If you have ever

1. spent time wondering how a yarn will work up instead of actually working it up, or
2. arranged your yarns by which make good lace and which make good cables, or
3. been disappointed that your sock yarn doesn’t have that perfect springiness that you like then you are a yarn geek.

Yes, you are. Don’t try to deny it. Most people, as in 99.8%, never notice anything about yarn besides its color. You are a hopeless yarn geek and I like that about you. So let me tell you all about YarnSub.com.

YarnSub is for us.

Its a yarn database managed by Wendy, a fellow hopeless yarn geek. Wendy writes on the Muddy Sheep blog and she is addicted to swatching. Her addiction has led to a searchable database of yarn with all the information you need to make guesses about how it will work up. Also… she has a pretty good idea which commercially available yarns make good substitutes. Thus YarnSub was born.

I’ve been using YarnSub since it was in beta. It in full release now and gets bigger every month. Recently there have been a few informative articles. Pictures are slowly being added. The search mechanism has really expanded. But at its core, YarnSub is for finding a good substitute for a yarn you don’t have or can’t afford. Here is a sample.

In the lead-off image I have the database entry for Malabrigo Silkpaca. If you look that up you’ll find a long list of substitutes starting with its closest match. There are notes on difference in yarn ply, fiber content, and how skeins/ball to yardage ratios. Its a pretty detailed catalog and its irresistible to a yarn geek like me.

How does she get this information? Well, some of it is straight from the yarn manufacturer but not all of it. Her tips and recommendations are based on swatching. The keeper of YarnSub does LOTS of swatching.

The image above is from an analysis on S-on-S plied yarns (a plying technique that leads to a bouncy springy yarn!) of all different price ranges. With the exception of the cheapest yarn, which had quality issues, they all seem to work up very much the same. This is why I go back to YarnSub again and again. Its advice based on the results of a crafter’s hands-on experience and you just can’t beat that.

So when you are about to buy over the internet (and can’t lay hands on the yarn), or when you want to check to see if what you have in your stash will work, or if you are just burnt out on the yarn-porn of Pinterest and etsy and want actual information… YarnSub.com.

Click a link and say goodbye to getting anything productive done today. (And you are welcome for that!)