How To Substitute One Yarn For Another

Janie's Friday Feature
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Welcome to this week's Friday Feature Newsletter - the Janie Crow equivalent of a Sunday supplement magazine....

I have returned from the lovely trip to Ireland last week with a slightly slower frame of mind and so have spent the week pootling around at home and at the studio in a far more leisurely way than usual. It has been really good to take things a tad slower and appreciate more of the things around me.

It is another week with a big birthday in it as our daughter Summer Rose turns 21 today - she shares her birthday with my Dad (who is 85 today) so it is a double celebration. With all that we have planned for the weekend I think my calm frame of mind will be short lived, but who doesn't love an excuse to party?

I spent the first few days of this week looking through and replying to the email responses to the Friday Feature that we have received over the last few weeks. Sarah and myself have now replied to all of them, so if you have been expecting a response and have not seen anything it might be an idea to check in your spam folder in case our emails have landed there - this does happen from time to time.

We had a lot of feedback about the 'What's Milk Got to do with it?' piece from a few weeks ago, with many of you agreeing that small, continuous steps to change our habits have got to be the way forward in regards to helping our environment recover from the abuse mankind has given it.

One of the things that the article raised was a point about making your own decisions about what yarns you want to use in a project and it prompted a few emails from people asking how to substitute yarns within patterns, so I have decided to make this topic the focus for this week's main article, which you will also find further down this email, along with the usual features, such as Instagram favourite of the week.

As always, if you want to get in touch please hit reply and tell us what is on your mind, but for now, grab a cuppa, put your feet up and spend 5 minutes in my company before the excitement of the weekend ahead starts.....
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'Tortoises can tell you more about the road that hares.'
- Khalil Gibran -

Making Yarn Substitutions
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I talked a few weeks ago about the importance of making yarn choices based on your own views and made the point that I am continuing to think a little more about the yarns I choose to use in my future designs. This prompted a flurry of emails that asked about how to make yarn substitutions when working from a pattern, so I hope that some of you will find the following information useful. I have written the piece in general terms so it does not specifically link to any of my designs and can be used for most projects (knit or crochet) that you come across....

Yarn Length: If you are substituting yarn it is important that you find an alternative that achieves the correct tension and has enough total length of yarn for the project.

The first rule is to not assume that every ball of yarn has the same length even if it weighs the same amount.
 
Yarn Weight (thickness): Most yarns on the market fall into set categories according to their thickness. In the UK we have the following standard weights:

1, 2, 3 & 4ply, Double Knitting (DK), Aran and Chunky.

In the US yarn weights differ so you might find this chart helpful, although I would be a little cautious of the information it gives on hook size and guage in regards to crochet.

The second rule is to source a yarn as close to the right weight as possible.

Tension (Guage): Yarns within each weight category should conform to the same standards, one of which is the suggested knitted or crocheted tension. Most ball bands will show you the suggested tension for knitting which is 22 stitches and 30 rows measured over 10cm [4in].
 
Yarns sit within the categories to make it easier to ensure that things come up the right size. This is especially handy when substituting yarn, as, in theory, a DK weight yarn should achieve more or less the same tension regardless of brand or fibre content. The ball band on the yarn should give you the suggested tension and also a needle or hook size that this tension is to be achieved on. For a standard weight DK this is usually a 4mm (US G/6) knitting needle or crochet hook.

If you have time to play about with a few yarn alternatives then it is a good idea to make a tension piece to see whether your new yarn can closely match the tension of the original yarn - it might be worth using different hook or needle size to do this. If you do not have time to do any sampling then you will have to rely on the information given on the ball band.

The third rule is check the tension.

Think about how yarn behaves: When looking for a substitute yarn it is worth taking a bit of time to analyse the yarn used in the original pattern. For example, if you have chosen a pattern that shows something made up in a mohair (hairy) yarn, it could look quite different made up in a smoother yarn and visa versa. Similarly, if you have chosen a pattern because the item in question looks light and drapey then it could look totally different made up in a heavier feeling yarn.

The fourth rule is to analyse the fibre content.

These four steps lead us into....

The Maths
 
but don't worry - it isn't scary!
Once you have taken all the steps above and have chosen your yarn it is time to do some simple maths, but you can only do this if you know the length of the yarn used in the original pattern. If the yarn length is not listed in the pattern then try to find the information on line or at your local yarn shop.

Step One: work out the total length of yarn used in the original design. You can do this in either metres or yards depending on what the pattern and ball band for the yarn is written for. (If you need to do a conversion from metres to yards or visa versa you can use the information on how to do this that is written at the end of this piece)

So, let's say that the yarn listed in the pattern comes in 100g balls that are 298 metres long and that you need 12 balls.

Multiply the length (298) by the number of balls (12)

298 x 12 = 3576

This is a total yarn length of 3,576 metres needed to complete the project.

Step Two: Divide this number by the length of your substitute yarn.

