How can I tell whether different yarns can be worked together?

Hi,
I have a specific example—I have a pattern for a shawl (intarsia knitting)
that calls for 2 x 260 m/50 g, size 3 needles (gauge: 21 sts/10 cm in garter stitch).

I have some Lana Grossa in my stash:
Lace Lux 310 m/50 g, needle size 3–3.5 (gauge: 26 sts/36 rows)

I’d be tempted to use a fluffy/fuzzy yarn like “per Fortuna” with it (which I’d still have to buy)
e.g.
per Fortuna 190 m/50 g, needle size 4–4.5 (gauge: 33 sts/30 rows) — also Lana Grossa
would that work 🤔
Or is it too thick and would it look unattractive?

Hi Susanne,

I always find it hard to answer questions like this. Whether it looks unattractive is really a matter of taste.
Some people like it, others don’t.

Lately, I’ve seen a lot of videos where a thicker yarn is knitted together with thin mohair yarn.

If you use a thicker fuzzy yarn now, the fuzzy effect will dominate. But that can look nice, too. Ultimately, I think you should just give it a try.

Best regards

Michaela

Hi Michaela,
I’m thinking maybe there’s some kind of “conversion factor” – for needle size – or gauge, or something like that 🤔

Doubling extremely thin yarn and then matching the yardage is easy enough 🤔

I just find it tricky – there is extremely thin yarn (e.g. mohair in 25 g balls, or something like that) that is knitted with thicker needles and then of course has a different gauge than a heavier yarn with the same needle size. Hope you understand what I mean 🤔
 
Is there such a thing as yarn weights that go together?
I read something somewhere about yarn groups, but does that work for all yarns/brands?

Intarsia is always worked by alternating two colors—to make sure it all matches up in the end, I wouldn’t use two yarns with completely different weights.

I didn’t read carefully and overlooked that this is about intarsia. I thought it was about knitting with two strands of yarn at the same time.

Intarsia with different yarn weights doesn’t really make sense. The stitch pattern won’t be even—the thicker yarn will stick out, and the thinner yarn will be pulled very tight....
I don’t know what colors you need or how colorful you want your shawl to be.... Maybe I can “help you out” with Lace Lux—I still have a few half-used skeins in my stash (not mini scraps) without labels and in various colors.... Otherwise, just send me a private message....
Lace Lux used to be my favorite yarn, but they discontinued it at some point 🤨