These calculators will give a rough estimate of the yardage required for a substitute yarn compared to the yardage required in one of my patterns. They will also estimate how tall the finished toy will be.
You can use yards or metres of yarn, what you put in is what you get out. This is a work in progress and should be used with caution, please email me if you are planning to substitute a yarn in one of my patterns and want some help. |
The simple calculator
How does it work?
I knit gauge swatches then weighed them for each of the yarn & needle combinations then I calculated the yardage in each gauge swatch using Ravelry's database and divided my calculated yardage by 4 to get the yards per 100 stitches. (You can see all of my swatches, the yarns I used and the measurements I took on my project page on Ravelry).
Knowing how many yards are needed for 100 stitches allowed me to figure roughly how many stitches must be in the pattern (by dividing the yardage in the pattern by the yards required to work 100 sts in the specified yarn). I then multiplied the approximate number of stitches in the pattern by the yardage required for 100 sts in the substitute yarn to estimate how many yards are required in the substitute yarn.
To predict the height of the finished toy I measured the number of rows per inch in each of my swatches. By multiplying the height of the toy by the number of rows per inch for the yarn specified gives me an approximate number of rows in the pattern, this is then multiplied by the number of rows per inch in the substitute yarn to predict the height of the toy in the substitute yarn.
Knowing how many yards are needed for 100 stitches allowed me to figure roughly how many stitches must be in the pattern (by dividing the yardage in the pattern by the yards required to work 100 sts in the specified yarn). I then multiplied the approximate number of stitches in the pattern by the yardage required for 100 sts in the substitute yarn to estimate how many yards are required in the substitute yarn.
To predict the height of the finished toy I measured the number of rows per inch in each of my swatches. By multiplying the height of the toy by the number of rows per inch for the yarn specified gives me an approximate number of rows in the pattern, this is then multiplied by the number of rows per inch in the substitute yarn to predict the height of the toy in the substitute yarn.
Why is this only an estimate?
Everyone knits to a slightly different gauge so there will be variations in yards required for 100 stitches. For a personal answer, try using the second calculator. You will need to knit a gauge swatch in your chosen yarn, measure the number of rows per inch and work out how many yards are in the swatch (by weighing your swatch and using ball band info -Ravelry is useful for this).
If you try both calculators you will see small differences due to rounding errors.
If you try both calculators you will see small differences due to rounding errors.