Beginner

What size yarn should I use when weaving?

Yarn Weight| The Weaving Loom

The obvious answer to this question is whatever size you want. Truly you can use whatever yarn thickness you desire and also incorporate non-yarn items. However, when you are new to weaving picking out yarns for your weave can be daunting so I’m going to share my best recommendations.

To start, let’s talk about yarn sizing or weight. A yarn’s weight describes how thick or thin the strand is spun. Some yarns will be described by their weight name, some by their weight number, some by both, and some neither. Here is the order of yarn weights from thinnest to thickest:

0 – Lace weight

1 – Fingering weight

2 – Sport

3 – DK (double knit)

4 – Worsted

5 – Bulky

6 – Super Bulky

Yarn Weight| The Weaving Loom

The bulky sized yarns will make your weaving quicker, however they will also show your warp thread. If you want a tighter weave that doesn’t show the warp then I recommend using a DK or worsted weight yarn.

Yarn Weight| The Weaving Loom

Combining yarns is also a great way to add texture and interest to your weave. You could weave some lace weight shapes into your weave, then weave in worsted weight and add some bulky to give your weave some depth and interest. You could also grab more then one thread of yarn and pull them through your weave as if they were one. You might combine 6 threads of lace weight and weave them in as one thread, or combine a worsted weight and a bulky weight to weave in as one. I some times combine multiple strands of worsted weight to make it into a bulky weight strand.  In the picture above, I’m using the same cream yarn for the whole weave. I vary between just one strand of yarn and four strands of yarn used together. In the picture below, I combined a grey super bulky yarn with a matching grey worsted weight yarn to give a little more detail and texture.

Yarn Weight| The Weaving Loom

My best recommendation is experiment in order to find out what you like. Make a bunch of mini weaves, or just jump into a large weave.

My go to weight of yarn is a DK or this worsted weight. What is your preferred yarn weight? Have you tried combining yarn weights for texture? As always, I’d love to hear from you.

If you’re interested in knowing which yarn to warp your loom with, find out in this post here.

Happy Weaving!

Kate

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  • samia
    July 28, 2015 at 3:23 pm

    what about the warp thread? is there a rule for that or can I use whatever thickness I’d like?
    love your blog! it’s helping me a lot <3<3

    • Kate
      July 28, 2015 at 4:43 pm

      Hi Samia,
      I’m so happy you’re finding my blog helpful! This is a really good question that I think others might have as well, so thank you for asking. To give you the simple answer you could use whatever you want to warp, however fibers that have too much stretch like wools will affect your weave when you take it off the loom. Because of this I usually use cotton threads for my warps. I will start putting together a post on this so I can go into more detail.
      Thank you for the question!
      Kate

    • Kate
      August 6, 2015 at 2:53 pm

      Hi Samia, I just posted more details on my thoughts about warp threads. I hope you find it helpful 😀

  • Kari Mertz
    November 2, 2015 at 12:03 pm

    Thank you so much for this informative post. I am VERY new to weaving and actually just started my first piece! I love the idea of mixing weights and fibers to create added dimension and texture. Off to read more posts!

    • Kate
      November 2, 2015 at 1:07 pm

      Hi Kari! Welcome to weaving, it can be very addictive 🙂

  • Elisa Storer Blasini
    June 8, 2016 at 10:12 am

    Kate, of all the explanations yours is the easiest to understand……thank you. I am a newbie, I love the textures, the colors……
    Thank you for the lessons…..
    Greatly appreciated
    Elisa
    San Juan, Puerto Rico

    • Kate
      June 9, 2016 at 6:13 am

      Thank Elisa! It makes me happy to hear your enjoying my posts 🙂

  • Allison
    July 12, 2016 at 10:15 am

    So very helpful to me! I am about to start my first ‘real’ weaving on an actual lap loom – usually I just play around outside and make looms to weave natural materials through – and had no idea where to begin with yard weights and such. Thank you for the wonderful advice!

    • Kate
      July 12, 2016 at 4:04 pm

      Wow, you have such a great IG feed! I love your paintings and that natural weave is really pretty. I can’t wait to see your first ‘real’ weave 😉