How much yarn for a blanket?
Dec. 5th, 2012 02:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jenett posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
knittingI am toying (ok, I am planning, but I'm not quite at the 'buy the yarn' stage) with doing a series of blocks to be joined into an eventual blanket. My goal is about 63" by 63", so that I can do 7" squares. (9x9, with a border of black around the edges, and then colored squares with simple charted designs in the middle.)
I've got a grip on most of this, but I'm trying to figure out how much yarn I want to budget for, since I'd like to ideally get it all at once (or at worst, a month or so apart.) I'm currently planning to use the KnitPicks Palette yarn (fingering weight, wool) for the combination of color range and price point.
I'd originally thought about intarsia, but the more I think about it, the more doing it as a double knit would solve some other problems (more possible detail in the design, a thicker weight of blanket, don't need to worry about stockinette rolling.)
What I can't figure out is how much yardage to plan on. Various calculators have told me everything from 3500 yds to about 4500 yds (that's not assuming double knit, so I would double that.)
What I'm not sure about is:
1) Is that a good estimate? Too high? Too low?
2) How much is my needle size going to change things? (The estimates seem to assume US1-3 as the needle size: I'd prefer to knit on something slightly larger, but I'm not sure how much of the background colour would show through. Is swatching on US 5s even worth my time?)
3) My current plan is to order a few balls to do a test run with (knitting to the end of at least one color, so that I have an idea how many squares I can get with that.) and then place my order from there. (In this mode, double knitting actually makes the calculations a lot simpler in some ways, since it's full squares of each color used, not "mostly X color with a little Y, how do I calculate that?")
4) Is there anything in this equation I'm missing? Or other test knitting I should be contemplating? Or some other piece of this project I'm missing? (I have some existing yarn in the mail that I will practice double knitting with shortly.) I admit to some nervousness about joining the whole thing together at the end (leaning towards invisible stitching) but I am also okay with crossing that bridge later.
I've got a grip on most of this, but I'm trying to figure out how much yarn I want to budget for, since I'd like to ideally get it all at once (or at worst, a month or so apart.) I'm currently planning to use the KnitPicks Palette yarn (fingering weight, wool) for the combination of color range and price point.
I'd originally thought about intarsia, but the more I think about it, the more doing it as a double knit would solve some other problems (more possible detail in the design, a thicker weight of blanket, don't need to worry about stockinette rolling.)
What I can't figure out is how much yardage to plan on. Various calculators have told me everything from 3500 yds to about 4500 yds (that's not assuming double knit, so I would double that.)
What I'm not sure about is:
1) Is that a good estimate? Too high? Too low?
2) How much is my needle size going to change things? (The estimates seem to assume US1-3 as the needle size: I'd prefer to knit on something slightly larger, but I'm not sure how much of the background colour would show through. Is swatching on US 5s even worth my time?)
3) My current plan is to order a few balls to do a test run with (knitting to the end of at least one color, so that I have an idea how many squares I can get with that.) and then place my order from there. (In this mode, double knitting actually makes the calculations a lot simpler in some ways, since it's full squares of each color used, not "mostly X color with a little Y, how do I calculate that?")
4) Is there anything in this equation I'm missing? Or other test knitting I should be contemplating? Or some other piece of this project I'm missing? (I have some existing yarn in the mail that I will practice double knitting with shortly.) I admit to some nervousness about joining the whole thing together at the end (leaning towards invisible stitching) but I am also okay with crossing that bridge later.