Choose by the tool
| Fibre | Starting needle | Choose it for |
|---|---|---|
| Wool rug yarn | Oxford regular point | Broad looped designs and floor wear; rug yarn is spun for a different use from soft knitting yarn. |
| Bulky knitting yarn | Oxford regular point | Broad decorative areas; check feed, loop retention and the finished object’s care. |
| Worsted / sport / sock yarn | Oxford fine point | Finer colour regions and lower-profile designs; smooth yarn that passes through freely. |
| Embroidery floss | Miniature embroidery punch needle | Small thread motifs; strand count belongs to the selected tip. Use punch-embroidery weaver’s cloth. |
Combining thin strands changes their total thickness: thread and swatch them together. Avoid knots, thick lumps and very hairy fibres that repeatedly catch in the point.
Choose by the object
For a rug, consider abrasion, cleaning and a suitable edge finish. For a decorative picture, texture and colour may matter more than floor wear. For a coaster, choose the full yarn-and-backing combination for contact with a cup and occasional spills.
Keep the ball band and a small length of each colour with your pattern. Screen colours are a palette guide; select the physical shades together in natural light.
How much to buy
Measure yarn used in a filled swatch using the actual needle, loop height and row spacing. Scale that consumption by punched area and colour share, then add a buffer. The yarn calculator works from those measurements.
Repeat the swatch when you change yarn, strand count or loop setting. A rug-yarn weight estimate cannot be transferred directly to a floss design or converted to metres without the actual yarn's weight-to-length information.