•Bee's Knees Knitting• Helpful Hints

Helpful Hints – Information to help you plan your project.

Guide to Some Sheep Wools

This includes commonly known sheep breeds, but not all are listed. These are rough estimates only, since individual sheep can vary as bloodlines become more mixed.

Softness and Staple Length	Wool Breeds
Very Soft, takes practice to spin Staple about 3"	Merino, Rambouillet, Targhee, Romeldale, Corriedale, Columbia, Southdown, Polypay, Sherino (longer staple hybrid)
Medium Soft Staple about 3.5"	Blue-Faced Leicester, Suffolk, Dorset, Montadale, Tunis
Medium, fairly easy to spin Staple about 4"	Finn, Cheviot, Oxford, Shetland
Medium Coarse Staple about 4.5"	Romney, Coopworth, Leicester
Coarse, very easy to spin Staple about 5" and up	Border Leicester, Lincoln, Cotswold, Wensleydale, Icelandic

Approximate Yardage Requirements – General Estimates

Project	Yardage for Sport Weight Yarn 5.5 – 6 sts / inch	Yardage for Worsted Weight Yarn 4 – 5 sts / inch	Yardage for Bulky Weight Yarn 3 – 3.5 sts / inch	Yardage for Super Bulky Weight Yarn 2 – 2.5 sts / inch
Basic Adult Hat	225 – 275	225 – 250	150 – 175	100
Basic Adult Socks	250 – 400	250 – 350	175 – 275	N/A
Basic Adult Scarf	700	380	250	110 – 150
Basic Adult Vest	700 – 1250	600 – 1050	450 – 800	300 – 600

Guide to Yarn Weights

Wraps per inch (WPI) is determined by wrapping your yarn around a pencil or ruler, then counting how many "wraps" there
are per inch. Wrap the yarn firmly with the yarn touching, but not too tight or mushed together. You can use this method to estimate the appropriate needle size for the yarn.


Yarn Weight	Yards Per Oz	Wraps Per Inch
Lace weight	150 and up	18 and up
Fingering weight	120 – 150	16
Sport weight	75 – 120	14
Worsted weight	56 – 75	12
Bulky weight	38 – 56	10
Chunky weight	25 – 38	8 and lower