How to Choose the Best Yarn for Your Next Knitting Project

Every day we use things made with textile yarn; from the clothes we wear to the carpets we walk on. Textile yarn is a strand of fibres or filaments. Fibre is a small short piece of hair, while a filament is a long strand of a single substance. In textile yarn, individual fibres or filaments are wound together and make threads. Textile yarn can be made with natural fibres, from substances such as wool, mohair, angora, alpaca (animal-based fibres) silk, cotton, linen, hemp (plant-based fibres), but it can also be made with synthetic fibres, created from substances such as nylon, polyester and acrylic.

The process of twisting the fibres together into yarn is called spinning. It was one of the first processes to be industrialised. Spun yarn is made by twisting staple fibres together to make a single thread. It can contain a single type of fibre, or various types of fibre spun together to give a blend. Filament yarn is made up of filament fibres, which are twisted together or grouped together. It can be composed of one filament or two or three filament fibres, even up to 50 or more.

Textile yarn is classified according to structure or how it is made. There are three basic classifications, such as the following. Add paragraph text here.

This type of yarn is made of many short staple fibres wound together to make yarn. Most staple fibre yarns are made of natural materials, such as yarn New Zealand and Australia produced. This is the most basic yarn classification.

Ply yarn is made of one or more strands of staple fibre yarns. The number of piles will affect the drape, stitch definition, and general feel of the yarn. A single ply yarn is a single strand of staple fibres held together by twisting, while two and three-ply yarns are made of two or three single yarns twisted together. Most commonly, they are used for fabrics that require more strength.

Filament yarn is made of one or more continuous strands, longer than staple fibres, that run the entire length of the yarn. The only natural filament yarn is silk, while most filament yarns are made from synthetic materials created by chemical or mechanical processes.

Spun from the fleece of sheep and the most popular yarn New Zealand and Australia wide, wool is easy to handle and works well for knitwear garments in both winter and summer. It’s durable and moisture resistant, as well as breathable. To improve durability, wool is often mixed in a blend with other fibres. Naturally, it’s a creamy white and can be dyed a range of colours. Merino wool is considered the finest of the fine breeds.

It’s a fluffy, luxurious fibre, known for its soft sheen and lightness and is one of the warmest animal fibres. It’s very elastic-stretching and wrinkling and sagging resistant. Sometimes it can be blended with wool or silk to add weight.

This is one of the most common fibres used. It’s a natural plant fibre, very smooth and a great choice for showing off complicated stitchwork. It has good drape, but it’s non-elastic.

It’s spun from the fleece of alpaca and it’s a hypoallergenic dense fibre. This property makes it an ideal choice for people with sensitive skin, or baby knitwear. To strengthen its tension, this fibre can be blended with other natural fibres.

It’s a synthetic fibre, originally manufactured as an alternative to silk, smooth and shiny and cool to the touch. One of the greatest advantages of nylon is that it’s durable against wear and tear.

Polyester blends with natural fibres to produce easy-care yarns. It has a good draping, wicking and breathability qualities, but doesn’t show stitch definition well.

For some, yarn shopping is half the fun of knitting. To choose the yarn that’s best suited to your project, it’s important to understand the label. Each yarn has a label that states all you need to know, from fibre content, weight, amount, gauge to care instructions and more. Add paragraph text here.

Fibre content is the material of yarn, most often in percentages. Weight is the total thickness of the yarn. The ply factor counts into it and ranges from the finest to the heaviest weights. For beginning knitters, heavier weighted yarns are recommendable as they’re easier to handle. From the Standard Yarn Weight System that would be medium (4), bulky (5), super bulky (6), jumbo (7).

Once you’ve chosen fibre and yarn weight, you can find the colour that you prefer for your knitting project. Lighter yarns can be easier to see, while dark yarns might be more difficult. To see clearly your knitting piece, you can choose a solid colour yarn. Yarn in one solid colour is not stripped or variegated and will keep it simple, especially if you’re at the beginnings of your knitting journey. When buying in multiples, make sure that the colours match because even if two balls of yarn appear to be the same shade, the subtle difference can become visible in the final knitted product.

Amount is the total length of yarn. Yarn gauge is specified by the number of stitches and rows. Gauge, or also known as “tension” and also tells what needle and what stitch pattern was used to determine the gauge.

Finally, care instructions provide the necessary information on how to wash and dry your knitted garment.