How to Read a Yarn Label

Hi, I'm Corrina Ferguson for The Knitting Circle. In this video, I'm going to teach you how to read a yarn label. So let's get started. Okay friends, let's talk about how to read a yarn label. First off, there is a yarn label cheat sheet that you can download that has all this information. So if there's symbols on your yarn label that you don't understand, this kind of helps with that. But first, let's look at an actual yarn label. So here, I have the label that I've taken off of this yarn. This is the nice, big fuzzy yarn that I've taken it off of. The label is going to tell me lots and lots of things. The first thing that's going to tell me is that this yarn is, let me see here, 80% acrylic and 20% alpaca. So it tells me that it's a mostly synthetic with about 20% alpaca which is going to make it softer, warmer, and fuzzier. So that tells me that. And then it tells me that there are 130 yards or 118 meters. And the weight of the skein before you take any off is six ounces or 170 grams. Now balls, skeins, hanks of yarn will come in different put ups or different weights and yardages. It's very common to see things in a 100 gram put ups, but when it comes to bulkier yarns, you'll see different things. The next thing that we see here is we see the gauge information, and I'm going to hold up the sheet over here to show you it a little bigger but this is telling me that this is size 15 needles and you get nine stitches and 12 rows to a four inch square or a 10 centimeter square. It also gives me a crochet gauge. And then it tells me that this is a number six, which is super bulky. And then, it gives me a bunch of laundry instructions. I'm gonna give you my own opinion on laundry instructions in a minute but we'll look at all those symbols on our cheat sheet. And then it also gives me the dye lot information. Now this is actually very important. This is just a product number. This is a color number. This is the dye lot number. Now, if you're buying hand dyed yarn or yarn that's made by an independent producer you'll have a dye lot as well. And it's very important that if you're doing a project that needs more than one skein that you get the same dye lot. That way, you don't have that thing happen where your work is going and then all of a sudden, you switched to the new skein and it's a different color. So definitely want to pay attention to the dye lot and make sure you get enough in the dye lot for your entire project. So let's take a look at this cheat sheet again. This has another example of a label here. A worsted weight or medium. 17 stitches and 23 rows on size eight needles. And then the difference between the needle and the crochet. You see two needles, one crochet hook to give you those gauges. And then all the laundry symbols. Down here, along the side, I'm going to show you the different kinds or different weights of yarn that'll be on your yarn label. Lace weight is a zero. Sock weight is number one, which is super fine. Sport is number two, which is fine. DK or double knitting is light, number three. Worsted is kind of your middle of the road, workhorse yarn, which is a medium, number four. Bulky, number five and super bulky number, number six which is the one that we were just looking at. This puppy right here is super bulky. Sometimes you'll also see a seven which I've seen it called giant or other things, but that's like we're getting crazy there when we go into that. And then you have to remember when it's talking about the gauge and the size of the yarn what's way more important is that you're getting the gauge for your project. So your sweater fits. So your scarf is the right length. So your socks fit. Any of that, you want to get the gauge for your project. The needle sizes on the label are just a suggestion. Also the needle sizes on a pattern are just a suggestion. Way more important to get the gauge that's specified in the pattern that makes a fabric that you like than it is to go strictly by these numbers on the yarn label or these needle sizes on the yarn label or on a pattern. So it's a good starting point but it's not the end all, be all. The other thing I told you I'd talk about is the laundry symbols. There are tons of laundry symbols. You'll see them in the labels of your clothes. Information about ironing, information about drying or dry cleaning, information about wash temperatures, information about whether or not you can use bleach. Machine wash or hand wash or do not wring. Don't ever use bleach on your knitting. I can't think of any time you would ever want to use bleach on your knitting. Bleach is just bad. Ironing, I find that ironing isn't bad if the temperature is not too high, but sometimes it'll tell you do not use an iron on this yarn. My rule of thumb, when in doubt, hand wash. Unless you're giving a present or making something for a baby or a young child and we don't want the parents to have to worry about hand-washing, you should just suggest to whoever you give things to hand wash. You should hand wash your own knits. It takes way too long to ruin it by throwing it in a washing machine. But there are acrylic and synthetic blends that are very machine washable but you definitely want to check your label because it'll tell you whether or not you can. If you throw something that's a 100% untreated wool into a washing machine and a dryer, you'll end up with an adult sweater that shrinks down to fit an American Girl doll. So always reach for labels and see what they say. But remember things like the laundry, err on the side of caution. Things like the gauge, the gauge information. The gauge on the pattern is way more important than the gauge on the ball. It just gives you kind of a rough guideline. The numbers are really helpful and that's very helpful when you're substituting yarn. In general, if some of the pattern suggests a bulky five, 100% wool, you can substitute another bulky five, 100% wool and you might even be able to substitute a bulky in a different fiber, just have to pay attention to what kind of fabric you get and how the pattern, how is it behaving. But these are your yarn label cheats. Thank you so much for joining me to learn about yarn labels. Check out our website for more great videos.