Craft Tip Thursday - Substituting Yarn In Your Knitted Project

It never seems to fail...does it?

You find a wonderful knitting pattern on Ravelry or Knitty--perfect for the fall, for an upcoming baby shower or great for a holiday gift.  With the anticipation of a kid headed out to her first carnival, you print out your pattern and hurriedly run down to your local yarn store (LYS) to run your fingers through the luxurious yarns that await.  It's all too exciting!!

Once in the door, you ask the sales associate, "where is X yarn?" and at the same time you're wondering about the enormous amount of colors.  "Um..." she says as she checks her computer, "we don't carry that yarn."

What??

Oh no!  What do I do now???!!!!

If this has ever happened to you, then--deep breaths--all is certainly not lost.  In fact, even if your LYS does carry the yarn, but carries only colors that don't really suit your tastes or the project, there are easy ways to substitute yarns.

Here's how to substitute yarns!

1.  Substitute yarns with the same yarn "thickness."  For a hat I was knitting, the yarn specified by the designer was 1 skein of "Madeline Tosh, Tosh Merino in DK weight."  Unfortunately, the Tosh products at my LYS were not really the right colors for my project, so I had to find a different yarn to use.  "DK" is the weight, so I knew that any substitute yarn would also need to be "DK" or"Double Knit" weight.  DK, by the way, is fairly thin yarn.

2.  Find a Yarn with the Same Weight and Length.  By checking the label on the yarn that was specified for the project (Tosh Merino DK), I could see that each skein was 100 grams and had 225 yards of yarn in the hank.  So not only was I looking for a DK weight yarn, but I wanted one that was 100 grams in weight and had between 200-240 yards of material in the 100 grams. 

3.  Check the Gauge!  If the manufacturer has been kind enough to provide you with a diagram of the material's gauge (how big it will be knitted up), compare this gauge with the gauge on the pattern's specified yarn.  Provided you've completed Steps 1 and 2 above, chances are very high that the gauges will not only be similar--they might match exactly.

Of course, if you have any trouble at all, talk with the sales associate at your LYS.  They are not only familiar with all the yarns in their inventory, they've probably worked (knitted) with most of the yarn and can tell you how well your substitute yarn might look with your pattern.  This is one of the reasons that I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to support and shop at your Local Yarn Store.

After just a short period of time, I found a lovely blue yarn by another manufacturer that was 100 grams, 210 yards of material and had the exact same gauge as the Tosh yarn.  It's going to be a great hat, and my friend is going to love it.

Next time you're in the mood to knit or crochet and can't find the project yarn or want a different yarn, use the steps above to find a great substitute yarn!