How Much Yarn Is Needed for Basic Projects + How to Build a Yarn Calculator (2024)

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When you start exploring the world of designing crochet patterns, whether it’s for a hobby or a more serious endeavor, understanding how much yarn you’ve used is a fundamental skill to develop.

In this article, I’ll walk you through the steps to figure out how much yarn you have in your design and share some valuable tips I’ve picked up during my ten years of pattern designing.

UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 28, 2023 BY BRITTANY
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When you want to share a pattern you’ve made with others, in casual situations, it might be fine to just mention how many skeins you used. However, if you’re aiming for a more professional approach, like distributing or selling your patterns, it’s essential to provide more detailed information.

Here is a quick overview of the topics we will cover in this article:

• How Much Yarn Is Needed for Basic Projects – Yardage Chart
• How to Figure Out How Much Yarn Is In Your Project
• Step 1: Weigh the Project
• Step 2: Record the Yarn Information
• Step 3: How Much Does One Yard Weight?
• Step 4: How Much Yarn is in Your Project?
• Figure Out How Much Yarn Automatically
• How to Build a Simple Yarn Calculator
• How Do I Figure Out How Much Yarn I Used?

How Much Yarn Is Needed for Basic Projects?

If you’d rather skip the calculations and want an easy way to estimate how much yarn you’ll need for typical projects, we’ve got you covered with this chart.

Remember, these are just rough estimates. The real amount of yarn you’ll need for your project can vary based on factors like the stitch pattern, size, and the pattern’s gauge.

If you’re not familiar with these yarn weights, check out my article on yarn weights and this will all make sense!

How to Figure Out How Much Yarn Is In Your Project

In order to figure out how much yarn you used in your project or design, you need to know three things:

1. The weight of the skein of yarn you used.
2. How many yards/meters of yarn is in the skein.
3. The weight of the finished project.

With these three pieces of information, use the following steps to calculate exactly how much yarn is in the project. I’s pretty straightforward, and you can even make a spreadsheet to do all the work for you!

Step 1: Weigh the Project

The weight of your project is essential when figuring all this out, so having a reliable scale is a must. My top pick is a kitchen scale; it’s great for most projects, although for really big ones like blankets, it might not be the best choice because they often hang over the sides of the scale.

A couple of things to consider when choosing a scale:

• Units – Whether you use meters and grams or ounces and yards, make sure your scale can accommodate these units.
• Make sure it includes at least one decimal place.
• Bathroom scales generally won’t cut it.

The Accuteck All-in-1 Series scale has served me well for years. It has the right units, and the flip-out backing makes it easier to weigh bigger projects that are prone to hang off the back edge.

No matter which scale you choose, just make sure it has the following capabilities:

• Grams and ounces as a unit
• Capacity of at least 5 lbs
• Sensitivity of 0.1 oz

Once you’ve got a trustworthy scale, fold your project to make it fit, and then jot down the weight, rounding it to the nearest tens place.

Step 2: Record the Yarn Information

Once you’ve weighed your project, note down the weight of a single skein of yarn used in your project. You can find this info on the yarn label or weigh it using your scale. Just make sure you’re using the same units for the weight, so grams with grams or ounces with ounces.

Lastly, note down the total length of yarn in the skein. If you’ve used ounces, write down the length in yards; if you’ve used grams, note it in meters.

Step 3: How Much Does One Yard Weigh?

It might seem a bit tricky, but it’s not that bad, I promise. To figure out how much yarn is in your project, you just need to know the weight of a single yard (or meter) of that yarn.

To do the math, just divide the skein weight by the skein length. This will work out to be a really small number; a number way less than one.

Here’s an example:

Skein Weight = 3.5 oz
Skein Length = 207 yds

3.5 / 207 = 0.01690821256

Using this many units isn’t necessary. Using four decimal places is more than sufficient.

Step 4: How Much Yarn is in Your Project

One more simple calculation will tell you exactly how many yards are in your project. This time, just divide the weight of your project by the number you got in step 3.

So for our example:

Project Weight = 4.5 oz

4.5 / 0.0169 = 266.27 yards of yarn

How to Build a Simple Yarn Calculator

No need to stress if you’re not a spreadsheet pro or if setting one up feels a bit intimidating. It’s actually way easier than you might imagine and won’t eat up too much of your time—just about 10 minutes or so.

I use Google Sheets because it’s free and I can access my yarn calculator on my computer and phone. If you prefer Microsoft Excel, you can use that too.

Open your spreadsheet and give it a name. Then, label the following columns (bolded text) :

Decide which units you want to go with: either ounces and yards or grams and meters, and make sure to stick with your choice. Mixing up the units will mess up your calculations, so it’s important to keep it consistent.

With this setup, you’ll need to enter two calculations into your spreadsheet. In the (ounces/yards) or (grams/meters) column, enter the following equation:

Equation #1:
Click on the cell just below the oz/yd or g/m cell. Type the = key and click on the cell just below the skein weight. Next, type the / key and click the cell just below the skein length cell, and hit the enter key. You might see an error message that says #DIV/0! – don’t worry, it’s normal because there isn’t any project information added yet. This calculation will give you the ounces per yard of yarn (or grams per meter of yarn) and is used in the final calculation.

Equation #2:
Now, click on the cell just below the Yards/Meters in the project heading. Type the = key and click on the cell below the Project Weight heading. Type the / key and click the cell below the oz/yd or g/m heading (the one with the error from before). Then press enter, and you’ll see that same error again. But don’t worry, it’s perfectly normal.

To make that error vanish, the spreadsheet needs some data to do its thing.

So let’s give it a test run. Type “example project” in the cell below Project Name, “Lion Brand” in the cell below Yarn Brand, “alpaca blend” in the cell below Yarn Type, “3.5” for ounces or “100” for grams (depending on your chosen unit) in the cell below Skein Weight, “207” for yards or “190” for meters in the cell below Skein Length, and “4.5” for ounces or “128” for grams in the cell below the Project Weight heading.

Once you’ve plugged in this information, that error should vanish, and you’ll see actual numbers, with the most important one being the yardage (or meters) used in your project.

Frequently Asked Questions