Have you ever worked up a beloved skein of variegated yarn, only to be disappointed by how single colours created stretches that are too long or too short?
Learning to ‘read’ variegated yarn will help you to avoid buying yarn that will create long lines or little splodges when worked up. It’s helpful to understand how the yarn is likely to look as a fabric before you buy it.
Personally, I’m not a fan of long runs of single colours in my work and prefer my variegated fabric to look more like the photos below. This is why I worked up a quick swatch calculation that I can use to predict how the variegated colours are likely to work up, even before I buy the yarn!
These are my Arria Shawls in crochet and knitted versions, using yarn from RiverKnits. They yarn has very short colour change, so you don’t really get long runs of stitches in one colour.
Here’s what I cover in this post:
- the key to predicting variegated yarn
- use my crochet calculations
- use my knitting calculations
- making your own stitch calculations
- make your own crochet swatch calculations
- make your own knitting swatch calculations
- reading skeins of yarn with your calculations
- my go-to variegated yarn dyers
The Key to Predicting Yarn
The key to ‘reading’ variegated yarn is knowing how many centimetres each stitch requires.
Being armed with the right information and a measuring tape in a yarn shop or at a yarn show could help avoid the utter disappointment of discovering that the precious skein of yarn you bought just won’t work for your project.
You can even go a step further and work out what your preferred range is for the length of a single colour in variegated yarn. <<<< I realise that this will be a step too far for many, but as a designer, this information is seriously useful when I am eyeing up skeins of yarn at £20 – £25 a pop!
Use My Crochet Calculations
You can work out your own specific calculations by following my crochet method further down. If you just want a quick fix, here are my swatch calculations for crochet.
4ply Yarn Crochet Stitch Lengths
Using a 3mm (C/2 or D/3) hook, I got the following measurements:
- Double crochet (single in US) 3.5cm/ 1.25″ per stitch
- Half treble crochet (half double in US) 4.5cm/ 1.75″ per stitch
- Treble crochet (double in US) 6.5cm/ 2.5″ per stitch
DK Weight Yarn Crochet Stitch Lengths
Using a 4.5mm (7) hook, I got the following measurements:
- Double crochet (single in US) 5cm/ 2″ per stitch
- Half treble crochet (half double in US) 7cm/ 2.75″ per stitch
- Treble crochet (double in US) 9cm/ 3.5″ per stitch
Why not pin these images so that next time you go yarn shopping, you will have this information to hand when buying variegated yarn.
TIP – If you are in a yarn shop or at a yarn show, please ask the vendor if you can open up the skein. Don’t be offended if they want to re-skein it themselves – there is real skill in skeining up yarn!
Use My Knitting Calculations
You can work out your own specific calculations by following my knitting method further down. If you just want a quick fix, here are my swatch calculations for knitting.
4ply/Fingering Knit Stitch Lengths
Using 3mm needles, I got the following measurements:
- Knit stitches in rows 1.35cm/ 0.5″ per stitch
- Purl stitches in rows 1.3cm/ 0.5″ per stitch
DK Weight Knit Stitch Lengths
Using 4mm needles, I got the following measurements:
- Knit stitches in rows 1.7cm/ 0.75″ per stitch
- Purl stitches in rows 1.55cm/ 0.5″ per stitch
If you take a photo of this image with your phone or pin it, you will have this information to hand when you next go to buy a variegated yarn.
If you are in a yarn shop or at a yarn show, please ask the vendor if you can open up the skein. Don’t be offended if they want to re-skein it themselves there is real skill in skeining up yarn!
TIP – If you are in a yarn shop or at a yarn show, please ask the vendor if you can open up the skein. Don’t be offended if they want to re-skein it themselves – there is real skill in skeining up yarn!
Making your own Stitch Calculations
To create your own swatches you will need:
- Yarn (I swatched for 4 ply & DK because I use them most). You don’t need to use variegated yarn for the swatch, but do choose a blend of yarn that is representative of the yarn you usually use.
- Hooks/ needles that you use most often with with your chosen weight of yarn.I used a 3mm hook/ needles for the 4 ply and a 4.5mm hook and 4mm needles for the DK.
- 2 place markers.
- Measuring tape.
- Notepad and pen.
Crochet Swatch Calculations
Crochet a 15 stitch x 5 row swatch in double crochet (single crochet).
You are only going to measure the middle 5 stitches. These should have even tension because they are away from the sides and were not crocheted into the starting chain. Here’s how you do it:
- Step 1: Frog back the last 5dc sts.
- Step 2: Place mark just before the next st making sure the pm splits the yarn to hold it in place.
- Step 3: Carefully frog back 5dc sts.
- Step 4: Place mark just before the next st, making sure the place marker splits the yarns to hold it in place.
- Step 5: Frog back a couple more sts so that you can easily stretch out the length of yarn between the two place markers.
- Step 6: Use a measuring tape to measure the distance between the two markers and write down in your notepad. Try not to stretch your yarn out as this will over-extend it and give you an incorrect reading.
- Step 7: divide the length by 5 to get the length in centimetres per stitch. For example, 5dcs were 25cm for my DK swatch, so each dc needs 5cm of yarn.
Repeat the process for half treble (half doubles) and treble (double) crochets. If you have other stitches that you regularly use, repeat the process for those too. There is no need to start from the very beginning, just add rows of htr or tr on top of your dc swatch.
Knitting Swatch Calculations
Knit a 20 stitch x 7 row swatch in stocking stitch.
You are only going to measure the middle 10 stitches. These should have even tension because they are away from the sides and were not knitted into the cast on stitches. Here’s how you do it:
- Step 1: Frog back the first 5 knit sts.
