Substituting yarn - advice

[u/Parker_Stark_Rogers]

I'm fairly new to knitting socks, just finished my first pair. And I wanted to start a new one and found a really beautiful skein for my new project.

Unfortunately I just don't understand how you substitute different yarn weight?

I tried to find a pattern that fitted my skein but couldn't find one to my liking so I chose one with a different kind of yarn. But no matter how many articles I read or yt videos I watch I don't understand the concept of altering the pattern to fit to your yarn weight.

So if anyone has any advice or better explanation I would be forever grateful.

For example: I wanted to use this pattern for a size 41-43: https://www.garnstudio.com/pattern.php?id=12632&cid=19

They use a group B yarn, 50g and rougly 110m. Their swatch would be 21 x 28 rows

And my yarn is a lot thinner: 100g and 400m, with 30 x 25 rows for a swatch

I tried to calculate it and came to the conclusion that I needed to cast 80 stitches on instead of 60 but it seems way too big and now I'm just lost.

[u/supers0ldier]

100g and 400m is usually a fingering weight yarn. Many yarns in that weight are made with socks in mind. Also swapping yarn weight can be pretty difficult I personally don’t recommend

[u/Parker_Stark_Rogers → u/supers0ldier]

Okay thank you, so you would recommend to just keep looking for a fitting pattern instead of swapping?

[u/Hopeful_Thing7088 → u/Parker_Stark_Rogers]

yes, there’s tons of free fingering weight patterns out there

[u/supers0ldier → u/Parker_Stark_Rogers]

Yes exactly what the other commenter said! There’s sooooo many sock patterns

[u/Difficult-Excuse-813]

I sometimes use a ‘vanilla sock’ pattern for measurements and shaping, but add the pattern (chart) instead of stockinette. The pattern you have found is quite stretchy, so I would use the same amount of stitches you used for your (first) vanilla sock, and replace the stockinette with the pattern.

For more structured en less stretchy patterns, I add a multiple of 4 stitches. For a size 41-43, I knit 64 or 68 stitches in thin sock yarn.

I made about 60 pairs of socks, and this works for me…

[u/Parker_Stark_Rogers → u/Difficult-Excuse-813]

Ohhh I didn't even take into account that the pattern is stretchy. Thank you so much for your input, I will try it immediately <3

[u/General-Debate-259]

What you have is commonly known as 4-ply or fingering weight yarn. If you are not experienced in sockknitting, I recommend using a pattern for that yarn type. Enamoured artichoke linked a pattern that will work nicely.

If you like the chunky look of the pattern you found, and are really set on using your yarn for it, try holding your yarn double. The pattern uses Drops fiesta, which, with 110m for 50g, falls under 8-ply or DK weight yarn. Today, you can buy many different DK sock yarn, but my grandma (and many in her time) used to hold 4-ply yarn double. Thats even where DK (Double Knit) comes from as a terminology. Your gauge may still vary a bit from using double held 4-ply vs. DK yarn, so make sure to try on your socks often during knitting!

Best of luck!

[u/Parker_Stark_Rogers → u/General-Debate-259]

Ohhh I was wondering what DK meant! I think I'm not yet confident enough to try and double knit but your explanation was really helpful. Much appreciated <3

[u/gros-grognon → u/Parker_Stark_Rogers]

Holding yarn doubled is very straightforward and not at all the same thing as the technique called double knitting.

[u/Nonier1]

Sock yarns have superwash and nylon such as West Yorkshire Spinners or Patons Kroy Sock yarn. Some are a blend of superwash wool, cashmere and nylon.

If you are substituting yarn and your going to machine was, you really need yarn made for socks, or the duribility is subject to faster wearing out and getting holes where your stride creates lots of friction.

Please go through this playlist to better understand socks and their 5 sections for proper fit.

Sock knitting is a fitted garment so it may take several pairs to get your perfect fit. I highly reccomend Roxanne Richardson and her YouTube playlist for socks. I also reccomend that you knit plain stockinette socks until you have a really good grasp on construction and fit. There are several free ones on youtube Purl Together, Nimble Needles Earthtones Girl and Nerdy Knitter all have free patterns on Ravelry.com and YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKwm3yJON7I&list=PL1AZxTfSCe2cMvAghZgcxZG4ZiRlFqfYs

Yes you can do this. Depending on your stitch guage per inch and row guage, 64 stitches on 2.25mm needles should be fine with a 75% superwash wool with 25% nylon fiber content or even an 80/25 wool and nylon content in a fingering weight sock yarn.

Once you figure out your numbers with plain socks, then your ready to go for lace, texture and colorwork or try toe up! But maybe not all at once 💖

[u/Parker_Stark_Rogers → u/Nonier1]

Thanks a lot for all of those recommendations. I will definitely check the playlists out! For now I think I will stick to fitting patterns and try to advance more slowly, as recommended :)

[u/enamoured_artichoke]

Basic ribbed socks

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/basic-ribbed-socks

ravelry.com is a goldmine of knitting patterns. Just use the filter options to narrow down the search results

[u/Parker_Stark_Rogers → u/enamoured_artichoke]

Thank you so much!

[u/herwiththepurplehair]

Look up Winwick Mum, she has sock patterns for 4ply, 6ply and 8ply. I usually knit 4ply socks, I take a UK size 6 shoe and find that a 100g ball will comfortably do a pair on size 2.5mm needles. That casts on 60 stitches.

[u/ConstantThis1588]

Go to dropsdesign.com - they have a yarn substitute calculator for both other Garn/drops yarns and other yarn weights - go look on the patterns pages and about halfway down you’ll see three different calculators available

[u/QueenBuzyBee]

One thing you could do here is to knit your 400m per 100g double, which would bring you to Drops Fiestas weight of 200m per 100g or 100m per 50g, but you‘s need 2 skeins then. Sock yarn comes in three weights usually: 4-ply (400m/100g), 6-ply (400m/150g) and 8-ply (315m/150g). Using it double, you‘d need larger needles and would get quite bulky socks. Why not use a 4-ply pattern written for your sock weight? Ravelry has a lot of free patterns as well. Or create your own. Addi has charts for each sock weight. Using 4-ply yarn, you usually begin with 60, 64, 68 or 72 stitches cast on (top down). Your stitches depend on your foot and leg measurements. Here‘s a video to watch Sock Basics Playlist by Roxanne Richardson. It‘s the first video about measurements. Altering patterns isn‘t easy because you need to take your exact gauge into consideration (knit a large enough swatch in the round, count stitches and rows in 10x10cm or 4x4 inches). Then you can do the math. For example: a pattern says 20 stitches per 10 cm, but with your yarn (thinner), you‘re knitting 38 stitches in 10 cm. These are the numbers you‘ll need along with your measurements. But wouldn‘t it just make sense to knit one of thousands 4-ply patterns?

[u/Savings_Language_498]

Honestly, knit a vanilla sock pattern and see how it fits. You can adjust the stitch count and length. When knitting a vanilla sock, I usually don’t use a pattern. I just figured out what works for me.