Yarn Substitution Made Easy: Matching the Right Yarn to Any Knitting Pattern

In Carol J. Sulcoski's seventh book, she brings her immense knowledge of yarn and how it behaves to the topic of how to choose a different yarn than the one specified in the pattern. In the first section, "Yarn Fundamentals," she tackles huge topics that have had whole books written on them and distills out what you need to know about yarn behavior, content, weight, construction, and visual dye effects. The second section guides you through choosing a substitute yarn for a pattern based on the characteristics of the yarn specified for the piece, with an eye toward getting a similar result. (She specifically states that this book is not about how to rewrite a pattern to suit a different weight yarn.) The third section offers deliberately simple patterns, each chosen to highlight a yarn characteristic (one requires very elastic yarn, another a very drapey yarn, another requires a yarn with excellent stitch definition, etc). Each of these patterns is written for a specific yarn, and then Sulcoski shows you good, workable, and poor swaps for each one, and why they are good substitutions or not. This book is valuable to anyone who doesn't always choose to purchase the yarn specified in a pattern. It's written in a very readable, almost conversational style. I found that, having been a knitter for over 25 years (ouch!), I realized that I already understood a lot of this information, but in a more intuitive way. I probably couldn't have articulated it well, and certainly not as well as this author, with her years of experience teaching. I also tend to stick to certain corners of the knitting world. Give me some hand-dyed merino and I won't bother anyone until my tea goes cold. This book's information is still useful to me. For instance: that cardigan was written for a camel/silk/yak blend - can I get away with merino? What about merino/silk? My only nitpick is that I found a couple of typos. They likely will be fixed in the next printing, and do not detract from the information presented.

I had high expectations for this book which my first explorations reduced to a lower level. There is a lot of information contained, and for that I am truly grateful and very pleased. However there is significant room for improving the book. For starters a lot of different yarns are pictured (on the cover as well) with no information about brands or indeed anything at all EXCEPT in the section including patterns for several different garments. Most of those yarns are unusual and lovely; I'd love to know more. In the section with patterns, the patterns themselves are for rather uninteresting pieces -- perhaps they are by the author? In that section three different choices of yarn is shown (in smallish pictures) and there is ample information there. But for the type of knitting that I do (as do many of my friends) the info, while helpful, isn't for the types of yarns we use. The author mentions a day job as lawyer, and 3 almost grown kids plus teaching knitting classes. I suspect that she's maxed out on time demands so the book represents a pretty sizeable time commitment but could use some essential tweaks. She's done a great job on much of the book and achieves some of her goad but I think a more detailed index, the index, some traditional patterns (Fair Isle, Scandinavian and Gansey for starters) and full identification and characteristics of the yarns shown would improve the book tremendously. She would get six stars from me -- well a 5 plus!

This is a thorough, clearly written book on the complex subject of yarn substitution for knitters. We live in a world with seemingly infinite access to knitting patterns and yarn, but that really complicates the task of choosing the right yarn for our next project. Carol Sulcoski's new book focuses on the details of yarn structure, fiber content and appearance (color) to educate the reader about yarn in general, and then she provides a range of simple but appealing pattern designs with which she offers specific options for yarn substitutions, and explains why each of these options may or may not be successful. The photographs of swatches for each option are very helpful and the photography throughout the book will please any yarn lover. I particularly love her use of the word facets to describe the way plied yarns reflect light and shadow to help create stitch definition. I have been knitting for 45 years and teaching knitting and other fiber arts for 25 years; I am delighted to be able to recommend this book to my students as a terrific resource.

A simply amazing book for yarnaholics who want to learn how to substitute that perfect skien of yarn in the SABLE stash!!! Carol takes you through the aspects of yarn construction and further provides explanations of how yarn behaves when knitted. But, WAIT, there’s more. Carol also provides examples through the clever use of a few patterns at the end of the book. These examples are by far the coolest way to show knitters how different yarns behave when knitted. The Yarn Goddess explains the pros and cons through an easy green, yellow, red method to show case why or why not you would want to use different yarns. These informative explanations guide knitters on a journey to select the perfect yarn based on article construction and yarn composition. This is a must need in all knitters libraries.

Love this book and the level of “clean reading”, meaning, I found it easy to absorb and understand. After getting the wrong guidance too frequently when making a purchase at an LYS, and from my solo selection voyages ending in disaster, this book caught my interest. I feel like I’m taking a course and impactfully increasing my yarn knowledge. Thank you to the author!

As a beginner, this book would’ve saved me hours of frustration on projects that did not work because I used the wrong yarn. It would’ve saved me money as well. Don’t let this happen to you. Buy it!

I loved the book and how it was organized (The Big Three, Fiber Content, Yarn Construction, Visual Effects, Classification, substitution process, selecting, and Patterns for Practice), but I couldn't help wishing there was more information in the Fiber Content section and more fiber types covered. I ended up ordering Book of Yarn, in the hopes that I would get what I wanted. (Deets on yarn fibers, the pros and cons, and what functions they excel at.) Still waiting for the new book to arrive, but this felt like a really good start.

Very good book for your reference shelf. Have used it many times.

This book is mostly a book on yarn. The types, qualities, sizes, and so on. Very small section is on actual yarn substitution. I will admit the info on the yarn is interesting but there are books out there on yarn. I bought this for the substitution part. Maybe she should have titled it "All about yarn: types, uses, and substitutions". When you get to the actual substitution section I was left with a less then thrilled read. Onto the projects ...suppose to be a hands on lesson type compilation. Instead it is her showing you 3 yarns she picked and why they work, might work or won't work (most are obvious) . Overall I feel the book is not what I thought I was purchasing.

This is a great book to learn about how yarn is made, what it is made from, and how to make good decisions as to whether the yarn you want to use will result in the kind of outcome you expect when it’s turned into a garment. The prose is well-written, there are lots of pictures illustrating the author’s points, and I am fairly sure it saved me money right off the bat as I realized the yarn I wanted to use for my summer knitting project was about to cause a knitting disaster. Instead, I learned what yarn I SHOULD use and why. I will keep this reference around to avert future yarn failures (really pilot error) and better match the yarns I love to their best uses. I highly recommend this to anyone who knits and wants to use yarns other than the one the pattern calls for.

In Carol J. Sulcoski's seventh book, she brings her immense knowledge of yarn and how it behaves to the topic of how to choose a different yarn than the one specified in the pattern. In the first section, "Yarn Fundamentals," she tackles huge topics that have had whole books written on them and distills out what you need to know about yarn behavior, content, weight, construction, and visual dye effects. The second section guides you through choosing a substitute yarn for a pattern based on the characteristics of the yarn specified for the piece, with an eye toward getting a similar result. (She specifically states that this book is not about how to rewrite a pattern to suit a different weight yarn.) The third section offers deliberately simple patterns, each chosen to highlight a yarn characteristic (one requires very elastic yarn, another a very drapey yarn, another requires a yarn with excellent stitch definition, etc). Each of these patterns is written for a specific yarn, and then Sulcoski shows you good, workable, and poor swaps for each one, and why they are good substitutions or not. This book is valuable to anyone who doesn't always choose to purchase the yarn specified in a pattern. It's written in a very readable, almost conversational style. I found that, having been a knitter for over 25 years (ouch!), I realized that I already understood a lot of this information, but in a more intuitive way. I probably couldn't have articulated it well, and certainly not as well as this author, with her years of experience teaching. I also tend to stick to certain corners of the knitting world. Give me some hand-dyed merino and I won't bother anyone until my tea goes cold. This book's information is still useful to me. For instance: that cardigan was written for a camel/silk/yak blend - can I get away with merino? What about merino/silk? My only nitpick is that I found a couple of typos. They likely will be fixed in the next printing, and do not detract from the information presented.

