Skip to content

The Unraveled Knitter

an online knitter's journey

Menu
  • Contact Me
  • Getting Started Guide
  • Instagram
  • The Cross Stitch Gallery
  • Who is the Unraveled Knitter?
Menu

The Relationship between Needle Size and Yarn Weight

Posted on February 18, 2022 by KateDos

When making a gauge swatch, the relationship between the size of your needles and the weight of the yarn affects how the resulting fabric looks.

One thing that’s confusing for a lot of new knitters (and sometimes the experienced ones!) is that if your gauge has more stitches to the inch than you want, you need to go UP a needle size. You’d think “more means I need less, so a smaller needle!” but that’s not right. If you have too many stitches to the inch, then you need bigger stitches and that means a bigger needle. For example, if your gauge swatch has 26sts/4in and you need 24sts/4in, then you need bigger stitches – and therefore your next swatch should be knit with bigger needles. However, bigger needles will mean a looser fabric. That may or may not be what you want.

If your fabric is too loose, you can consider moving up a yarn weight. Looking back at determining yarn weight, you can pick a yarn of the same estimated weight but slightly lower wpi. Lower wpi = thicker yarn = denser fabric on the same needles.

Recap on making gauge swatch adjustments:

  • Need fewer stitches to the inch: bigger stitches, bigger needles
  • Need more stitches to the inch: smaller stitches, smaller needles

Side effects of changing needles or yarn weights:

  • The same yarn on bigger needles = less dense fabric
  • The same yarn on smaller needles = denser fabric
  • Thinner yarn on the same needles = thinner, less dense fabric
  • Thicker yarn on the same needles = thicker, denser fabric

1 thought on “The Relationship between Needle Size and Yarn Weight”

  1. Pingback: The Intro Guide – The Unraveled Knitter

Comments are closed.

Recent Posts

  • Short Row, Gusset-less Heels
  • The Slipped Stitch Bric-a-Brac Sock with Afterthought Heel
  • Everybody Slipper Socks, Toe-up
  • Hue Shift Afghan Videos
  • Finished Object – Multipocket Dice Bag

Categories

crochet finished object news patterns techniques tips and tricks tools Uncategorized website yarn

Archives

  • October 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
©2025 The Unraveled Knitter | WordPress Theme by Superbthemes.com