Have you ever found an old pattern in an estate sale or your grandma’s stash but the yarn is no longer in production? Or you found a free pattern, but the yarn called for is not available in your area? Yarns can be substituted with some extra effort and are usually well worth it.

First: Evaluate the content of the suggested yarn. Wool and some acrylics have some elasticity to them and are good for hats, sweaters with cuffs, socks… Natural fibers such as alpaca, silk and cashmere have little or no crimp in the individual fibers are better for project that need some drape – stoles, jackets, scarves… Sustainable fibers such as bamboo, corn and soy are milled with out any extra elasticity unless they have some elastic/nylon blended in to them. When substituting yarn for a felting project,the yarn must have felting properties. Suitable yarns are non superwash wool, mohair, alpaca etc. Blends can have 15-20% non feltable yarns. Unsuitable yarns are acrylics, nylon, polyamide, rayon, cotton, bamboo, corn, soy …

Second: Evaluate the weight of the yarn. Compare the ’stitches per inch’ in the pattern to the skein sleeve. They should be within 1 stitch per inch … If the pattern requires 5 st per inch the suggested gauge on the sleeve should read 6 – 4 stitches per inch. DK weight can transfer easily into worsted or sport. If possible, knit a swatch out of the substitute yarn to check for gauge and suitability of the stitch pattern to the yarn. If less stitches per inch are needed, use larger needles. If more stitches per inch are needed, use smaller needles.

Third: Evaluate the yardage. Most current yarns will have the yardage/meters on the skein sleeve. If the yarn is older, try checking out yarndex.com to check on the yardage of a specific brand or style. Some older yarns can be estimated … a 50 gr (1.75 ounces) ball of worsted weight acyrlic or wool is approximately 100 yards. A 100 gr (almost 4 ounces) skein of worsted weight acrylic or wool is approximately 200 yards. To transfer meters to yardage add 10% i.e. 100 meters equal 110 yards. On small items such as socks, close yardage is probably irrelevant. On larger items such as sweaters, afghans or stoles, you may want to buy an extra skein to insure no changes in dye lots. Extra yarn may also be needed for larger sizes.

Although these directions may seem a little daunting, there is help along the way. Local yarn shops are usually happy to make suggestions and help with the substitution. Knitting mentors may also advise in some pitfalls. And of course, if the project doesn’t work out, you can always add the yarn to your stash.