Estimating How Much Yarn to Buy

By Kristi Porter from Knitting Patterns For Dummies

You need to know how much yarn to buy whenever you start a new knitting or crocheting project. You can figure out the yardage by using yarn calculations, whether you’re substituting one yarn for another in a pattern or whether you just have a general sense of what you’d like to knit.

If you’re using the yarn called for in a pattern, the pattern usually tells you how many balls to buy for each size.

However, if you choose to use a yarn different from the pattern’s suggestion, you may need to do a little calculating:

• Number of skeins called for in the pattern × yards per skein = total yards needed for the pattern
• Total yards needed for the pattern ÷ yards per skein of your chosen yarn = number of skeins you need (round up to the nearest whole number, if necessary)

If you aren’t working directly from a pattern or are working at a different gauge than a pattern recommends, you don’t have a tidy way to determine how much yarn to buy. Estimate how much you need. This table gives yardage approximations for various projects in a variety of gauges.

Estimated Yardage of Yarn for Projects

Yarn Weight Category	Stitches per Inch	Yards Needed for a Hat	Yards Needed for a Scarf	Yards Needed for an Adult Sweater
1 Superfine	7 to 8	300 to 375	350	1,500 to 3,200
2 Fine	6 to 7	250 to 350	300	1,200 to 2,500
3 Light	5 to 6	200 to 300	250	1,000 to 2,000
4 Medium	4 to 5	150 to 250	200	800 to 1,500
5 Bulky	3 to 4	125 to 200	150	600 to 1,200
6 Super bulky	1.5 to 3	75 to 125	125	400 to 800

Patterns usually call for a little more yarn than you’ll actually use, but because you want to swatch and account for the unknown (you actually hate three-quarter sleeves, or you've had some terrible yarn accident), buy a little extra yarn, particularly if it’s being discontinued. A ribbed or cabled pattern takes more yarn than stockinette stitch, and your knitting may vary.