How do I choose a yarn?

Consider what you want to make and how quickly you want to make it. For example, baby fingering may be best for baby booties, but you can work with two strands to make the fabric thicker and to work up quicker if you know how to adapt your pattern to make up for it.

 

If you want to make a scarf, do you want it to be simpler or more decorative? Many handmade scarfs these days produce the decorative version by being made with two yarns at once: an "eyelash" and a "chenille" or "homespun" (though two eyelash skeins might be needed to finish the project). If you do not want it decorative, though, a strictly "homespun" scarf is still warm, and it will withstand machine washing better than an eyelash yarn might.

 

Baby jackets would have too many holes and be too rough on the baby if made with worsted weight yarn, and baby fingering is too delicate to withstand the exposure a jacket receives, so sport weight yarn is good for that.

 

Evaluate your project, intentions, and desired speed, and go to the nearest yarn store, if possible. Even if you buy your yarns online, it is easier to see in person what yarn might work, or what yarns might go together—in texture, not necessarily in color, because you have more options online.