How much yarn do I need?
Substituting yarn, or just want to know what the project will cost? Type in two numbers and the calculator works out how many balls you need. It is the yardage that decides — not the weight, and not the brand.
Work it out
Balls × yardage = total metres. Metres ÷ the yardage of the new yarn = number of balls, rounded up.
Why yardage, and not grams
Yardage is how many metres of yarn you get in 100 grams. It is printed on the ball band. The higher the number, the finer the yarn.
Two balls can both weigh 50 grams and still hold completely different amounts of yarn. Mohair is light and airy — 25 grams of mohair can give you as many metres as 100 grams of chunky wool. Work it out by weight and you will be badly off.
Work it out in metres and you will never be wrong.
Yarn weights – the international categories
Many patterns, English-language ones in particular, give a category instead of a yardage. This table is the rule of thumb:
| Category | Typical yardage |
|---|---|
| Lace | approx. 600–800 m / 100 g |
| Fingering / sock yarn | approx. 350–450 m / 100 g |
| Sport | approx. 250–300 m / 100 g |
| DK (Double Knitting) | approx. 200–250 m / 100 g |
| Worsted / Aran | approx. 150–200 m / 100 g |
| Bulky | approx. 100–150 m / 100 g |
| Super Bulky | under 100 m / 100 g |
Three things that change the sums
Are you knitting with more than one strand?
Many of my patterns are knitted with two strands at once — often a mohair together with a wool. You then need to work out the yardage for each strand separately, and buy enough of both.
And two fine strands do not give exactly the same result as one thick one. Always knit a gauge swatch.
Texture eats yarn
A textured pattern usually takes 15–20 per cent more yarn than stocking stitch in the same size. Half brioche and cables pull in, and what you do not see in the width has gone into yarn.
If you swap stocking stitch for texture on your own, add a fifth.
Your gauge decides the rest
Knit looser than the pattern and you use more yarn. Knit tighter and you use less — but then the garment comes out smaller too. Check your swatch first; everything else builds on it.
When you substitute yarn
Two yarns with the same yardage will usually give the same gauge on the same needles. That is why the yardage, not the brand, is what you should compare.
But the fibre changes the look. Mohair gives a halo and lightness. Wool gives firmness and holds its shape. Alpaca is heavier and drapes more. The same pattern in two different fibres makes two different garments — both right, but not the same.
See the yarn page for which yarns I use and where to find them, and yarn choice and care for how to look after them afterwards.
More techniques
Half brioche · Lace patterns · Puff sleeves · Raglan · Cables · Popcorn stitch · Flexible cast-on
Cosymonday
O – The Skirt - The Statement Skirt
Strikkeoppskrift på maxiskjørt
