If you've been in the knitting world for a while, you've probably come across terms like "fingering," "sport," "DK," and others, and you might feel a bit lost.
These terms have been established globally to standardize yarn thicknesses.
Knitting has become globalized, allowing us access to patterns and magazines from designers around the world, but we don't always have access to the yarns they used to create their garments.
This point is crucial because if you use a thicker yarn than the pattern calls for, the finished item will be larger, and if you use a thinner yarn, the item will end up smaller. It's also important to consider the fiber used, as this will affect the drape, but we'll save that topic for another time.
The terms created to define yarn thickness are: Lace, Fingering, Sport, DK, Worsted or Aran, Bulky, and Super Bulky.
The most common way to distinguish one from another is by looking at the "meters per 100 grams." Remember that yarn comes in skeins or balls of 25, 50, 100, or even 150 grams.
The issue with this quick and common designation is that it doesn’t truly qualify for all types of yarn.
There are thousands of fiber qualities in the world of knitting. We have sheep of different breeds, alpaca, cashmere, cotton, linen, silk, angora, yak, llama, suri alpaca, acrylics, modal, hemp, and so much more. Each fiber has its own weight and density. You can have a strand of one meter of merino wool and another of alpaca of the same "thickness," but each will have a different weight. In this case, alpaca is denser and heavier than merino, so in 100 grams of alpaca, you will have fewer meters than in merino, even though both are the same thickness.
For this reason, there’s a more accurate way to measure yarn thickness, which is "WPI" or "Wraps Per Inch."
Basically, it tells you how many wraps you can make around an inch on a ruler with the yarn in question.
It’s important to do this neither too tightly nor too loosely—be “gentle” with the fiber as always.
This will give you the objective thickness of the yarn.
Don’t worry; these days, almost all brands and yarns provide all the information you need on their labels, including this. We just want to help you understand these terms in case you have a skein at home without a label and want to know its thickness.
In this sense, you'll find that:
Lace: 30 to 40 WPI
Fingering: 18 to 30 WPI
Sport: 14 to 18 WPI
DK: 12 to 15 WPI
Worsted: 9 to 12 WPI
Bulky/Chunky: 6 to 9 WPI
Super Bulky/Super Chunky: 1 to 4 WPI.
I hope this post has been helpful! Feel free to save it for easy access whenever you need it.
If you’d like to add anything, please leave your comments, and we’ll enrich this entry together as we learn a little more each day.
Sending you a big hug, and happy knitting!
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