How To
Yarn Detective: Ballbands Are Liars
The ubiquitous yarn label: is it a crystal ball into what is right and good about a yarn, or a pulpy torture device?
The answer is yes.
I’ve learned through trial and error (so much error) that a yarn label is very much like the Dread Pirate Roberts in the movie The Princess Bride: not everything it seems.
Many knitters spend lots of time berating themselves and their knitting for not matching exactly what the yarn labels say, especially when it comes to the needle/gauge match up.
Other knitters cavalierly start knitting with the suggested needles and are disappointed in the result and themselves.
A yarn label is an important part of the toolbox to make your project. But like any tool, the more you know about it, the better use it is to your project.
A yarn label is more guideline than crystal ball. It gives you a starting point, but there are lots of ways to get from skein to sweater.
The best way to know a yarn is to swatch. You do have to hit the gauge numbers in a pattern if you want it to fit, but you don’t have to use the needles specified. Swatching doesn’t just tell you gauge, it tells you if this yarn is a good fit for you and your project. Swatching holds the answers to hand, drape, stitch definition, gauge, and perhaps the identity of the six-fingered man.
I have a lot of questions about yarn labels, mostly where do the numbers come from? To get answers to my yarn label questions, I went to two very knowledgeable friends in the yarn industry.
The Panel (of Two)
Jill Draper has been designing, dyeing and selling her own yarns since 2008, first her own handspun, then working with mills to make yarn based on Jill’s specification. The current range of Jill Draper Makes Stuff yarns are all grown, scoured, and spun in the United States. All yarn bases are custom designed and dyed, and most of the wool is purchased directly from the farmers raising the fiber.
Amy Christoffers has been a knitwear designer since 2010. For five years, she has also been Design Director at Berroco, where her job includes developing new yarns and matching yarns to patterns.
These two know yarn inside and out both from the creative and the business ends. They know how to build a yarn, by hand and with a mill, and they know how to design knitwear, putting them in a great position to discern fact from guideline on a yarn label.
Reading the Labels
I asked Jill and Amy about the information on their yarn labels and how it gets there.
Here’s a sneak peek: gauge is not an exact science. We knew it all along.
I’ve been dying to ask these questions for a long time. My sense has always been that only some label information is factual, and the rest is subjective, depending on lots of things. I’m not looking to point fingers or say something or someone is right or wrong. I am looking for information to share to help knitters understand yarn and how it works with the rights and not-quites in knitting. The more information you have, the more you’ll love your knitting and your knitting selves.
Labels: The Four Big Things
There are four big things on a label that are important to knitters:
- fiber content
- yardage
- weight
- gauge
Why? These characteristics tell you how the fiber will feel, how (and if) fabric will drape, clues to durability, the key to how many skeins for a project, and a starting point for gauge.
Shall We Storm the Castle?
Here’s what I asked these two intrepid yarn women, followed by their answers.
How do you decide what goes on the label?
Amy: The labels at Berroco have fiber content, yardage, weight, and country of origin. These are all FTC (Federal Trade Commission) mandates. We also include washing instructions with the symbols. When we have found additional information really useful, we add that too. For example, Berroco’s superwash yarn Ultra Wool performs best when both machine washed and dried, with a garment bag.
Jill: I include the most standard information, fiber content, yardage, weight of the skein, and suggested gauges.
This explains why almost all labels have the same information. It was a little surprising that the government is involved in what goes on the label.
How is the length of a skein measured?
Amy: Berroco yarns are sold by weight rather than length, usually in standardized put-ups of 50, 100, or 150 grams, except for some unique yarns. Many Berroco yarns are shipped from the mills already in either 50 or 100 gram hanks/balls/cakes, but Berroco has both hanking and balling machines that are able to be programmed to measure out specific length or weight skeins/balls.
Jill: When yarn is skeined, which in my case is always done at the mill, it’s wound on giant winders, 6-10 skeins at a time, that count rotations which gives the length. I then usually subtract about 10 percent of length for labeling purposes. When yarn is skeined under tension on the winder, it shrinks a little when it’s removed from the winder. Then, when I wash and dye the skein it constricts again. I don’t think these factors, combined, ever reduce the length in a skein by 10 percent, but I like erring on the side of people getting a couple extra yards versus a couple too few.
