What’s Sport Weight Yarn

Sport yarn sounds kinda fun, don’t you think? Like it’s the yarn used for sports rather than handicrafts. And while knitting marathon as a sports event is an intriguing thought, that’s not what the name sport refers to.

Instead sport weight yarn is a group of yarns in a certain thickness. The thickness of yarn is also called weight, so a heavy yarn means a thick yarn and a light yarn refers to a thin yarn. 

Sport weight yarns are on the thinner side of the scale. Sport is placed between Fingering and DK, heavier than Fingering and lighter than DK.

The name sport comes from the fact that the yarns in this group are great for knitting garments for wearing outdoors. This weight of yarn is perfect for making sweaters, mitts, and hats for hiking or skiing. I can’t swear by this, but it sounds about right. 

How to recognize a sport weight yarn

• The meterage is between 250 and 400 grams per meter.
• The yardage is between 300 and 360 grams per meter.
• Recommended knitting needles are US 2,5–6 / 3–4mm
• The gauge knit on recommended needles is about 23–26 stitches per 4 inches / 10 centimeters.

Information on recommended knitting needles and gauges as well as meterage/yardage are found on the yarn tag.

Keep in mind there is a bit of wiggle room in these numbers. It depends a bit on who you ask 🙂

Other names to look out for

There are a lot of different names for each of the yarn weights, and sport is no exception. 

4 Ply and 5 Ply

These are names used in the UK and Australia. 

In UK and Australia alike, 4 Ply means both fingering and sport weight yarns. But, in Australia 5 Ply is also used for sport weight. 

Baby

Baby can mean both sport and fingering yarns, just like 4 Ply. The name baby yarn is often used in these two categories because these yarns are common for knitting and crocheting baby clothing.

2 Fine

In the USA, this yarn weight is also called 2 Fine. This term comes from the national yarn weight standard used in North America. Craft Yarn Council created this standard in collaboration with the yarn industry. Before, there were a lot of different ways to group yarns of similar weight together, and the standard made communication easier.

What can I knit with Sport weight yarn?

As mentioned above, sport weight yarns are popular for knitting baby clothes like cardigans, sweaters, booties, and hats. Thinner yarn weights are ideal for baby knits as it won’t make the small garments bulky. Another benefit is the little stitches that are unlikely to snag tiny fingers. 

Sport is a little thicker than the often used fingering weight, which makes the projects a little warmer and a little faster to knit. 

This yarn weight knits up beautifully in lighter sweaters and other clothing for adults, like the outdoorsy garments and accessories mentioned at the beginning. 

The thin yarn makes knitting garments a slow process, but the tiny stitches make all details nice looking. You can use it for color knitting as well. A colorwork sweater/cardigan in a thicker yarn is often too hot, using a thinner yarn gives a nice detail to the pattern as well as a lighter garment.

Textured patterns also come out nice in this kind of yarn. 

Which needles to use with sport weight yarn?

Recommended needle size for Sport weight yarn is usually US 2,5–6 / 3-4mm. But what needles to use depends a lot on your knitting style and the project you’re about to knit. 

If you are following a knitting pattern you should use the needle size that gives you the gauge stated. If you get too many stitches per inch /10 centimeters you need larger needles, and vice versa, if you get too few stitches per inch / 10 centimeters you need smaller needles. 

• Choose thin needles for knitting socks the tighter gauge will make the socks more durable.
• Shawls and scarves crave larger needles to create a soft and flowy fabric. 
• For lace, you will want to use a large needle size to make the holes big enough for the lace pattern to open up. 

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