Calculating Yarn Yardage for a Project
Before buying yarn for a project, calculate the total yardage needed. Running short mid-project is one of the most common and most easily avoided mistakes in hand-knitting.
Recommended A printable technique cheat-sheet for your knitting bag.
Method for sweaters
Estimate by garment size: a fingering-weight adult sweater needs 1500–2000 yards; DK 1200–1700 yards; worsted 1000–1500 yards; bulky 700–1000 yards. Add 10–20% for swatching and mistakes.
Method for accessories
Hats: 200–400 yards depending on yarn weight. Mittens: 200–300 yards. Socks: 350–450 yards. Scarves: 400–800 yards. Shawls: 400–1500 yards depending on size and lace pattern.
In partnership Tools and supplies that make this technique easier.
Calculate from a swatch
For an unfamiliar yarn or design, knit a 4-inch swatch and weigh it. Calculate area of the finished garment and multiply by (swatch weight / swatch area) for total weight needed. Multiply by yards per gram of the yarn for total yardage.
Buy extra
Always buy 10–20% more than the calculation suggests. Yarn is always cheaper to buy too much than too little — running out mid-project may mean a different dye lot for the remainder, with visible colour variation.
Abbreviation reference
| Abbreviation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| CYC | Craft Yarn Council |
Tips
- For sweaters, use the rule-of-thumb yardages by weight category.
- For unusual designs, calculate from a weighed swatch.
- Always buy 10–20% extra to cover swatches and mistakes.
In depth
Yardage calculation is one of the most underused skills in hand-knitting. The rule-of-thumb yardages cover most projects, and the swatch-based calculation handles the unusual cases. The 30 minutes spent on the calculation prevents the much-worse-than-30-minutes problem of running out of yarn in dye lot 12345 when only dye lot 67890 is now in stock.