At McIntosh, we know how important it is to choose the right yarn for your project. One of the most common areas of confusion, especially for customers ordering from countries such as Australia and New Zealand, is the use of “ply” as a yarn weight guide.
You may see a pattern asking for something like “14-ply yarn” and naturally look for a yarn with 14 individual plies. Unfortunately, modern yarns do not always work that neatly.
Traditionally, ply referred to the number of strands twisted together to make a yarn. But today, yarn construction is much more varied. A yarn can have many fine strands and still knit up as a medium-weight yarn, or it can have fewer thicker strands and knit up much heavier. The number of plies tells us something about how the yarn is made, but it does not reliably tell us how thick the yarn is, how it will behave, or which needle size it needs.
If we take the example of LANGYARNS Merino 70:
Merino 70 is constructed as a 3 x 6 yarn. First, 3 threads are plied together, then 6 of those 3-ply strands are twisted together again to make the final yarn. Technically, that gives a total of 18 plies, but that does not mean it should be treated as an “18-ply” yarn in the way many knitters understand the term. The thickness of the original threads, the amount of twist, the direction of twist, and the final meterage all affect the finished yarn.
This is why we do not recommend choosing yarn by ply count alone.
Instead, at McIntosh, we guide customers by yarn weight, meterage, tension, and recommended needle / hook size. These give a much more reliable picture of how a yarn will knit or crochet.
As a general guide, yarn weights run from fine to thick in this order:
- Lace weight
- Sock / baby yarn
- Carry-along yarn
- 4-ply
- DK or Double Knitting
- Sport
- Worsted / aran
- 6-ply
- 8-ply
- Chunky / bulky
- Super chunky / bulky
These can be standardised as sizes and are checked using a system called “Wraps per Inch” where the number of ‘wraps’ of the yarn along a set diameter of wooden dowel are used.
Needle / hook size is especially helpful because it tells you how the yarn is expected to behave in a finished fabric. A yarn recommended for 3.0 mm needles will not usually create the same result as one recommended for 6.0 mm needles, even if the number of strands inside the yarn sounds similar.
Meterage is also important. If two balls are both 50g but one has 200 metres and the other has 80 metres, they are clearly very different yarns. This can affect not only the size of your finished project, but also how many balls you will need.
So, if your pattern asks for “14-ply”, please do not simply look for a yarn with 14 strands. Check the recommended needle size, tension, and meterage, or contact us before ordering. We are always happy to help you find the closest match.
Yarn names and ply systems can vary from country to country, but the best results come from matching the yarn to the project, not just to a number.
If in doubt, ask us first. It is much easier to choose the right yarn before you start than to discover halfway through that the weight is wrong.