- Step 2: Place mark just before the next st making sure the pm splits the yarn to hold it in place.
- Step 3: Carefully frog back 10 knit sts.
- Step 4: Place mark just before the next st, making sure the place marker splits the yarns to hold it in place.
- Step 5: Frog back a couple more knit sts so that you can easily stretch out the length of yarn between the two place markers.
- Step 6: Use a measuring tape to measure the distance between the two markers and write down in your notepad. Try not to stretch your yarn out as this will over-extend it and give you an incorrect reading.
- Step 7: divide the length by 10 to get the length in centimetres per stitch. For example, 10 knit stitches were 13.5cm for my 4ply swatch, so each knit stitch needs 1.35cm of yarn.
Repeat the process for purl stitches on Row 6 below. You may also want to create a similar swatch for knitting and purling in the round because that can create different tension/ gauge from working in rows.
Reading skeins of Yarn
You have your calculations, but now what?
Well, now you get to crack open lots of balls, hanks and skeins of yarn to look at how long the colour runs are inside. Here are three skeins I am using as examples. They are all 4ply/ 400m/ 437yds per 100g.
The first thing to note is that when yarn is caked, hanked and skeined up, it is no real indication of how the colours will actually look when in use. All sorts of colours could be lurking inside and the lengths could be too long or short for your project.
This shows the same three skeins opened up and don’t they look different? Now you can start to see where the runs of colour are. I have added lines for what I have identified as the longest individual colour runs in each skein. If you love long colour runs, you may want to identify the shortest colour run instead.
But, let’s look at them individually.
The longest colour run in this Telling Yarns 4ply skein is 14cm long. I have marked the points at which the dye bleed has definitely changed to a different colour.
If the longest colour run in this skein is 14cm/ 5.5″ long, I know that the most number of stitches I can get in one run for knit or crochet are:
- 10 knit stitches (based on 1.35cm per stitch and rounded)
- 11 purl stitches (based on 1.3cm per stitch and rounded)
- 4 double crochets (single in US) (based on 3.5cm per stitch and rounded)
- 3 half treble crochets (half double in US) (based 4.5cm per stitch and rounded)
- 2 treble crochets (double in US) (based on 6.5cm per stitch and rounded)
The longest colour run in this Madrigal Yarns 4ply skein is 18cm long. I have marked the points at which the dye bleed has definitely changed to a different colour.
You can also see that there are speckles in the middle of that colour run, This isn’t a long enough colour run or a big enough colour change to read differently from the aqua green either side, so I have included it as part of the colour run. With crochet in particular, that darker blue part of the colour run may barely be noticeable in the final fabric.
If the longest colour run in this skein is 18cm/ 7″ long, I know that the most number of stitches I can get in one run for knit or crochet are:
- 13 knit stitches (based on 1.35cm per stitch and rounded)
- 14 purl stitches (based on 1.3cm per stitch and rounded)
- 5 double crochets (single in US) (based on 3.5cm per stitch and rounded)
- 4 half treble crochets (half double in US) (based 4.5cm per stitch and rounded)
- 3 treble crochets (double in US) (based on 6.5cm per stitch and rounded)
The longest colour run in this Abercairn Yarn 4ply skein is also 14cm long. However, with this yarn, the colours are all quite similar and they way it has been dyed shows other colours peeking through that 14cm length.
My prediction for this yarn is that the longest stitch runs I will get are set out below, but because they aren’t a solid colour, it will create a more variegated colour pattern like the crochet shawl I showed at the top of this post, but with some longer runs of stitches in one colour.
- 10 knit stitches (based on 1.35cm per stitch and rounded)
- 11 purl stitches (based on 1.3cm per stitch and rounded)
- 4 double crochets (single in US) (based on 3.5cm per stitch and rounded)
- 3 half treble crochets (half double in US) (based 4.5cm per stitch and rounded)
- 2 treble crochets (double in US) (based on 6.5cm per stitch and rounded)
Finally, you get to work out what you are drawn to in your crocheted and knitted fabrics. If you are like me, you will want quick colour changes to create no more than a stitch or two in the same one colour. A 5-10cm colour run is my sweet spot when I am looking for variegated yarn.
If you like the bold, striped effect that long colour runs can create in your fabric, then you are most likely going to want skeins of yarn that are 10cm+ in their colour runs and have very defined solid colour sections.
FINAL TIP – Over recent years more crocheted swatches are turning up at yarn events – yay! Many of these are granny square swatches made with treble crochet (double US). Just remember that a treble uses more yarn and so if you liked the amount of colour represented in that swatch but plan on using the yarn for something in dc (sc) or htr (hdc), then more of that colour is going to show through.
My Go-To Variegated Yarn Dyers
RiverKnits – Becci and Markus purposefully dye with short colour changes so that knit and crochet fabrics don’t have big runs of one colour.
Madrigal Yarns – I recently fondled a lot of this yarn at a yarn show. Lots of their variegated yarn has short colour changes
The Wool Kitchen – Helen dyes some interesting yarns, including some zip yarns for planned pooling. Many of her variegated yarns have very subtle colour changes, they are longer, but the similarity of colour doesn’t make them stand out.
There will be lots of other yarn dyers out there with variegated yarns that suit your preferences. Have fun finding the yarns, commercial or hand dyed that suit your personal aesthetic.
Variegated Conclusions
Whether you love big colour blocks in variegated colours or not, using my method for ‘reading’ a skein can definitely help.
Being able to visualise the yarn into fabric form can save you a lot of time and money.
I would love to hear you your experiences with this method and variegated yarn. Why not join me over on Instagram or leave a comment below?
Fay x
