Thinking About Yarn, Part 2
Published On: November 23, 2024

So last time we talked about structure (single vs multiple plies). The next thing I like to think about when I am slotting yarns into my mental categories is yarn weight. As with last time, this is really meant to be a video, and if you want to see that, you’ll want to head over here (you’ll be able to see it with a free membership).

So with yarn, we don’t mean weight as in mass, but weight as in thickness. Yes, there is some relationship between the two, because thicker yarn will often have more mass than thinner yarn! Not always, but often. But people almost always use ‘yarn weight’ to mean ‘yarn thickness’ rather than ‘yarn mass.’

Yarn comes in all sorts of thicknesses from ‘a whisper above sewing thread’ to ‘as big around as a grown man’s thumb.’ And the thickness of your yarn will absolutely play a part in what you make with it and how it feels to work with. So of course we’ve come up with some names to talk about it. Quite a few names really! Possibly…slightly too many names. Because the names sometimes give you a false sense of precision.

So, officially, the standard weight system from the Craft Yarn Council is over here. The yarn names I generally see folks using in stores or patterns or when talking about yarn^ goes (from thinnest to thickest) lace, fingering (or sock), sport, dk (stands for double knitting), worsted, aran, chunky, and bulky.

But here’s the thing…no one is enforcing this. No one is coming up to a yarn supplier and whipping out the calipers and saying no no, this is reeeeeeally sport, not dk. A lot of labels seem based on vibes more than anything else. It is very common to find yarn labeled dk that feels more like fingering weight or yarn labeled worsted that feels more like dk weight.

Is this frustrating? Yes, sometimes. It’s frustrating if you assume the label is going to tell you everything you need to know. But the label won’t actually do that, you need to look at the yarn itself.

I find that I tend to break yarn into four general weights in my head:

Tiny stuff—this is most everything labeled as laceweight. It’s the super skinny stuff somewhere between sewing thread and dental floss. I almost never knit with this stuff on its own, but people who make gigantic, intricate lace projects that weigh nothing and fit through a ring use it to great effect.

Skinny stuff—this is most everything labeled as fingering, sport, or dk. It’s what I use for things like socks, and the sort of fingerless gloves or mitts that feel cute and light and good for chilly days. A lot of people use it for sweaters that aren’t super bulky and which feel pretty close to the sort of lightweight sweaters you find in stores.

Thick stuff—this is most everything labeled as worsted or aran. It’s what I use for things like slippers or mittens or the sort of warm hat that you wear when it’s actually cold outside. You totally can make awesome sweaters with it, but they are likely to be fairly substantial and chunky.

Chonky stuff—this is most everything labeled as chunky or bulky. These are the real big guys, the yarn you reach for when you realize you promised someone a hat and you need it done tomorrow. You almost never see it used in commercial knits, but it can be tremendous fun to play with.

I don’t really make any distinction in my head between things labeled fingering versus sport versus dk, because the terms don’t seem to be applied with any rigor. Same with aran and worsted. So here, the four yarns on the left were all labeled different things (fingering, baby sport, and dk) but they all work up in pretty much the same range of gauges. And the two on the left were labeled worsted and aran, but again, they work up at the same range of gauges. So I’d group these into two mental categories (skinny stuff for the four on the left, thick stuff for the two on the right) and not worry about dividing them any further.

Side note, there’s a whole conversation to be had here about grist, which is the density of yarn, as in how many grams/ounces per meter/yard. Because sometimes a yarn manufacturer will make a yarn that is a liiiiittle bit of fluff and a whooooole damn lot of air, which can make for a very thick yarn when you see it on the shelf, so it will get labeled (cough, and priced, cough) as worsted or aran. But when you knit with it, you often end up needing to knit it as tightly as though it were fingering weight in order to turn it into the sort of fabric you’re looking for. But that’s a little more than we want to get into here.

So weight is the next thing I think about when I’m putting yarn into my mental categories, right after structure. (And of course, the two are related and none of these categories are absolute, so for sure expect some overlap as you think about them.) But we’re not done, there’s more to consider next time!

^ These are the American names. There are different names used in different places. There’s one set of names often used in the UK that uses x-ply to mean ‘yarn of a particular thickness, even if it doesn’t actually have that many plies’ which can lead to a yarn being called a ‘4-ply yarn’ (meaning yarn of a particular thickness) even when the yarn physically has a different number of plies. This breaks my brain and I can never remember what names mean what, so I stick to the US names. But know that there are other names out there and you may encounter them.

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