Here’s the answer to the conundrum of a skein of yarn sometimes running shorter than the label indicates: machines hold the yarn while it is counted. A machine is great for the consistency of counting, but the skein is held under tension to hold it in place, stretching the yarn. The yardage is counted while the yarn is stretched, when we knit with the yarn it is under much less tension, so yardage is a little shorter.
How do you decide what weight classification (fingering, DK, Aran, worsted, etc.) the yarn is?
Amy: Berroco labels the yarn following the Craft Yarn Council standard yarn weight system. We have been known to debate at some length the finer points of labeling a yarn as one weight classification versus another. There are yarns about which the debate continues even years after they have gone out onto the market.
Jill got a different question here since she doesn’t include a yarn weight classification on her labels.
Why did you decide not to add a yarn weight classification to your labels?
Jill: I think yarn weight is often mislabeled. If you see a pattern that calls for DK of one brand but another brand’s DK is quite different, you’ll end up with a bad yarn-to-pattern match. I tell people that when subbing yarns the best practice is to match yards per ounce or grams per meter instead of a suggested gauge or labeled yarn weight.
(Editors’ note: Jillian’s eye-opening article on grist is an excellent guide to doing as Jill suggests when substituting yarns.)
This is our first really gray area on yarn labels. Clearly not every yarn company follows the Craft Yarn Council chart, and some choose not to use a weight classification on their labels at all.
I’m with Jill 100 percent on this one. I see so many yarns labeled in a way that makes me mutter under my breath, before I even swatch. But I also understand knitters and shops need a shorthand way of organizing yarns, at least as a starting point.
The best way to know if this is the weight of yarn you need to get the gauge for your project is to swatch, especially if you are suspicious of the weight stated on the label.
How is gauge measured?
Amy: Usually three to four members of the Berroco design team swatch and finish a yarn, usually with a few different needle sizes to decide which needle/gauge/fabric we like best for a yarn. Once there is agreement, we give the yarn to one of our team members, Brenda York, who is our swatching gold standard. Brenda then knits an official gauge swatch based on the needle consensus of the whole team. More and more, we like to push for dual gauges: a range with different suggested needle sizes.
Jill: For me, gauge is just a suggestion. When I develop a new yarn, I swatch it on lots of needle sizes. Then I wash it and see what range of gauges I would knit the yarn for a project. The range usually is in the middle of the reasonable gauge possibilities. I do knit my yarns at many different gauges, even beyond what’s suggested on the label. For instance, for mittens I’d probably knit tighter than the suggested gauge, and for shawls or a drapey style sweater, more loosely.
BOOM! There is no secret to gauge or getting gauge.
In the MDK Shop
Gauge is set by human knitters. Being human, even knitters who knit for their jobs have variable gauge. They use different needle sizes, but they have to pick something to put on the label, so the company comes to a consensus on a gauge or gauge range, or has a person who is the gauge standard.
Every gauge snafu you’ve had is not your fault; you just knit to a different gauge from Jill or Brenda.
My knitted swatch photos below show how far off my knitting is from the suggested needle/gauge combo. The left swatch was made with the recommended needle size; the right swatch hit the recommended gauge—but required a different needle size. For the gray Jill Draper Makes Stuff yarn, I went down three needle sizes to get gauge.
mohonk by jill Draper Makes Stuff, swatched by Jillian.
For the blue Berocco yarn, I went down four sizes.
Ultra Alpaca by berroco, swatched by Jillian.
Some knitters take a yarn label needle/gauge combo as sacrosanct, and feel awful about their personal knitter worthiness if they can’t make the yarn work as the label demands. Here’s the truth: your needle/gauge combo is as unique as you are.
So yes please, come through, Carol Kane, and shout “Liar!” at the proponents of “perfect gauge,” and those who deny true love.
In her answer, Jill touches on what I call “incredible gauge shifter” yarns. IGSs are happy at multiple gauges. I talked about these lovely, versatile yarns in a previous article here on MDK.
Are label numbers ever rechecked?
Amy: Gauge is such a subjective thing, because the truth is there is no right gauge for any yarn—there is only a right gauge for what you want to make. We’ve gone back and added dual gauges to yarns, but never changed the official gauge completely.
