Crooked Fence Mill
from fleece to forever
the reading room

Fiber Education

Take your time. Every page here is written the way we'd explain it if you were standing in the mill with a cup of coffee.

the friendly matchmaker

Choosing a Yarn Weight

The right yarn weight is a conversation between three things: your project, your fleece, and your patience.

Start with the project

  • Socks and lace: fingering (1) or lighter.
  • Everyday sweaters: DK (3) or worsted (4).
  • Cabled sweaters and outerwear: aran or bulky (5).
  • Quick blankets, hats, cowls: bulky (5) or super bulky (6).

Then listen to the fleece

Fine, high-crimp fleeces (Merino, Cormo) love to be spun light and airy — perfect for DK and finer. Longer, less-crimped fleeces (Romney, BFL, Corriedale) want to be worsted-style and shine at worsted and aran. Coarser fleeces have a wonderful life ahead as outerwear, blankets, and rug yarn.

Then account for your patience

Fingering weight makes for a beautiful sweater — and a long knit. If you want the joy of a finished project this month, choose worsted or bulky. There is no wrong answer.

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