How do I know how much yarn I need for my project?
Finally! The yarns you have carefully selected online or on site have arrived at your home - now you can get started with your latest project. Perhaps you have decided to knit a pretty poncho, a scarf or a headband? But wait a minute - how do I know how much yarn I'll eventually need?
Otherwise, the amount of yarn you are already using may not be enough to knit or crochet your piece and you will have to start all over again. Of course nobody wants to get into such a mess, because it takes time and, above all, nerves.
There are many reasons to use a different yarn here and there. You want to use a certain color or quality or you have found your personal dream yarn.
In the following article we will show you step by step how to calculate the right amount of yarn for your projects.
Let's first come to the different terms.
The run length
The yardage describes how long the yarn you bought is. In general, yarns made from finer materials are longer because they have less weight per metre.
Therefore, rule of thumb applies: The finer and lighter the yarn, the greater the running length!
The stitch test
A swatch is a small sample piece of a certain size. The instructions that come with your yarn will usually tell you how many stitches and rows it takes to knit a square of a certain size. Since the size can differ depending on the project, it is smarter to do a gauge test beforehand.
How do I calculate yarn consumption based on yardage?
Well, the formula for this is:
Result: you get the needed number of wool
To illustrate the whole thing, here is the following example:
In the instructions for a pullover, the original wool yarn A has a yardage of 100 meters to 50 grams. For the sweater you will need 550 grams of yarn.
This results in a total run length of:
Now you have the problem, for example, that your alternative yarn B is a bit thicker and only 90 meters
Proceed as follows: the total run length of 1100 meters is divided by 90 meters.
The result is thus 12.2 bobbles. Instead of 11 you would have to buy 13 bobbles.
With a result like 12.2, it makes more sense to simply buy one more ball to avoid nasty surprises.
Note: You can only use the formula if your alternative yarn is knitted or crocheted with the same needle size and the sewing tests match.
Alternatively, you can of course also use online calculator or look at our consumption table and save yourself the calculation
It is also interesting to know that you basically knit one kilogram of yarnapproximately half a square meter.
Now that we've got the theory covered, let's hopefully get to the practice! We hope we were able to help you with our contribution and wish you every success with your latest projects!
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