The yarns are regularly rechecked. Random skeins are selected to be weighed to be sure that they are consistent and as expected, and some even get measured to be sure we have the correct yards/grams as stated on the labels. Colors are checked to be sure that dye lots are as consistent as possible from year to year.
Jill: Every time the yarn is skeined, it is done on the winder and wound to the right number of rotations and yards/meters. As for gauge, I knit with my yarns a lot, so I guess in that way I’m always “checking” the gauge.
Here are a few more words: even if you knit a yarn to the gauge specified by the yarn label or a pattern, you may not like how it looks or feels, and it’s OK to not use that yarn for your project, or knit it to another gauge.
Yarn labels have information to be used as a tool: part fact, and part suggestion. Don’t let a label or pattern dictate what yarn or needles to use. You get to decide what works for the result you want.
Learn to love (or at least accept) swatching. It’s the best way to know whether a yarn will work for the project you’d like to make.
The more you know about your yarn and the way you knit, the more you’ll be knitting as you wish.
This Could Come in Handy
It would be nice to be able to find this article again when you need it, wouldn’t it?
Here’s how to save this article in your MDK account with one click.
Bonus: Easter Egg!
Your reward, dear reader, for reading to the end of this post is this so-bad-it’s-good music video of Nick Lowe’s “All Men Are Liars.” (It scans perfectly to “Ballbands Are Liars.”) You’re welcome!
Love, Your Devoted Editors
Come Shop With Us
I could hear a Hallelujah chorus on repeat through the entire article! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
What a great article!
Thank you once again for a fantastic article. I especially appreciated learning how (some) yarns are measured to be put up.
If you hear someone else muttering over some labels, it might be me…xo
Thank you!!! Ann and Kaye, I don’t know how you do it, but it is always interesting and useful!
I find it very interesting that not all yarns are not measured the same it would give you a headache trying to figured it out.
Terrific article! I’m always trying to explain all of this to customers at our LYS. You have given me more great tools to help them succeed.
Kate Davies had a post on this very subject recently, saying that she reluctantly puts suggested needle size on her ball bands only because knitters insist but knitting gauge is so individual it can be very misleading.
I like having the suggested needle size on the ball bands, so I know where to start when I go down two needle sizes!
Thank heaven! Imagine being a less experienced, non-expert knitter and having to swatch by taking as guess at needle size to start. It may not be exact, but at least it gives you a place to start.
Thank you for yet another fantastic article and what a cute vid! One thing on a label (which I feel knitters could benefit from learning about) is the word “superwash”. Perhaps instead of abbreviated SW it needs to be spelled out, front and center. It’s a whole different breed of yarn having been processed and polymer coated. I know many knitters who aren’t aware of the difference. And wow, there is a difference. Again, thanks and love what you do!
It’s so interesting. I am an experienced knitter and don’t worry much about my skill, and feel comfortable with my products. These technique articles aren’t usually solving a problem for me. Despite that, they are so useful and gratifying! They support my knowledge-of-the-hands with an intellectual framework that will help me refine and fine-tune my knitting. Thank you! It’s really excellent content.
I enjoy knitting swatches because it creates the fabric that you may want to work with or not. I only use the ball-band to estimate my yardages. But, it’s taken me years to learn how to enjoy the process
Great article! The video- well that’s why I love MDK, these gems are priceless.
Who’s Brenda?
Brenda York is Berroco’s pattern writer—she’s been with the company for more than 35 years and all of our patterns flow through her.
The official swatch knitter at Berroco. Amy says above
“Usually three to four members of the Berroco design team swatch and finish a yarn, usually with a few different needle sizes to decide which needle/gauge/fabric we like best for a yarn. Once there is agreement, we give the yarn to one of our team members, Brenda York, who is our swatching gold standard. Brenda then knits an official gauge swatch based on the needle consensus of the whole team.”
I love the idea that Berroco has a Brenda!
Knitting a gauge swatch is like taking a car for a test drive. You never know if you’ll like the way it drives,(looks and feels) how it handles, cup holders not withstanding. LOL
Agreed!! Or like dating before becoming engaged, maybe married. Maybe it’s a match made in heaven…or not!
