Figuring Your Yardage

Knitters and crocheters have to use the draconian measure of working a row, pulling the yarn loose, and then measuring the yarn in order to figure out how much yardage they need to complete a project.

Another possible option would be to finish the project and write down how much they used. This would help any future purchasing of yarn for doing the same project but doesn't do much to help the person who works the pattern first.

How much yarn you will need for mesh weaving is fairly easy to figure.

1. Measure the length of the mesh.
2. Add about 12-16 inches for fringe and the natural up and down of weaving.
3. Count the number of rows per color.
4. Multiply length times the number of rows. Make that into yards.

My current project is just under 400 rows wide. (Figure 8 rows per inch.)

 

I am making 9 stripes. There are 4 rows of purple per stripe. That makes 36 purple lengths.

 

Each stripe is 9 rows across. I adjusted the center row by adding an extra 2 strands. That makes 83 lengths of variegated yarn.

 

36 + 83 = 119.

 

Subtract that from 400 and I have 281 strands of lilac (or a few less).

 

Multiply by 2 1/2 yards and these are the amounts of yarn that I currently need:

 

Lilac - 702 1/2 yards

Purple - 90 yards

Variegated - 207 1/2 yards

 

The shopping then becomes easy since skeins/balls of yarn are labeled with the yardage.

 

Thanks for visiting with me,

 

Kathi Linz

 

Cutting Yarn

Your raw materials for mesh weaving are utility mesh and skeins of yarn.

I showed you how to prepare the mesh, but I haven't said anything about how to cut the yarn so that it comes out right.  SEEMS straightforward, right? Well...maybe.

The first property of yarn is that it stretches. In this craft, that matters quite a bit in two ways. First, it matters when you cut it, and, secondly, it matters when you weave it.

When I made my first two afghans, I measured the length of the mesh and added a few inches in my head for the fringe. Then I found something approximately the right length (turned the card table over and wrapped the yarn around three of the legs in a triangle pattern). I cut all of the yarn at once and draped the lengths over a coat hanger. I had a handy peg or something near my work station so I could just reach over and grab another strand when I started each row.

So far, that makes perfect sense, right? Well, it did to me at the time. Perhaps time and practice have made me a little more cautious. Here's what actually happened when I did it that way. The kit contained a certain amount of yarn and no yarn on the market matched it. If I put even an inch or two extra on each strand, I came out short on the number of lengths I needed to finish the afghan. You'll see that I went over by more than a couple of inches. Creativity helped me overcome that, but it didn't end up the way I had planned.



Another thing about cutting the strands all at once, is that if you measure too short, you can't fix it. Better to cut it too long than too short and make sure you have enough yarn to cover the area.

When I had all of the strands on a coat hanger and pulled one strand loose, the whole bunch was inclined to slide along with the one I pulled. Some ends tangled with each other. If I wrapped the yarns across my shoulders, I could pull a strand loose with less draggage (is that a word?), but still the whole pile would shift.

Here's what I am doing differently this time.

1. I cut one piece and made sure it was an appropriate length.
2. Once I knew the correct length, I cut a few strands at a time.
3. I measure the strands on a yard stick that I keep close to my table.
4. I measure the yarn loosely. If I stretch it during the measurement, it may not be long enough to fit the row I am working on.

Please feel free to find a method that works for you, but please learn from my mistakes. Think about the stretch of the yarn when you cut the strands you will weave.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz