[...]3 Tips for Yarn Substitution | Lion Brand Notebook[...]…

If I plan a bigger project with any yarn, substitute or not, that I haven’t worked with before, I buy extra yarn for small matching projects, for example for a sweater I buy yarn for hat mittens and scarf. I make the scarf first to get comfortable with the yarn. Then I make the sweater. If the pattern takes extra yarn while knitting the sweater, at least I can finish the sweater with matching yarn. If the pattern calls for the right amount of yarn in the sweater, I then make the matching hat and mittens, and if there is extra, I can make longer cuffs on the mittens or an additional accessory.

For another big project, say a kitchen table runner, I buy enough for matching towels and dish clothes for example. There are always small matching projects that let me make sure I have enough without adding much if any left over yarn to a stash. Wrist bands, belts, coasters, cozies for toasters, teapots, drinking glasses, cases for eye glasses. Adding pockets to garments that don’t have them, or more pockets to ones that do.

I guess I take after Lola in the cartoon strip a little, The only reason I buy just barely enough for my main project is if that is all that is available, or the yarn comes as a kit, and there isn’t any available separately.

I have also learned to be able to adjust my tension when knitting, at least somewhat. Sometimes this helps with matching guage, but it does make knitting a little harder with one more thing to concentrate on, so I don’t really recommend this but it is somewhat possible if you really want to make something work out.

If you know that you will need to use two different dye lots you can improve the result a little by doing this in a planned way, for example sleeves in one dye lot, torso in another. Or subtle stripes.. Or get bolder and instead of mixing dye lots mix colors or colorways.

If you really don’t like the result and don’t want to take it apart to reuse the yarn, give it away. Donate it to a thrift store or a homeless shelter or whatever is locally available. If it is warm, someone will  wear it or sleep under it. Maybe the person who buys it in the thrift store for $1 takes it apart and knits something else, or maybe someone buys it for the cat to sleep on. So what if you really really don’t want it.

I have never seen a half finished knitting project in a thrift shop, but I have found very tangled but very pretty yarn in quantity in a thrift shop that looked like someone had frogged an entire project without rewinding, that I bought dirt cheap, untangled quickly and knit. Maybe $40 worth of yarn for fifty cents. I hope whoever gave up on that yarn could afford the yarn easily and didn’t mind getting rid of it.

If the yarn in question is a budget stretcher, or if barely enough is available, or if it is the rare yarn that does not reknit well of course you need to be more careful to get the right amount, and to not make any mistakes. Otherwise, be adventurous. Yarn is a very safe thing to be adventurous with.