How I wish I knew these things in my early knitting years. I went through many years believing I could never get out of scarf/hat land because I could NEVER meet recommended gauge on ball bands. But I kept knitting because I loved the scarves and hats, and over time I learned MY gauge with various yarns: I am an incredibly loose knitter, and usually find myself knitting on size 1-3 needles for almost all projects, and all yarns. So what if the label recommends size 7? I had to learn to ‘read’ my own knitting and not worry about the label at all.
Yes, yes, yes!! I knit socks and hats/scarves. I have been so afraid of anything else because of ‘gauge’. This article (and your response) gives me hope!!
I am glad – you should totally veer out of scarf and hat land for something new! If you didn’t read previous article here in MDK on ‘grist’ (also by Jillian Moreno), that was so eye-opening about making good yarn subs too. You can do it, believe me! 🙂 And you can always travel back to scarf/hat land, they are so comforting!
With. Dancing. Flowers.
Makes me wants those skirts and petticoats.
Also, makes me glad I’m not the only one who has to go down several needle sizes for anything approaching gauge. Suggestion for future column: how super loose Knitters can successfully knit fingering/sock yarn?
This is the first time I can remember a thread of loose knitters! I fall into this category and everyone on the planet (that I know) is a tight knitter. I feel better. (It’s a given I’ll go down 1 needle size and occasionally 3). I’ve just decided to get the fabric I like and then (God help me) I do the math.
I made a pair of fingerless mitts once and had to use 00 dons. I felt like I was working on toothpicks!
Yes! I was just thinking that about knitting socks. I am also a super loose knitter and have learned that I have to go down at least two needle sizes on any pattern to get anything approaching gauge. So when I see a sock pattern that calls for size 1 needles, I generally say, “Next!,” as the thought of socks knit on size 00 needles or smaller makes my hands cramp just thinking about it! Most of my socks have been knit with worsted weight on size 3 needles, though I like the look and feel of finer socks.
I find ball band gauge statistics somewhat helpful, but there is no substitute for fondling and swatching to provide me with needed information.
I know! Seeing that Jillian has to go down so many sizes was a real shot in the arm for me!
Fun fact: I knit closer to gauge on finer yarns! So I can knit fingering weight on a 2 or 3. What really messes with me is linen. I think I could go down to 00 and it still wants to be loose. So I generally just adjust the pattern for the fact that I am not going to get gauge in a million years.
That’s interesting because I knit closer to gauge on DK and above. I used to knit a lot of socks, and I usually used 0s or even 00s, and even then, my fabric was floppier than I would have liked.
I am so loosey-goosey in every yarn I have ever tried. I need to befriend a tight knitter – I could give them all of my needles that are size 5 and higher – I never use them!
Alison Green, our Technical Editing guru, did a really cool experiment with swatching (and explains why we base our gauge recommendations on Brenda’s swatches) https://blog.berroco.com/2018/10/11/the-great-swatch-experiment/
I have been a knitter since about age 8 and do not remember ever doing a swatch. When my children were young, for some years, I knit fashion sweaters for someone who sold them but they were all ordered ahead, so were to be knit a certain size. I decided that since I was getting paid for these items, I should do swatches. The tension I got in the swatch, was never the same as the tension I got when I was knitting the actual sweater.
I’m a super new knitter (like three months), and I burned myself pretty bad with a few projects subbing out yarns that were labeled the same weights. Ergh. I had switched to checking Ravelry’s database versus the wrapper to try and get a better sense of a yarn substitutions for projects. Using the WPI at least let me see if yarns in my stash might be a good sub, for seems to for me. As an inexperience day knitter, I can’t tell at all yet by touch and sight if a yarn is a certain weight or if it is comparable to what the project calls for. Is there another useful source for comparing yarns before committing to a gauge swatch or to using yarns in our stash with some confidence?
Yarnsub.com is a wonderful resource to at least suggest some options and explain how they might differ.
Hi Kirbee,
Substitution is challenging even for us venerable longtime knitters. Jillian’s article on “grist” really opened up a new world of good substitution to me. Here’s the link: https://www.moderndailyknitting.com/grist-secret-measurement-substituting-yarn/
It’s a simple calculation. The other factors would include the fiber content, as it can be tricky to substitute one fiber for another (although I sub cotton for wool quite a bit), but if the fibers are similar, Jilian’s grist trick really helps get a good match.
Happy subbing!
