Ha - can't believe I'm posting on here - knitting question

[marthamoo]

I think this may be a "how long is a piece of string" question...

I went in The Works today and they had balls of really nice wool for £1 - that silky kind of fluffy wool, do you know the stuff I mean? How many balls would I need for a scarf (they were not very big balls and it wouldn't be a very long scarf as I am rather bad at knitting)? There were some gorgeous colours to choose from and some were very wispy kind of silky wool - the sort that knits kind of fluffy, and some were like silky ribbon-y kind of stuff.

Scarves can be any size you want, so this is very much a "how long is a piece of string" question.

How many balls = how much knitting has a lot to do with how thick the wool is. I make a lot of newborn baby hats. If I'm using wool that takes 4mm needles, I need more than one 50g ball to make a hat. If I'm using wool that takes 3.25mm needles, I can make two hats from a ball.

If you want to get better at knitting, a really big scarf is a good project. The fluffy stuff (eyelash yarn? chenille?) hides errors very well, so your knitting won't need to be perfect (from what I know, I've not worked with funny yarns really).

Eyelash yarn sounds like what I saw - like a ribbony bit with..well...fine silky thread 'eyelashes' all along it. And the other kind was more randomnly eyelashy - like Dennis Healey eyebrows rather than neat eyelashes.

I can get help with needle size etc. from my Mum when she comes back from her holidays - just wanted to buy the wool soon in case they sell out.

That wool is soo nice. I saw it in there the other week, but resisted the temptation.

Umm my advice is to try & find a pattern on the net & see how much it suggests for a scarf. I think those balls are around 50g? So I think you'd need a few.

Hee hee Marthamoo, fancy seeing you on a knitting thread

If you have a look on the band round the ball of wool, it should tell you what size needles to use.

I knitted fluffy scarves last Christmas for everyone. I used 2 x 50g balls for each scarf.

NQC is right - that sort of wool hides a lot of mistakes!! The only downside is that if you drop a stitch, it's difficult to find it again! Count your stitches regularly to make sure you've got the right number.

PS. I used really big needles so the scarves knitted up really quickly as well!

Right, what I meant about the needles etc, is, the yarn band will say the needle size. A 50g of yarn that you knit on 3mm needles is a lot longer than a 50g of yarn that you knit on 4mm needles.

I knew someone would laugh at me . I'll have you know I knitted a teddy for ds1 when I was pregnant and it's almost recognisable as a bear. This wool is just so nice - I felt all knitty even though I really am very bad at it. The sites I've looked at say, like you, Littlefish - about 2 balls. So if I get 3...

If you end up with an extra ball, your could always knit one of those long thin sort of scarves afterwards for someone else and give it to them for Christmas!

I seem to remember knitting the scarves on about 25 stitches on those big needles

I got some of this (naturally, since I am your alter-ego) but I haven't knitted anything with it yet. Sadly there is absolutely no information on the ball band beyond it being 50g, but my guess is that 3 balls would be ample for most scarves, and you'd probably get away with fewer. We need to see pictures of the teddy before you get any more advice my girl...