Yarn substitutes
What yarn can I use instead?
Can't get the yarn your pattern calls for, or want something else? Pick it from our catalog of 2,689 yarns, or type in its label, and see the yarns that can stand in for it, closest first, with how many balls of each you need.
Worked example
Malabrigo Rios, 7 balls (1,470 yd): 146 yarns can stand in for it. The closest is Malabrigo Washted: 7 balls.
How it works
A yarn can stand in when it is the same weight (the weight number when the source gives one, or the brand's weight word, like DK or Worsted, when it doesn't), its length per 100 g is within 10% of your pattern's yarn, and, when both list one, its gauge is within 10% too. A fact that isn't listed never rules a yarn out: that check is simply skipped.
Closest first: yarns still made before discontinued ones, then the most fiber in common, then the closest length per 100 g. Among yarns that match just as closely, ones sold by our partner shops come first. "Same fiber family" keeps only animal fibers (wool, alpaca, silk…), plant fibers (cotton, linen, viscose…) or synthetics (acrylic, nylon…), whichever your pattern's yarn has most of.
Each yarn says why it fits: how much thinner or thicker it is (more length per 100 g is a thinner strand), how much tighter or looser its gauge is when both labels give one (more stitches per 10 cm is tighter), and how much of its fiber is the same as your pattern's yarn's. Narrow the list to machine-washable yarns, yarns still made, or yarns with a fiber you want; sort it by fewest balls or most colors; and tick Compare on up to three to see them side by side with your pattern's yarn. If a label you type in doesn't add up (a "DK" with 2,300 yd per 100 g is lace thickness), the tool says so. The page's address keeps your choices, so you can save it or send it.
Balls are worked out for the same length as the pattern's yarn, rounded up: you can't buy part of a ball. Buy one extra to be safe, and knit a swatch before you start: a different fiber can change your gauge.
Only yarns in my stash: catalog yarns you own, and yarns you typed in yourself, matched on their own label facts, with how much you have left.