Jessica Cooper Learn how to calculate yarn yardage for your crochet or knit projects.
Have you ever found the perfect pattern and started on it with some left over yarn from your stash. You get to the end of the pattern to find out that you don’t have enough yarn!!! This has happened to all of us crocheters and it sucks ☹️.
What if I told you there is a simple way to find out how much yarn you have without having to measure it. All you need is a digital kitchen scale and the yarn label. If you no longer have the label, you can look the measurements up online.
The yarn labels are full of information. The label below is Big Twist yarn from JoAnn’s.
Find how many yards per ounce are in the skein
The information we will be focusing on is the yards and the ounces to calculate yarn yardage. So for 6oz of yarn, there is 371 yards.
Every yarn skein is different so be sure to check this on each one.
Weigh your yarn scrap
Take your yarn ball and place it on the kitchen scale. Weigh it in ounces. This ball of yarn weighs 2.2 ounces.
Calculate Yarn Yardage
Since 6oz has 371 yds, how many yards does 2.2oz have? We will use cross multiply determine how many yards there are.
Multiply 371 x 2.2 = 816.2
Divide 816.2 by 6 = 136 yards
So, this ball of yarn has about 136 yards in it. If I were to go make an adult hat, most of them are >150 yards, I wouldn’t have enough yarn. But, I could make an Earwarmer or a toddler hat.
Check out Crochet It Creations YouTube Channel for crochet videos and tutorials!
Another Method
Another method is to determine the yardage per ounce of the skein. The skein has 317 yards per 6 oz. Divide 317 by 6 = 61.83 yards. Then take your weight of your yard scrap and multiply by the 61.83 yds/oz. Multiple 61.83 by 2.2 = 136.03.
There you go! This also works to determine how many yards were used in an item using the same method.
Determine how many yards used in a project
Following the same method – First, weigh the crochet item in ounces.
This blanket weighs 1 lb 3.2 oz. Since there is 16 oz in a pound, it’s 19.2 oz. This blanket is also made out of Big Twist Yarn from JoAnn’s. So, it is 371 yards for 6 oz.
TO calculate yarn yardage cross multiply again. 6 oz has 371 yards, how many yards do 19.2 oz have??
371 x 19.2 = 7132.2
7132.2 divided by 6 = 1187.2
So, this blanket requires about 1200 yards of yarn!
Pretty cool, huh? So, next time you go to make a project out of your yarn stash, grab your kitchen scale and determine how many yards you have!
Looking for the blanket from the photo. It is beautiful and the pattern is simple. Check it out here.
Thank you for sharing these calculations. So helpful because I have many unlabeled scraps of yarn and skeins that I am trying to organize. Don’t we all though. Really want to make that adult hat, here’s how to fix that issue. If you don’t have enough of the yarn for an adult hat, check your stash to see if you have that yarn in a different colour but same weight to make up the difference.