Yarn weights

What weight is my yarn?

Click a weight to see what it means, or work out your yarn's weight from its label.

Worked example

A yarn with 225 m per 100 g is DK — 8 ply, weight 3 (Light).

Yarn weight chart
WeightNumberUK / AUWPIm per 100 gNeedlesHooksGauge / 10 cm
Lace0 Lace1–3 ply18+600+1.5–2.25 mm (US 000–1)2.25 mm (US B-1) or smaller33–40 sts
Fingering1 Super Fine4 ply14–17350–6002.25–3.25 mm (US 1–3)2.25–3.5 mm (US B-1–E-4)27–32 sts
Sport2 Fine5 ply12–13260–3503.25–3.75 mm (US 3–5)3.5–4.5 mm (US E-4–7)23–26 sts
DK3 Light8 ply11210–2603.75–4.5 mm (US 5–7)4.5–5.5 mm (US 7–I-9)21–24 sts
Worsted4 Medium10 ply9–10180–2104.5–5.5 mm (US 7–9)5.5–6.5 mm (US I-9–K-10½)16–20 sts
Aran4 Medium10 ply8140–1804.5–5.5 mm (US 7–9)5.5–6.5 mm (US I-9–K-10½)16–20 sts
Bulky5 Bulky12 ply780–1405.5–8 mm (US 9–11)6.5–9 mm (US K-10½–M/N-13)12–15 sts
Super Bulky6 Super Bulky14 ply5–640–808–12.75 mm (US 11–17)9–15 mm (US M/N-13–P/Q)7–11 sts
Jumbo7 Jumbo—4 or fewerunder 4012.75 mm (US 17) and up15 mm (US P/Q) and up6 sts or fewer

How it works

Yarn labels number weights from 0 (lace) to 7 (jumbo), with a typical needle size, crochet hook size and gauge for each. Worsted and Aran share weight 4: Aran is the thicker end.

UK and Australian ply names are a different system: 4 ply is fingering, 8 ply is DK, 10 ply is worsted or Aran, 12 ply is chunky.

Length per 100 g is a rule of thumb, not a standard. Fiber changes it — cotton and silk are heavier than wool, so a cotton DK has less length per 100 g than a wool DK. When a yarn sits near the line between two weights, both are shown. Knit a swatch before you trust it.

Wraps per inch (WPI): wrap the yarn snugly, without stretching, around a ruler and count the wraps in one inch.

Yarns held together knit as one thicker yarn. Which ones make your weight is worked out from each weight's typical wraps per inch: two strands of one yarn make a yarn about 1.4 times as thick, so fingering held double knits like DK. Each combination is given the nearest weight.

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