Kay
Yes, that recent article on grist was such an ‘ah-hah’ moment for me! It finally hit me as to why some of my yarn subs through the years either disappointed or surprised me. I do much better, now that I try to meet ‘grist’ in subbing, rather than relying on ball bands, or some of the (almost worthless) descriptions of ‘fingering’ or ‘DK’ or ‘sport’.
My other bugaboo is how inaccurate yarn requirements can be for patterns. I’ve learned over the years which companies tend to “over suggest” and “under suggest” number of yarns for a pattern.
Great article
Jillian,
This is the absolute best article I have ever read about gauge. What great detective work you did, and fantastic explanations. I wrote but never published an article initially titled “Gauge from a Gauge-Impaired Knitter,” because I have never, ever “knit to gauge” when I used the recommended needle size. Like you, I must go down in needle size. My explanation — I am a relaxed knitter.
There are so many factors that affect gauge. Needle composition is an important factor. A knitting friend who mostly used addi turbo needles had to go up a size or two in needles. When she switched to the Noble wooden needles she knit to gauge. When using the slippery addi turbos she was concerned her stitches would slip off her needles. Because of the natural grip of Noble wooden needles she knit to gauge.
I find that my emotional being affects gauge. If I am stressed I knit tighter than I do when I am relaxed.
Oh, so many things that make knitting an individual art. You have made is wonderfully clear there is no one “right needle” to use to “get gauge.” You have, in so many ways, Elizabeth Zimmermann’s knitting spirit.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Myrna A.I. Stahman
I never worry about what the ballband says because my mini poodle’s favorite pastime is to steal my ballbands and then shred them. All of them. She leaves the yarn, thank goodness.
Truth.
I love this site so much. I learn, I’m entertained. But seriously, I learn so much!
Found myself singing ball bands are liars with Nick Lowe
Excellent article thank you.
EVERY DAY I see beginners on social media lamenting that they cannot match the ballbamd’s gauge with the suggested needles. They don’t get that they need to match the PATTERN’s gauge and may need to go up or down in needle sizes. I’m so bookmarking this page!
Seems to me a better measurement for yarn weight would be WPI because that would help people quickly understand the yarn’s weight. Perhaps with a conversion chart that shows something like 5wpi is worsted, 4 is bulky, etc.
Someone at Bluprint (I think it was Susan B. Anderson) did a demonstration of wraps per inch as a shortcut to ID’ing weight, but it’s tricky because you have to pull the yarn not too tightly, just wrap it. Anyway it was 14=fingering, 12=sport, 11=DK, 9=worsted, 8=aran, 7=bulky, and 5-6=super bulky. I’m so sad they are going out of business because I just joined in April to learn to knit and I can’t learn from books! I need to see someone doing the things.
Forgot to mention, these wraps were done around a standard pencil, with tape at the one-inch boundaries.
What a reassuring article! I know I’m a loose knitter (as in, I knit loosely….) and always go down a size or two to hit gauge. I try not to blame myself for this, but thanks for telling me it’s not really my fault! I Also – thanks so much for Nick Lowe there at the end….
i’ve been wondering about this for a while. it occurred to me recently, as i struggled to achieve ballband gauge on new-to-me yarns, that there are not knitting machines for every companie, furiously knitting perfect little swatches and assessing the optimal gauge, that it’s all done by wonderful human hands. i not only feel better about my gauge, i feel better i realized this.
but after i read this article i ended up on youtube and during a video heard the artist say, “every artist should swatch in their medium.” after i closed my mouth in shock i just laughed aloud. swatching is everywhere! and everyone with experience and knowledge is encouraging others to swatch.
Perfect article! I’ve told many a knitter this before & they still don’t get it! Maybe if I share this one, it’ll sink in!
This is a wonderful article and comforts me that I’m not a bad person because I always go down in needle size to get gauge. I also appreciated once again the reference to grist: what a game changer! I’ve been playing with that ever since I read about it. I asked this questions in the Lounge: when using grist to substitute yarns, how close do the numbers need to be to make a good substitution? If they’re off by 10% is that too much? 20%? 30%? Some guidance on that would be helpful.
Thank you for Nick Lowe. ♥️ He is someone I would knit a sweater for.
