Substituting Yarns

The great thing about Noro Yarns is that it is fun to use different yarns for the patterns.

For best results it is always recommended to use the yarns specified in the book. That way you know what your garment will look like when finished, though of course will Noro Yarns the colours will look a little different, which is what makes Noro fun!

For those of you who are aware that using a different yarn will change the look and feel of the garment, then substituting yarns is simple. For example with the hearts and blanket, I used the same pattern but lots of various yarns and the end results differ.

When substituting yarns I recommend just taking a little time to look at a few things and do a few experiments. The first one is very important, find another yarn that gets the same tension. This doesn’t mean using the same needles as specified in the pattern but getting the same tension, e.g 18 stitches and 24 rows to 10/4ins square. Then the garment will be the same size as mentioned in the book. For yarn amounts look at the length on a ball band.

For example Aya has 148yds/135m per 50g ball. If the pattern asks for 150g this is 3 balls. I’ll use metres, so then multiple 135m by 3. This equals 405m.

Next look at the length on your chosen ball. In this example it is Shirakaba, which is 124m (136yds) per 50g ball. Divide 405m by 124m. This equals 3.3. Which means you need just over 3 balls (i.e 4 balls) to make the garment.

At first it can seem very confusing and a little bit daunting but once you have mastered it and are aware that your finished garment will be unique, it is lots of fun!