey Leanne, thanks for letting me know the link was broken! You can download the charts here: www.dropbox.com/sh/k5jcpjghj2wtphc/AAD4AlqTqwGfOCIh9ckhDPm2a?dl=0
Omg this was super helpful! Thank you!
No problem, glad it was useful!
Oct 4, 2022. Hi, this was extremely helpful. I’m Canadian, also an expat Brit so I’ve been very very confused by all this stuff - weight, ply, categories, etc. still a bit confused but your video was great and the chart I screen shot is so helpful. I don’t think Canadians have their own yarn weight/categories but tend to use either US or UK. Not very helpful to you who wants to learn more 🤷♀️🤣. I watch a lot of UK podcasts and their constant use of the term DK drives me nuts! We don’t get DK in Canada. Brits call DK a 4 ply yarn but as you and I know 4 ply is a misnomer as ply has nothing to do with it. I therefore believe that DK is a US equivalent of ‘worsted’ or ‘medium’. To my mind, worsted was always thicker than DK??? So, still confused 🤷♀️. I don’t knit garments, too much faffing (ie fiddling) around with fit, I knit and crochet mainly blankets and lacy shawls and I tend to go with the ball band ‘3’ or ‘4’ ie medium type yarn. I do hats though and have had good success with ‘4’ yarns. I think ‘4’ is really equivalent to a UK DK. Have I confused you yet🤣. Anyway thank you for taking the time to try to sort us all out and straighten out the mess of all these categories. I found your video thru an IG/blogger called Knit Like Granny. FYI.
Hey! Sorry for the late reply on this. So from what I understand (after people told me on the comments in this video), Canada uses the US system. So if you're seeing a "3" or a "4" on Canadian yarn, those are the CYC categories I was talking about. 3=DK, 4=worsted.
I *think* that DK in the UK and DK in the States is the same, and 4ply in the UK is what they'd call fingering in the States, but honestly given your background you'd know more than me I assume (I know the least about the UK terminology).
Thanks for the heads up about Knit Like Granny!
I chose YT for the visual aspect. This tutorial (for me) would have had more impact if u displayed swatches for substitutions. Just a thought. Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the suggestion!
Thank you. This was helpful ❤
No problem, glad it helped!
Can I use 2 balls of worsted 4 to make a sweater with 5ply or bulky please.
Hi! Two strands of worsted held together will come out to be something like a super bulky, but I'd recommend swatching to see if you get gauge.
I get my yarn from china and it’s so confusing. Apparently 5 ply yarn from there is similar to dk while 8 ply is a worsted or bulky depending on the brand and it’s so confusing
Oh that's so interesting! Sorry, I can't be much help - I don't think I've ever bought any yarn from China. If you're not familiar with "wraps per inch" go look it up, it'll help you figure out what weight your yarn is when you're unsure.
Hi thanks for your information.
I like your jumper.🧶
No problem, I'm glad it was useful! And thanks 🥰 If you're looking for the pattern its here: www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/necessity-jumper
Thank you for this 🙏
Ps: I would happily have exchanged my email address for that chart 😉
Hahah omg I know, I made the chart with the idea that it'd be a lead generator and then I ran out of time to set it up before the video came out and I just never came back around to it. Thanks for reminding me! If you still want to sign up to the newsletter I won't complain, it comes with a free beanie pattern 😝
We don't use weight at all.
That's interesting! How do you measure the thickness of your yarn?