I had high expectations for this book which my first explorations reduced to a lower level. There is a lot of information contained, and for that I am truly grateful and very pleased. However there is significant room for improving the book. For starters a lot of different yarns are pictured (on the cover as well) with no information about brands or indeed anything at all EXCEPT in the section including patterns for several different garments. Most of those yarns are unusual and lovely; I'd love to know more. In the section with patterns, the patterns themselves are for rather uninteresting pieces -- perhaps they are by the author? In that section three different choices of yarn is shown (in smallish pictures) and there is ample information there. But for the type of knitting that I do (as do many of my friends) the info, while helpful, isn't for the types of yarns we use. The author mentions a day job as lawyer, and 3 almost grown kids plus teaching knitting classes. I suspect that she's maxed out on time demands so the book represents a pretty sizeable time commitment but could use some essential tweaks. She's done a great job on much of the book and achieves some of her goad but I think a more detailed index, the index, some traditional patterns (Fair Isle, Scandinavian and Gansey for starters) and full identification and characteristics of the yarns shown would improve the book tremendously. She would get six stars from me -- well a 5 plus!

This is a thorough, clearly written book on the complex subject of yarn substitution for knitters. We live in a world with seemingly infinite access to knitting patterns and yarn, but that really complicates the task of choosing the right yarn for our next project. Carol Sulcoski's new book focuses on the details of yarn structure, fiber content and appearance (color) to educate the reader about yarn in general, and then she provides a range of simple but appealing pattern designs with which she offers specific options for yarn substitutions, and explains why each of these options may or may not be successful. The photographs of swatches for each option are very helpful and the photography throughout the book will please any yarn lover. I particularly love her use of the word facets to describe the way plied yarns reflect light and shadow to help create stitch definition. I have been knitting for 45 years and teaching knitting and other fiber arts for 25 years; I am delighted to be able to recommend this book to my students as a terrific resource.

A simply amazing book for yarnaholics who want to learn how to substitute that perfect skien of yarn in the SABLE stash!!! Carol takes you through the aspects of yarn construction and further provides explanations of how yarn behaves when knitted. But, WAIT, there’s more. Carol also provides examples through the clever use of a few patterns at the end of the book. These examples are by far the coolest way to show knitters how different yarns behave when knitted. The Yarn Goddess explains the pros and cons through an easy green, yellow, red method to show case why or why not you would want to use different yarns. These informative explanations guide knitters on a journey to select the perfect yarn based on article construction and yarn composition. This is a must need in all knitters libraries.

Love this book and the level of “clean reading”, meaning, I found it easy to absorb and understand. After getting the wrong guidance too frequently when making a purchase at an LYS, and from my solo selection voyages ending in disaster, this book caught my interest. I feel like I’m taking a course and impactfully increasing my yarn knowledge. Thank you to the author!

As a beginner, this book would’ve saved me hours of frustration on projects that did not work because I used the wrong yarn. It would’ve saved me money as well. Don’t let this happen to you. Buy it!

I loved the book and how it was organized (The Big Three, Fiber Content, Yarn Construction, Visual Effects, Classification, substitution process, selecting, and Patterns for Practice), but I couldn't help wishing there was more information in the Fiber Content section and more fiber types covered. I ended up ordering Book of Yarn, in the hopes that I would get what I wanted. (Deets on yarn fibers, the pros and cons, and what functions they excel at.) Still waiting for the new book to arrive, but this felt like a really good start.

Very good book for your reference shelf. Have used it many times.

This book is mostly a book on yarn. The types, qualities, sizes, and so on. Very small section is on actual yarn substitution. I will admit the info on the yarn is interesting but there are books out there on yarn. I bought this for the substitution part. Maybe she should have titled it "All about yarn: types, uses, and substitutions". When you get to the actual substitution section I was left with a less then thrilled read. Onto the projects ...suppose to be a hands on lesson type compilation. Instead it is her showing you 3 yarns she picked and why they work, might work or won't work (most are obvious) . Overall I feel the book is not what I thought I was purchasing.

This is a great book to learn about how yarn is made, what it is made from, and how to make good decisions as to whether the yarn you want to use will result in the kind of outcome you expect when it’s turned into a garment. The prose is well-written, there are lots of pictures illustrating the author’s points, and I am fairly sure it saved me money right off the bat as I realized the yarn I wanted to use for my summer knitting project was about to cause a knitting disaster. Instead, I learned what yarn I SHOULD use and why. I will keep this reference around to avert future yarn failures (really pilot error) and better match the yarns I love to their best uses. I highly recommend this to anyone who knits and wants to use yarns other than the one the pattern calls for.

