Knitting 101: Yarn Weights – A Shopping Guide
For the Knit of It
Shopping for yarn when you’re starting out can be terribly confusing. I know when I first began, words like worsted, sport, DK, and bulky meant nothing to me. I didn’t know how you could tell! To help you have a better time than I did initially, I want to walk you through what kind of projects you can do with different weights of yarn. Let’s start with the weight of the yarn! When it comes to weight, you are going to see one of two things, mostly. Some yarn labels just come out and say the weight in words. Others use a symbol system with numbers. The lower the number, the finer or thinner the yarn. The higher the number, the thicker the yarn. The best source for reading the numbers to find out what weight a yarn is is by far the Craft Yarn Council’s Standard Yarn Weight System. The Craft Yarn Council explains weight with symbols and words, and they give you gauge ideas for knitting and crocheting. The symbols, like the one below (from the chart) are what you wil
