Hello Wise and Mighty Knitters,

Does anyone have any suggestions for a non-wool substitute yarn for:


DROPS Karisma (120 yds, Worsted Wool, plied, 20-22 sts/4 in on size 4,6,7)
Silke Tweed (218 yds. Fingerling/DK, Silk/Wool, plied, 23-30/4 in on size 4)I'm knitting this sweater (http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/visoppskrift.php?d_nr=85&d_id=13&lang=us) for my husband, and all of his clothing needs to be machine washable. :lol:

My only thought so far was to use Wool-ease and skip the addition of the Silke Tweed. :shrug:

Thanks for your help! Crossed Fingers

You could try 2 strands of regular Woolease, or maybe 1 strand of the Woolease Chunky. I think Woolease Thick 'n' Quick would be too thick-- but whichever way, just try a swatch first to make sure the gauge will work. There are other superwash wools out there, if you do a search.

Drops patterns are so nice and I use them a lot. Any yarn you like can be a substitute as long as you get the gauge the pattern calls for. Up or down the needle size but just get the gauge. I always use yarn that is soft to the touch and skin and mostly machine washble. Woolease is nice and so is Yarn Art yarn but whatever yarn you choose the most important thing is the gauge the pattern calls for.

The Karisma is worsted, so just about any washable worsted weight would do; woolease chunky or TnQ would be too bulky, especially to work on size 7s. The Silke Tweed sub needs to be a thinner yarn, maybe sportweight, though that might be a bit too thin.

Okay, now that I've looked at the pattern, it says to use both yarns together and that gauge is 15 sts x 21 rows = 10 x 10 cm, so the bulky yarn might be okay afterall. Though on size 9s it would knit up pretty stiff. You may have to go to size 10 or 10.5 to get gauge anyway.

Thank you for your responses! I really appreciate the help. :cheering: