Knitting question

[asterroc]

If I'm not working from a pattern, how do I know how much yarn to get to make a certain item?

Comments

[rosefox]

You guess, based on similar patterns. Are you on Ravelry? It's a good place to look for something like "sweater + [name of yarn]". Otherwise, look around knitty.com for an object of similar size made with yarn of similar weight, and see how many yards it calls for.