How to Find a Yarn Substitute: A Knitter's Guide to Choosing the Right Yarn

Every knitter has been here: you’ve found the perfect pattern, but the exact yarn it calls for is discontinued, sold out, not available where you live, or just too expensive. The good news is that most patterns can be knit in a different yarn, as long as you know what to match. Here’s exactly what to look for, when it’s safe to switch brands, and how to find — and test — a substitute you can actually trust.

What to look for when substituting yarn

A good substitute doesn’t have to be identical to the original. It has to behave the same way in the fabric. That comes down to a handful of things: weight (the most important factor — lace up to jumbo, and a substitute should sit in the same category as the original), gauge (check stitches-per-10cm on the ball band, since two yarns can both say “worsted” and still knit up differently), fiber content (wool, cotton, acrylic, and silk each change the warmth, drape, and stretch of a finished piece), yardage per 100g (so you buy enough, since a dense fiber packs less length into the same weight than a light one), construction (a tightly plied yarn shows off cables clearly; a loosely spun one drapes softer), and the recommended needle size, which is a fast sanity check before you’ve even swatched.

Can you substitute yarn from a different brand?

Yes — brand loyalty isn’t a requirement for a good substitute. What matters is that the new yarn matches on weight, gauge, and fiber content, or comes close enough for your project. A few designers build a pattern around one yarn’s exact properties and will say so in the notes, but outside of that, cross-brand substitution is completely normal. It’s how most knitters actually shop: by specification, not by brand name.

Let Knitkeep do the comparing for you

Comparing labels by hand works, but it means tracking down the specs for every candidate yourself, one ball band or product page at a time. Knitkeep’s built-in Yarn Substitute Tool does that search for you: type in the yarn your pattern calls for and it pulls up the full specification — fiber, weight, gauge, yardage, needle size, and construction — then a list of suggested alternatives, filterable by closest match, same fiber, same weight, or budget.

Here’s what that looks like in practice. Say your pattern calls for Filcolana Arwetta: search it, and Knitkeep shows the yarn’s profile, then ranks alternatives by how closely they match. In this example, both Malabrigo Sock and a merino option come back as a “very close match,” each with a short note on what to expect if you swap — a slight difference in yardage or drape. It’s a shortlist you can trust in seconds, instead of an afternoon of label-reading, and it works the same way on the app and at knitkeep.com, so you can look something up mid-shop or plan ahead from your desktop.

Always test with a swatch

Specs get you close; a swatch confirms it. Knit at least 10x10cm using your chosen substitute and the pattern’s recommended needle size, then measure your stitch and row gauge against the pattern’s. Running tight? Size up a needle. Running loose? Size down. Beyond the numbers, feel the swatch, then wash and block it the way you’ll treat the finished piece — some fibers change noticeably after their first wash. A substitute that matches on paper and holds up after blocking is one you can knit with confidence.

Mistakes worth avoiding

• Matching only the weight. Seeing “DK” on both labels doesn’t make two yarns interchangeable — gauge, fiber, yardage, and construction all affect the finished fabric too.
• Comparing grams instead of yardage. A 100g ball of one yarn might hold 200 metres, another 400. Buy by yardage, not ball count, or you could run out before you finish.
• Skipping the swatch. The most expensive shortcut. Even a substitute that looks perfect on paper should be tested before you commit an entire sweater’s worth of yarn to it.

Quick answers

Can you substitute yarn from a different brand?
Yes — brand loyalty isn’t a requirement for a good substitute. What matters is that the new yarn matches on weight, gauge, and fiber content, or comes close enough for your project. Most knitters shop by specification, not by brand name.

Is there a free tool to find yarn substitutes?
Yes. Knitkeep’s Yarn Substitute Tool is free on the app and at knitkeep.com — search the yarn your pattern calls for and it surfaces alternatives ranked by how closely they match on weight, gauge, and fiber.

Your next project shouldn’t have to wait just because the perfect yarn is out of stock. Start with the specs — weight, gauge, fiber, yardage, needle size, and construction — let your swatch be the final test, and when you don’t want to spend an afternoon comparing labels and product pages, let Knitkeep do the searching for you.