Thank you. I’m back into figuring out crochet and learning Tunisian. I’ve never depended on the labels. Guess I’m just a rebel like that. and early on it frustrated me that I could not match their so called gauge. Right now, I am narrowing my picks for fav hooks to crochet with. I pick yarn by feel and projects by the way the yarn behaves/looks as I crochet. Again .. I’m back after 30 years hiatus. Therapist demanded I try something creative. Thanks for this … Just say it out loud ..!!!!
I am not a knitter ( shameful I know) I crochet. Do these same rules/ hints apply to crochet?
They certainly do. While reading the article I was a bit miffed that it didn’t mention crocheters, but I do understand that this is a knitting website.
Thank You Beth for answering my Crochet question.
Stumbled on this article and really liked it. Liked getting 2 answers to the questions and really understanding that the labels are not exact. Thank you.
I have been given mounds of beautiful yarn with no ball bands. I’ve labeled them with WPI information, but it’s hard to correlate patterns to the yarn with this. Is searching the only answer?
Swatching, not searching in last post.
You state that you had to go down 3 needle sizes to reach gauge on the Mohonk swatch. But the label has a gauge range of 5 – 6.5 sts/in and lists needles US 3 & 4, so what gauge were you aiming for? If you were trying to reach 5 sts/in and you mean that you went down 3 sizes from US 4 that is quite different than going down 3 sizes from US 3 to reach 6.5 sts/inch.
I enjoyed laughing through this serious subject. Loved your references to “Princess Bride.”
I was greatly interested in this discussion because I have been teaching knitting and crochet for quite a few years in several different venues–each with different yarn preferences–and problems about yarn had become so prevalent that I devote time to every student that has never been in one my classes to try to help them make good choices that work well with individual project needs and economic availability. Many of the talking points and issues in the article include information that I have been preaching to everyone, particularly that each person has a unique way of working and should take general advice as a suggestion for a starting point, which needs to include a swatch of some kind.This seems to apply to all ages and backgrounds. I rarely make formal comments about content I read in the many emails I receive, but this topic is something that needs to be kept in mind when making decisions that require time, money, and effort in order to be completed successfully. Thanks for airing these concerns.
Thank you so much for this article. I’m knitting 60 years and every time I log onto this site I learn something new ( and sometimes get a good laugh-which we all need in this time in history).
When I first learned to knit, from my mother, I knit so tightly, you could hardly slide the knitting on the needle. Many (cough-cough) years later, I knit much more loosely, so that I invariably start with needles 2 sizes below the recommended size. The only problem with this is that I find very small needles kind of hard on my hands.
One question – if a ball band includes a dye lot number, is it fair to assume that it means that skeins with the same number will match? I knit a beautiful lace shawl, only to find upon blocking it that there was a huge discrepancy in the two skeins. ( Really not sure how I didn’t see it when I changed skeins) The mfgr. told me that dye lots are only an internal control, not intended to indicate that the skeins will match. Has anyone else ever heard this?
A dye lot number implies but I suppose does not guarantee matching. Pretty sure manufacturers know that knitters use dye lot information in this way and with this expectation. Conversely, this is why most hand-dyers don’t use dye lots, and advise the knitter to handpick their skeins and not expect them to be entirely consistent.
Awesome this is a fun informative article… I’m falling in love with swatching….well trying to anyhow!
I love your article on superwash wools! I’m an aspiring ‘lazy felter’ in that ideally I will throw pieces into a hot wash cycle and, all things working to plan, the job’s done…
By trial & error I’m discovering that not all 100% wool yarns will felt… particularly, some printed yarns won’t felt using this method, and I wonder if there are some secrets to be learned about what’s different with some yarns that alter their properties.
If you could recommend any links from your fibre experts I would love to learn more about yarns for felt work.
Thank you.
The wonderful woman who taught me to knit always said that patterns were for ideas and ball bands gave you an estimate
Thank you for the informative article.!
Thank You for such wonderful teaching. I feel like I signed up for a class in fiber arts and I loved every bit of it. Thank You!!!
How do you figure out a Lana Grossa label? Tried looking online but found nothing
Here I thought labels were the law only to find they are more like suggestions! How liberating!
Really enjoyed your article. Thank you for addressing the ongoing debate about labels. An additional issue is determining accuracy of the weight from the information provide online or in a catalog. Much more of a concern right now since we are not visiting our local yarn stores. BTW I am a crocheter and the challenges are the same for us.