Cap Karma

This blog is set up for the cap making community of ladies at the San Francisco International Airport. The caps are for chemo patients and are donated to a local hospital. The hand made caps (knitted or crocheted) are a token of our prayers and well wishes for the recipient.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Yarn weights, gauges and your projects

I was reading a post from Smariek on her blog about how she was making the 3AM cap and followed the pattern she had written but landed up not accouting for the difference in yarn weight. Also hear comments about followed the pattern but it turned out too small or too big.

The great thing about the caps is that the variety in size is needed. Nevertheless, I figured we could all benefit from some information on yarn weights, needle/hook sizes, gauges and adjustments.

Go here at Vogue Knitting for a handy chart on yarn weights, needle/hook sizes and gauge. I know most of us would rather just not bother with the nitty (knitty) gritty details and that's fine - if nothing else, remember to check what yarn weight the pattern is based on - or look for patterns based on the yarn you have on had.

Also found this handy chart. Figure 20" for women and 22" for men.

1 Comments:

At 11/14/2006 7:58 AM, smariek said...: Great guidelines to get you near your targeted size. Of course we still have to account for everyone's varying gauge (yes, I know we try to be consistent) and slight variations in yarns that are supposedly in the same weight class.

I usually go to YarnnStandards.Com for the same info:

Standard Yarn Weight System
http://www.yarnstandards.com/weight.html

Hooks & Needles
http://www.yarnstandards.com/hooks.html

Oh we also have to keep in mind the pattern we're using. 80 stitches in plain stockinette and 80 stitches in cable pattern will give you different results because the cable pattern "pulls inwards" a bit more and thus will make a smaller/tighter hat with the same number of stitches.