Yarn Weights in Knitting

Video Transcript

"So to match all those different needle sizes are different sizes of yarn. And they range from the very tiny to the very large. So for starters you're going to have what's called fingering weight. Sometimes it's called lace weight. And that's very, very thin yarn. This is a mohair yarn as well so not only is it thin but it's fuzzy. And mohair comes from a mohair goat. And then you would have what's called sport weight which is a little thicker but not much. This is also sometimes called baby weight because it's often used for baby things. And then as you move up the range here this is another fingering weight. This is a sock yarn and it's the variegated hand painted yarn. And then as you go up you're going to have what's called decay weight. So you're going up the food chain in yarn. So you've got this which is a decay weight. This is angora so it's also a little fuzzy. And angora's from a rabbit. And then you'll go into worsted weight yarn. This is a worsted weight yarn. That's kind of a medium weight yarn. And worsted can also refer to the type of spin that a yarn has so that can get a little confusing but for our terms right now worsted means a medium weight yarn. Then you would go up and you would have a bulky yarn or a chunky yarn. This is what we used to make our scarf. That 's an acrylic yarn. And then you would have a chunky yarn. So for all those different needle sizes you're going basically from 1 up to like a 15. And another thing that's hard to know going in is that yarn can be put up in a ball or a skein or an hank. A ball of yarn is ready to knit. You don't have to do anything to it. A skein of yarn can refer to yarn that's put up like this where it's still ready to knit but you don't have to do anything to it or it can refer to a hank of yarn which when you untwist is like this. You can't knit it just like this. And if you do you'll have a God awful mess that you wont be able to untangle or that will be your craft. For this you're going to have to either do it the old fashioned way, put it on someones arms and someone will roll it. Or you can put it on the back of a chair or you can use a yarn swift and a ball winder. So this can be called alternatively a skein or a hank. And it's alway twisted up into a little figure 8 like this."