Let's say the new yarn comes in 50g balls that are each 125 metres long.

The total yarn length (3,576) divided by the substitute yarn length per ball (125)

2576 divided by 125 = 28.60

This means the yarn usage is between 28 and 29 balls.
(it is always worth over estimating and rounding to higher amounts rather than lower in case you run out)

So that's it - having followed the first four rules and then taken the next two steps you can work out how to successfully substitute one yarn for another. In my example, for a pattern that uses 12 x 100g yarn at 298 meters length, you would need 28 or 29 50g balls of yarn that is 125 meters.
 
Swapping metres to yards and visa versa
Metres are approximatlely a tenth longer than a yard, so in turn a yard is approxinately a tenth shorter than a metre, but to do the maths properly the magic number you need to remember is

1.09

To get metres to yards you need to multiply by this number and to get yards to metres you need to divide by this number.

So, if you have a pattern that quotes yarn amounts in yards multiply the amount by 1.09 to find the meterage:

eg: 200 yards of yarn divided by 1.09 = 183.4 meters

If, on the other hand you have a pattern that requires 100 metres of yarn, but your yarn label quotes yards, divide the amount by 1.09 to find the yards: 

eg: 100 meters of yarn x 1.09 = 109 yards
 

Instagram of the Week
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I have featured Lizzie Montgomery as my Instagram favourite of the week before. I love her artistic and inspirational feed and I adore the fact that she is an avid crocheter, so I don't really know how I have not stumbled across another of her accounts before this week - especially as the feed is already followed by Sarah!

The feed in question is called Fashion Textile Gallery and you can find it by following this link. I am in love.....
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Tip of the Week

The email below was sent to us by Jenny Stanistreet in response to our recent newsletter pieces about the sustainability of our yarn choices. I felt that Jenny's email made some valid points about using up your stash and so I asked her if it would be ok for me to share it - and she agreed:

'In your Friday feature (26 Apr) you talked about the modern-day phenomenon of 'stash'. Yes, we're all guilty. Maybe a way of easing the conscience (and storage angst) is to use some up in aid of charitable organisations.

A web search can bring up many charities etc that welcome knitted/crocheted goods. I crochet basic beanies and scarves for Knit for Peace (thanks to publicity you handed round at a Black Sheep Wools workshop a few years ago). They're quick and relaxing to do; they use up small balls; and I've found that box-loads are reasonably low-cost to send via Hermes. 
 

For really tiny oddments, the Innocent Smoothie Big Knit 'hats' can be great fun; there are crochet versions, too. Age UK charity shops take them, or I think you can post them to Innocent.

Just a thought!'  - Jenny Stanistreet
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Marina Kelly - Crochet Necklaces
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I am always on the look out for talented crocheters to become part of my team of 'home makers' to produce my sample blankets and shawls. I am really lucky to have some really expert crocheters who always send me the most beautifully executed work and who I know I can rely on to produce absolute top quality pieces. Without the help of these expert crocheters I would never be able to create my designs in the time scales I do and to the same quality, so I am incredibly grateful to all of them for their help.
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Marina Kelly is one of my team. Her work is always incredibly neat and beautifully presented and so I was really excited when she told me that she wanted to show me some of her own design work. We finally had the chance to meet up at Edinburgh Yarn Festival in March where I was totally blown away by what she had brought to show me.
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I am now incredibly proud to have some of Marina's amazing crocheted necklaceson sale on the web site. Each of the beautiful designs is a one off piece and they are all made using incredibly fine threads and traditional methods to create fabulous contemporary pieces.
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Marina is very modest about her work and in my view she has priced these pieces too low given the amount of time she has spent designing and making them. Other crochet necklaces like these can cost closer to the £150 mark and will most likely have been made outside of the UK, so I think anyone who manages to nab one of these five stunning one-off pieces would be incredibly lucky to get their hands on such a fine piece of craftsmanship.
 

Do you like 'Making Up'?
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We are looking for someone to help one of our customers, Lally, put together some crochet motifs in order to make a garment. Finishing is one thing that a lot of crocheters dislike as it is common that people find the process of making the crochet motifs pleasurable and not the sewing up or crocheting together.

If you like this process and would like to help another crocheter get a professional finish on her garment then please let me know so that I can forward your details directly to Lally.
 

It's nearly the weekend!
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Over the last 18 months I have sent out more than 70 Friday Feature Newsletters. The Friday Feature is really important to me. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing them and especially love getting your feedback, but I have decided it is time to make a few changes. The next newsletter will drop into your inbox in a fortnight's time and then, from mid June onward, the Friday Feature will be sent monthly instead of weekly. Smaller, more specifically focused emails will also be sent to you when I have new releases or special events to tell you about. These will also arrive on a Friday afternoon, so do continue to check your inbox as you head into future weekends.

The weather forecast is looking a little dismal for the weekend here in North London, but I hope that wherever you are and whatever you have planned you do have a great time.
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