[SmallTimeSmallholder]

Until recently, I would see a pattern, buy the wool, knit the garment.
It's not that straight forward for home spun wool though. Weight is not not a reliable guide as to wether you have enough wool to knit something.
I've heard you can work out meter/yardage via a niddy noddy, but don't know how...
How do you know if/ when you have enough? Or is it just a gamble?
Any thoughts/ advice/ shared knowledge would be appreciated 
I have a few projects I would like to start, but want to know I can complete them first 

[Lesley Silvester]

A standard niddy noddy should be one yard round but you should measure to be on the safe side.  Then count the number of times the wool goes round it in each skein, multiply by the length of once round and that's your total yardage.

[SmallTimeSmallholder]

Thanks MGM    Sounds so obvious now!.... Getting blinded by science, as usual! 

[Lesley Silvester]

The old methods are usually easier. 

[Dans]

I'm also unsure what to do with my spun yarn. I've worked out yardage but it is uneven in thickness so not sure how I can guarantee I'd have enough for something. Was thinking of a hat but wasn't sure.

Dans

[jaykay]

1.  Measure your yardage on a niddy-noddy - say you've spun 300 yards.
2.  Wrap it round a thick piece of dowel or similar, with an inch marked out, to get 'wraps per inch', say yours 
     was 11wpi (if it's really uneven, wrap round 2" and then halve the number)
3.  Compare this with a yarn weights chart . 11wpi comes out at double knitting.
4.  Search Ravelry for what you can knit with 300 yds of double knitting and download the pattern you like 
     

[Dans]

How thick should the dowel be? I'm guessing the thicker it is the less wpi you get.

Dans

[SmallTimeSmallholder]

1.  Measure your yardage on a niddy-noddy - say you've spun 300 yards.
2.  Wrap it round a thick piece of dowel or similar, with an inch marked out, to get 'wraps per inch', say yours 
     was 11wpi (if it's really uneven, wrap round 2" and then halve the number)
3.  Compare this with a yarn weights chart . 11wpi comes out at double knitting.
4.  Search Ravelry for what you can knit with 300 yds of double knitting and download the pattern you like 
     

Arrrhhhh.... Not just a pretty face!!   

[jaykay]

Dans it makes no difference. The thickness of the dowel will alter the length of yarn it takes to get say 11 wraps per inch but not how many wraps sit side by side to cover an inch of dowel. It's perhaps easier to wrap a thicker piece.

You can buy special gauges with a cutout measured at an inch, but I just mark an inch on my nostepinne and wrap that.

Lol STS, some would say not even 

[Dans]

oooo it all make sense now. Will have to go and check my first plyed yarn now! Thank you 

Dans

[Fleecewife]

You can also wrap it around a ruler.
 
One great thing about spinning your own yarn is that if you don't have enough to complete the project, you just spin some more    .....unless you have dyed either the fibre or the yarn, in which case you have a problem.
With the jumper I am currently knitting I thought I had plenty of yarn.  I have now got to the underarm on the body and one sleeve, but only 4 balls out of the 11 originals     I'm not sure if that will be enough, so I have a plan to do a different coloured band once the other sleeve is on, if I need to.  I will spin the yarn for that in the same fibre, but will dye it a different colour, as I could never reproduce the exact shade of the original dyebath.

[Lesley Silvester]

As a generalisation, sleeves take half the amount used for the back or the front, so if the back takes three balls, the front will take about the same and the sleeves will need about one and a half balls each.  Hope this helps.

[Fleecewife]

Hi MGM - I'm knitting in the round.  The first sleeve has taken one ball (they're all slightly different weights  ) to get to the underarm and there's still the other to knit (number of stitches at the upper arm is one third of the total around the body).  It will all depend on how much yarn it takes for the raglan decreases above the underarm.  I can see me getting to the neck and not having enough for the neckband     Or worse, getting to a couple of inches below the neck then running out.  Once I've done the second sleeve I'll start calculating in earnest.   I've been wishing I could do some spinning (wanted to finish the jumper first) so maybe I'll have to do some sooner than I thought.  So I need to work out how much yarn is needed above the underarm compared with how much below it.    I'll do some measuring and estimates 
 
I wonder if yarn from different breeds has a different weight for a certain wpi.  Hebridean is a very lightweight wool, so perhaps my using a Heb jumper for my initial calculations when spinning the BFL was a mistake.  The new jumper seems quite light but is swallowing a whole load of yarn 

[jaykay]

I'm sure different types of yarn have different weights for the same wpi and yardage. I guess spinning it woollen or worsted would make a difference too.

I tend to measure yardage and get an idea of wpi. Mum was talking about weighing some of hers the other day but it seems to me that's not the most reliable way to find out how far it will go.

[Lesley Silvester]

If you do run out of dyed wool so can't get a colour match,and if you are knitting in stocking stitch, you can always remove the welts from sleeves and bottom and use that to finish the garment.  Then knit the welts on using either a contrasting colour or one a slightly different shade.  It won't be as noticeable as changing the shade midway through a section.  This also works if using manufactured yarn, of course.