In this Makers’ Minute, Katie explains how to read the tricky bits of information on yarn labels.
Click here to purchase Das Paar yarn.
Click here to download a copy of the Fabric Care Symbols.
Transcription
Hi. I’m Katie, and this is your Makers’ Minute.
Today we’ll be discussing labels and how to read them.
What does this square of information mean exactly? It’s all about gauge. Here we see if we use a 4-6 size needle, and cast on approximately 20-22 stitches, and knit for 26-32 rows, that should give us a 4×4 inch or 10×10 centimeters square.
If we look at this Das Par label by Schoppel, we can see some interesting things that aren’t always found on yarns that are in just one language.
At the top we see that it’s 420 meters equalling to 100 grams. On the second half of the tag, we see the fiber content, first in German language, then in the English language. Nestled in the middle section are some yardage suggestions.
If you were to make a ladies size sweater small, you may need approximately 450 grams. Or if you wanted to make a pair of socks, you would just need one skein equaling to 100 grams.
On the last line we see that, if you have 42 rows and 30 stitches, that should equal a 10×10 centimeters square. Following that are the wash and care symbols, the suggested needle size between a 2 and 3 millimeter, the color number, and the lot number.
This helpful reference tool on wash and care instructions can be found at the link below. I always recommend keeping at least one label so that you know which color and which dye lot your project’s made out of, just in case you need more.
If the project’s a gift, I like to include this so that the recipient knows just exactly how to take care of the project. I hope you learned a lot in this Makers’ Minute and I’ll see you next time!