We're mythbusters now

    
July 19, 2021

Myth - BUSTED!
No, crochet does NOT take twice as much yarn

It's a common myth. Crochet takes more yarn than knitting. How much more? Twice as much is usually how this one goes, but we've heard THREE TIMES as much, too.

But never fear, it's not true. Or it's mostly not true.

It has more to do with the density of the fabric. Single crochet is the densest of the basic crochet stitches and knit garter stitch is the densest of the basic knit fabrics. And the two of them use roughly the same amount of fabric according to tests done by A Thing for String blog. Chix With Stix (a yarn shop in North Carolina) did similar tests (pdf link) and found that their single crochet took half again as much as garter stitch.

Of all the basic solid stitches, knitted stockinette stitch, unsurprisingly, took the least yarn (25-50% less than single crochet, and 18-25% less than knit garter stitch). Double crochet used less than garter stitch and only a little more than stockinette (10-20% more than stockinette).

Lacey stitches of both crafts take FAR less yarn! Air, after all, weighs nothing and uses NO yarn to make.

We wanted to do our own experiment with our favorite type of knitted/crocheted garment - shawls! We compared knitted and crocheted shawls of similar sizes and weighed them to see which used more yarn. 



Shawlettes - all made with fingering weight yarns:
-BLUE - Alaskan Waffle Shawl by Buttonnose crochet (YouTube Tutorial), crocheted with Euphoria Knits Frenzy using front post DC stitches - 162 grams
-GREY/RED - Ripple Rock by Judy Marples (Ravelry Link), knitted with Tosh Sock in a mosaic design - 173 grams
-GREY-RAINBOW - Blue Jean Saturday by Deby Lake (Ravelry Link), knitted with Crafting My Chaos Micro Stripe in a lace pattern - 106 grams

As you can see, the two non-lace shawlettes use very similar amounts of yarn, but the lacier shawlette uses significantly less.


Now, how about some full-sized shawls!
-GOLD/MULTI - Butterfly Papillon shawl by Marin Melchior (off-rav link), knitted with Urth Yarns Uneek Fingering and Cascade Heritage - 227 grams
-RAINBOW - Achilles by Silke Terhorst, crocheted with Scheepjes Whirl - 224 grams

Again, both shawls have a similar weight. Papillon is denser because it's a garter-stitch based pattern, but Achilles is made with a cotton-based yarn, which is a little heavier than a wool of the same weight.

Bottom line? No, crochet doesn't take significantly more yarn! Myth - BUSTED!

Be safe, be well, be kind!

-Caryn & the Yarnivore crew

 Shop News

Featured Pattern & Yarn
Sit in the AC and work on this fluffy shawl for fall! Kiania ($6 in-store, on Rav, or on Berroco.com) is a gorgeous ombre-style shawl knit in the delightfully light and fluffy Aerial Yarn from Berroco. So soft and gorgeous, and a fairly easy knit, too!

Hours - We’re open 7 days a week!
11-5 Monday-Saturday
Noon-5 Sunday


Private Lessons
In-store and online private lessons are available! Please call us at 210-979-8255 to schedule a lesson! Wendy, Dawn, Moses, and Nancy M. are all available to help you with your projects! Private Lessons can be scheduled outside of regular hours at the discretion of the teacher.

The Tip Jar

Not sure how much yarn you have left? Just weigh it! Plop it right on your kitchen scale, set it to grams, and weigh the remaining part of the ball. If you bought a hundred gram ball and you only have 37 grams left, then you've used about 63%!

You can also weigh your yarn before and after knitting or crocheting a row to see how much yarn that takes. For knitters, it takes about half again as much to bind off as a regular row, so if one row takes 2 grams, you'll need to leave at least 3 grams to bind off.

For smaller projects or greater accuracy, weigh the yarn, work 10 rows, then weigh it. Divide the amount used by 10 to see how much you use in a row.

All regular classes are currently on hold until we can safely seat up to 6 students in the classroom. We'll let y'all know when we can offer them again. Until then, we're offering most of our class material in private lessons.

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