How to Read a Yarn Label

Video Transcript

"Now I'm going to take some of the mystery out of reading the yarn label. This is kind of a mock up of what you would find on a regular yarn label. You're going to have the manufacturer's name, what they call the yarn and then all kinds of information that you are really not going to know what to do with unless someone explains it to you. So first off they're going to tell you what's in the ball of yarn, what's the yarn made of so 100% wool, it could be a mixture of cotton, polyester, whatever it is. Then they're going to tell you the care instructions. They will have some of those symbols that nobody knows what they mean on how to take care of them. Then you are going to always see this box. This is one of the few constants on a yarn label. You are going to see this box and it is going to be a grid. I didn't draw the grid because I don't have good luck with straight lines. It is going to show you the stitches to four inches. This is always a four inch by four inch box or 10 centimeters by 10 centimeters. So for this yarn it is getting 10 stitches to 4 inches or 4 stitches to the inch so this would fall into the category of a worsted weight yarn, medium weight and it will tell you the row gage as well. It is going to show you what needles to use so this used a number 10 and 1/2 US needle which would be a 6 and 1/2 millimeter size and then it is going to tell you the weight, how many ounces, how many grams. Then it is going to tell you the yards and the meters. Then you will go down to the color name and the color number and the dye lot number and this is especially important if you are making a project with a lot of different balls of yarn because you are going to want to have enough yarn of the same dye lot because if you run out then you are not going to have enough yarn in the same dye lot and different dye lots can almost look like different colors. This is giving you a little more information on the different balls of yarn that we just went through so for the thinest yarn we have the lace weight and sometimes it is called sock, sometimes baby or fingering. You are getting 27 to 32 stitches for 4 inches. Then you go to the sport weight or baby weight and that is 23 to 26 stitches to the inch, 4 inches. DK weight or light worsted, 21 to 24 stitches, worsted, which can also be called aaron or afghan weight, you've got 16 to 20 stitches to 4 inches, bulky which can also be chunky or craft, that is 12 to 15 stitches to 4 inches and super bulky or roving which is 6 to 11 stitches to 4 inches. So that is what you can do with all those little words on the label that seem so confusing."