Held Together Yarn Calculator
Holding strands together? See the yarn weight the combination knits or crochets up as.
≈ 11 WPI → 4 — Medium (Worsted)
Typical gauge 16–20 sts per 4 in.
How to use
- Find the wraps per inch (WPI) of your single strand — measure it or use the WPI calculator.
- Enter that WPI and how many strands you plan to hold together.
- Read the combined WPI and the yarn-weight category it falls into, with the typical gauge.
- Use that weight to pick a pattern, or to check the held yarn matches the weight a pattern asks for.
Good to know
- Holding strands together multiplies the cross-sectional area, so the thickness grows with the square root of the number of strands — two strands are not twice as thick, they are about 1.4× the diameter.
- Each doubling moves the weight up about one category — two strands of lace come out near fingering, two of fingering near sport, and two of sport near worsted.
- This is a close estimate — the exact result depends on how tightly the strands sit together and your tension, so swatch before committing.
FAQ
- Does holding two strands double the weight?
- Not in thickness. The yarn weight goes up by roughly the square root of the number of strands, so two strands are about 1.4× the diameter, not twice — which is why two fingering strands land near sport, not bulky.
- What is WPI and how do I measure it?
- Wraps per inch is how many times the yarn wraps around a ruler in one inch — a quick way to judge weight. The WPI calculator turns a wrap count into a weight category.
- Can I hold different yarns together?
- Yes, and it is a great way to use up oddments. Enter the WPI of the thicker strand as a rough guide, then swatch — mixing weights and fibres makes the estimate looser.