Yarn substitutions:

Some King Cole yarns that substitute well:

King Cole Aero 100g at £2.65 substitutes for Rowan Big Wool 100g at around £7.25.  Rowan Big Wool has 80m per 100g and King Cole Aero has 78m per 100g so an adjustment should be made in the number of balls bought to make sure you have enough yarn.

King Cole Baby Comfort DK at £2.60 for 100g substitutes well for Snuggly Sirdar 50g at around £2.49.  King Cole Baby Comfort DK has a fibre content of 60% supersoft Acrylic and 40% supersoft Nylon which is very similar to Sirdar Snuggly at 55% nylon and 45% acrylic.

Very often you will see a pattern you love but may not want to use the yarn that the pattern states.  In general terms, any double knitting, 4 ply, 3 Ply or Aran will knit up to the correct tension but you should always make a tension square even if you firmly believe your tension to be correct.  One extra stitch or row over the required tension will make a big difference to your finished work.  So substituting a different brand of yarn should not be a problem as long as you check your tension.

The yarn tension will be on the ball band to give you a guide but the pattern will give details of the tension required and this is the tension you want to achieve.  If your tension square has too many stitches or rows, try again with the next bigger needle until you reach the correct tension.  If your tension square has too few stitches or rows, try again with the next smaller needles

In general terms two strands of 4 ply knitted together will make a double knitting tension yarn and two strands of double knitting will achieve an aran tension yarn but check with a tension square before you commit to knitting!

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