Yarns ·
Mercerised cotton 8/2 (generic example)
Lustrous mercerised cotton, a workhorse of mid-gauge machine knitting and of weaving.
Combed, mercerised cotton (treated with caustic soda, which swells the fibre): the result is greater lustre, strength and colour take-up. Smooth and even, with no halo; inelastic, so the knitted fabric drapes and grows (unlike wool). Typically on cones for the machine, but also in balls for hand knitting.
Translated from Italian. A native knitter has not reviewed this translation yet.
Composition
| Cotton | 100 % | estimate |
|---|
Count and consumption
| Count | Ne 2/8 → Nm 6.77 |
|---|---|
| Length per weight | 740 yd / 3.5 oz |
| Put-up | 17.6 oz |
| Spinning | worsted · S |
| Care | washable in water (watch out for shrinkage at the first wash); does not felt |
Plausibility — a guard, never a gauge
These numbers say what is plausible for this yarn. Your swatch, washed and measured, is the only truth the chart is built on.
| Property | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| CYC category | 4 | estimate |
| expected gauge (sts / 4 in) | 18.5–22.5 | estimate |
| knitting needles | US 3–6 (3–4 mm) | estimate |
| wraps per inch | 11 | estimate |
| machine gauge | 5–7 | estimate |
| linkable | True | estimate |
Substitution
Can be replaced with cellulosics of the same count; WARNING: switching to an elastic yarn (with wool/elastane) changes the swatch a lot (cotton is inelastic and 'grows').
another mercerised cotton/cellulosic blend of the same resultant count (~Nm 6.8)