Comments on: Knitting with two strands.

By: debbie

debbie — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:23:33 +0000

I’m a beginner beginner, I have a pattern which says to use one thread and two threads of another color and then switch back and forth. My problem is separating threads? How?

By: trudy

trudy — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:20:27 +0000

Thank you so much for this helpful post. I really understand the way you have explained it and it helps to know how the calculations are made. I am still not sure re the two strands equals thing as people give differing information, I thought two strands DK = chunky rather than two strands aran and being lazy like a rule of thumb like that but understand that I need to work harder to get the answer I need! I have some kid classic which uses 5mm needles and I want to use a pattern which uses 6mm needles and double the classic but fear it may then be too thick. I guess I’d better go and do my sums! Thanks again

By: Doris

Doris — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:21:59 +0000

Hi Lucia,
I’m sooo happy you’ve taken the time to figure this stuff out! I knew as “given wisdom” that 2 strands of worsted = chunky & 2 strands dk = aran but anything else…. Figuring hese things out empirically is a pain. So thank you!

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:44:43 +0000

I am still having trouble calculating the right amount of yarn I need. I am changing from double stranded to single strand. The pattern reads 700 g double stranded throughout. The yarn it calls for comes in 50 g balls and is 246 yard. The yarn I would like to use comes in 50 g balls and is 130 yards. In doing some math figuring total amount of yards needed- the pattern as written would be 3,444 yds of yarn. If I am using the original yarn in the pattern I believe that would be 14 balls. I come out with 26.5 or 27 balls using the yarn I chose. This seems like an enormous amount, not to mention the cost. Am I correct in figuring this?

By: Anne

Anne — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:36:52 +0000

Found this great explanation by googling: knitting with two strands gauge

Thanks for taking the time to make this, it’s very useful. Now, being a linguist and definitely not a mathematician, I’m wondering what the formula would be if I wanted to go from two strands of one type of yarn to one strand of another type. In the instructions the gauge is given for two strands – and I’m not sure whether I should use one or two strands of the yarn I’ve chosen to use instead. Is there a magic formula for this too?

By: Lucia

Lucia — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:10:54 +0000

Marilyn,
This post discusses the square-root idea!

Believe it or not, the picture showing the two areas of squares really *is* the idea. If you add to strands of yarn, the areas add. to make a strand of yarn with twice the area. The yarn twists around itself– so naturally, it’s not really like adding two squares. But, the area across the strand is doubled.

After that, it’s possible to do pictures showing yarn covering areas, etc. Various square root relations pop-out for yarn lengt converstions, yarn area conversuions.

(btw– I figured this out on my own then did some test knitting. It works. For all I know, Katherine’s source of the knowledge is me. Or maybe this was common knowledge and I just re-invented the wheel. But for most yarns it works. (It might not work for fun fur. I could explain why, but basically, if it looks like normal yarn, this works.)

By: Marilyn Filter

Marilyn Filter — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:00:04 +0000

I have Katherine Buss’s book–Big Book of Knitting and in it she talks about how to change a pattern when you are knitting with different yarn and needles. She uses a formula for this which includes square rotting of the stitch guage. I don’t understand any of it and wonder if someone could explain it to me. Thanks in advance