When you’re buying yarn online, and thereby can’t judge the weight and thickness in between your hands, then it can be an advantage to know the American Standard Yarn Weight System.
Yarn is divided into predefines categories that refer to how thick the yarn is, and therein of course also which knitting needles to use for the yarn.
More than yarn weight, there are some names to yarn thickness that’s nice to know – you’ll also find those in the overview below. So in the future, when you meet the word Worsted, you’ll know what it means.
‘Ply’ defines how many threads the yarn thread is made up of.
When you have a specific project in mind, and you need to purchase yarn online, you can always refer to your knowledge from the standard system now. The following overview tells you yarn weight, recommended no. of stitches for a 10×10 cm knitting sample as well as recommended knitting needles.
[table type=”standard_minimal”]
[trow]
[tcol]STANDARD YARN WEIGHT[/tcol]
[tcol]YARN THICKNESS[/tcol]
[tcol]NEEDLE SIZE[/tcol]
[tcol]STITCHES PER 10X10 CM[/tcol]
[tcol]PLY[/tcol]
[/trow]
[trow]
[tcol]0 : Lace[/tcol]
[tcol]Thread[/tcol]
[tcol]1,5-2,25 mm[/tcol]
[tcol]33–40[/tcol]
[tcol][/tcol]
[/trow]
[trow]
[tcol]0 : Lace[/tcol]
[tcol]Cobweb[/tcol]
[tcol]1,5-2,25 mm[/tcol]
[tcol]33–40[/tcol]
[tcol]1 ply[/tcol]
[/trow]
[trow]
[tcol]0 : Lace[/tcol]
[tcol]Lace[/tcol]
[tcol]1,5-2,25 mm[/tcol]
[tcol]33–40[/tcol]
[tcol]2 ply[/tcol]
[/trow]
[trow]
[tcol]0 : Lace[/tcol]
[tcol]Light Fingering, crochet[/tcol]
[tcol]1,5-2,25 mm[/tcol]
[tcol]33–40[/tcol]
[tcol]3 ply[/tcol]
[/trow]
[trow]
[tcol]1 : Super Fine[/tcol]
[tcol]Fingering, Sock, Baby[/tcol]
[tcol]2,25-3,25 mm[/tcol]
[tcol]27–32[/tcol]
[tcol]4 ply[/tcol]
[/trow]
[trow]
[tcol]2 : Fine[/tcol]
[tcol]Sport, Baby[/tcol]
[tcol]3,25-3,75 mm[/tcol]
[tcol]23–26[/tcol]
[tcol]5 ply[/tcol]
[/trow]
[trow]
[tcol]3 : Light[/tcol]
[tcol]DK, Light Worsted[/tcol]
[tcol]3,75-4,5 mm[/tcol]
[tcol]21–24[/tcol]
[tcol]8 ply[/tcol]
[/trow]
[trow]
[tcol]4 : Medium[/tcol]
[tcol]Worsted, Afghan[/tcol]
[tcol]4,5-5,5 mm[/tcol]
[tcol]16–20[/tcol]
[tcol]10 ply[/tcol]
[/trow]
[trow]
[tcol]4 : Medium[/tcol]
[tcol]Aran[/tcol]
[tcol]4,5-5,5 mm[/tcol]
[tcol]16–20[/tcol]
[tcol]10 ply[/tcol]
[/trow]
[trow]
[tcol]5 : Bulky[/tcol]
[tcol]Chunky, Craft, Rug[/tcol]
[tcol]5,5-8 mm[/tcol]
[tcol]12–15[/tcol]
[tcol]12 ply[/tcol]
[/trow]
[trow]
[tcol]6 : Super Bulky[/tcol]
[tcol]Bulky, Roving, Polar[/tcol]
[tcol]> 8 mm[/tcol]
[tcol]6–11[/tcol]
[tcol][/tcol]
[/trow]
[/table]
For more information on how to choose knitting needles, see the guide here – Which knitting needles should I use?.