A must have for knitters and crocheters that need help selecting yarn for projects. Looking on line is an option, but I like having the book for reference.

I wish I had known before I purchased it or I wouldn't have bothered: the writer upfront states that she does not discuss any kind of yarn substitution for or to acrylic yarns. This is too bad. It assumes we should all be yarn snobs and only knit with wool or other expensive yarns. I do A LOT of knitting for charity where one must be careful about allergies, so acrylic is about the only thing I knit. (But then, if it looks and acts like string, I'd knit it...)

Is it a really useful book and even includes patterns to help you learn about yard substitutions along the way. I recommend this to someone who wants to broaden their horizons and learn more about using and substituting yarn in their own way

As a new knitter this book was helpful. However it was too much book for the substitute. My biggest concern with this book and other are the patterns. I'm so tired of the same unattractive patterns. Will there ever be a knitting pattern that are on trend instead of proven. Funny is it's not a reference book like some of my others. It's one and done. I wish I had gotten through Kindle unlimited so I'm stuck with it.

This book is an excellent reference. I'm not a new knitter but I'm self taught and didn't know how to be sure my yarn choices would work. Patterns often call for yarns no longer available, making it hard to find a substitute. This book offers practical information on how to select substitutes.

This has to be the most helpful knitting book I have ever purchased. It will guide you in very easy to follow descriptions as to how to determine the best yarn for your project-first explaining the basis for how you determine what you need in the yarn and then giving patterns with examples and explanation of different yarn choices. I got the kindle version, but like it so much I am putting it on my gift list in the hard copy version. This book should be in every knitter's library.

Goof reference text

All the research has been done for anyone planning on substituting yarn. There is a lot to be aware of. I consider it to be my “go to” reference book if needing or wanting to use a different yarn.

It only explains how to use certain name brands of yarn with other name brands, which is no help to me when I am shopping a variety of yarns not mentioned in the book.

This is a really handy, well-thought-out reference book. There should be a "shop copy" of this in every yarn shop, so folks can sit down and consider yarn substitution on the spot when something inspires you. We all substitute yarns; this book helps you make wise choices.

The contents of this book are great. The condition in which it arrived, not so much. It was damaged before it was packaged... this didn't happen during shipping.

The book is excellent. Starting with the materials you use, the discussion of yarn weight to how much yarn you will need. The basics of sock making. Pictures as well as written directions, very helpful and easy to understand.

I have had a hard time going thru this book - not exactly 'Yarn substitution for dummies'. Too much jargon. Slowly figuring out what I needed but not easy.

Good book full of good information. Very thorough and easy to understand.

Handy reference

Should be very helpful in using up my "stash"

great book good tool for knitters

Great book and reference material

Great book for anyone who wants to know how to substitute yarns

I find that I am looking to substitute a pattern yarn that is too heavy for my climate, and this text helps make those choices.

Love the book

When you like knitting, this book are fine.

Good information to have

Very good information about yarn sizes.I will be able to use this very well.

I was very disappointed with this book. There was about 10% max of useful information padded out with a lot of text explaining things, repeatedly, that should be obvious to anyone with a modicum of intelligence. Does any knitter really need to be told that if she/he knits a hat in the round with 100 stitches at a gauge of 5 stitches to the inch it will be approximately 20 inches in circumference because "100 stitches divided by 5 stitches per inch = 20 inches" ? And the pages covering the CYC yarn chart are similarly labored and verbose in the explanations. I haven't read much of the rest of the book yet because I am so irritated by how much it talks down to the reader, but I expect it to be no different. About one third of the book is devoted to patterns, none of which appealed to me, and none of them rising to the level of much more interesting designs available free online. If the intent was to provide simple patterns for the exercise of yarn substitution, then okay, but there didn't need to be so many. This book would be far better if it was about one quarter the length.

I brought this book looking for guidance on how to substitute one weight of yarn for another. But this is all about how to substitute one brand of yarn for another. I'll save you the trouble of buy the book. It boils down to if the pattern calls for a yarn that is DK, you can use another other DK yarn.

Loved it, this book changed my life 💙💙

Very well written and clear in explanations. The detailed descriptions will definitely help me with substituting my choice of yarn and colors.