From Sarah E. White,
Your Guide to Knitting.
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Once you've found that perfect yarn that fits the gauge requirements and your needs, the next big question is how much yarn you need. Go back to the original pattern and you will likely find a measure of yardage, weight or the number of skeins or hanks used to complete the project.

If you know how many yards were used in the original project, you can easily do the math to figure out how much of the new yarn you need based on how much yardage is in each ball.

If you only have a weight or a number of skeins, you'll want to do a little more research. Search for the yarn online. If it is still manufactured, it should be pretty easy to find out how many yards are in a skein (and how much each weighs, if that is the only measurement your pattern gives) and how much yardage was used for the project. Then just divide the number of yards in your new yarn's skeins into the amount you need to determine how many skeins you need to buy.

If, for instance, the pattern used 1,500 yards of the old yarn and your new yarn has 350 yards in a ball, you'll need five balls to complete the project (the math is not usually that clean). Always round up if you don't get an even number and buy an extra skein just to be safe if the cost isn't prohibitive.

If the yarn used in the pattern is no longer made, check out the wonderful resource at Vintage Knits listing the weights, yardage and fiber content of tons of old yarns, arranged by weight. This should help you work the math for your new yarn.

Testing Your New Yarn

Before you start working on your project with your nice new yarn, take the time to make a gauge swatch. It seems like a lot of trouble, but just because the yarn band says a yarn will work to a certain number of stitches doesn't mean it will when you are holding the needles.

Every knitter is different, and even small variations in the number of stitches per inch can make a big difference in the sizing of a knitted article. Knitting a gauge swatch is certainly not a waste when you learn that you need to use a different sized needle to get the desired result. It's much better than knitting your whole project and then finding it doesn't fit.

There is a bit of homework involved in substituting yarns for your projects, but it is not really that difficult and it allows you to make any project your own. Don't be afraid to branch out and explore the different yarns that are out there.