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Yarn Requirement Calculator

The assumed 20-by-60-inch rectangle has 100 stitches across and 420 rows at 5 stitches and 7 rows per inch. That is 42,000 stitches. At the assumed 8 yards per 100 stitches, use 3,360 yards, requiring 16 whole 220-yard skeins.

Replace the assumed consumption with your measured swatch before buying.

Yarn Requirement Calculator: inputs

Calculated result
Estimated yardage needed3,360
Whole skeins needed16

Project width and estimated yardage needed

Yarn Requirement Calculator: Project width and Estimated yardage needed5 calculations vary the “Project width” input while holding the other entered inputs constant.162,688183,024203,360223,696244,032

Measure stitch gauge and row gauge separately on the same washed swatch. Estimate yards per 100 stitches from measured yarn used for that stitch pattern, and enter the label yardage per skein. Width times stitches per inch and length times rows per inch give the total stitch count.

This rectangular estimate excludes shaping, borders and color changes. Row gauge is not automatically equal to stitch gauge. Match the pattern repeat and compare with the pattern yardage; a dye-lot match matters when adding skeins later.

Estimated yardage needed from project width

Project width20
Project length60
Gauge5
Row gauge (rows per inch)7
Yarn consumption rate8
Yards per skein220
Estimated yardage needed3,360
Whole skeins needed16

Common error: Using stitch gauge for both directions. Rows per inch and stitches per inch are separate measurements; squaring one can materially misstate yarn demand.

Yarn Requirement: formula

Stitches = width × stitch gauge; rows = length × row gauge; yards = stitches × rows × yards per 100 stitches ÷ 100; skeins = ceil(yards ÷ label yardage)

Craft Yarn Council: Standard Yarn Weight System

Yarn Requirement: changing Project width

Estimated yardage needed: assumed Project width scenarios.
Project widthEstimated yardage neededWhole skeins needed
162,68813
183,02414
20 (example)3,36016
223,69617
244,03219

Yarn Requirement: compare input ranges

Yarn Requirement Calculator: Estimated yardage needed with each input moved on its own, every other input held at the worked-example value.
InputTested fromToEstimated yardage needed: low inputEstimated yardage needed: high inputSwing
Yarn consumption rate792,9403,780840 (25%)
Project width18223,0243,696672 (20%)
Project length54663,0243,696672 (20%)
Gauge4.55.53,0243,696672 (20%)
Row gauge (rows per inch)6.37.73,0243,696672 (20%)
Yards per skein1982423,3603,3600

Yarn Requirement: individual input comparisons

Yarn Requirement Calculator: change one input at a time; other values remain at the stated example.
InputValueEstimated yardage neededWhole skeins needed
Project width162,68813
183,02414
203,36016
223,69617
244,03219
Project length482,68813
543,02414
603,36016
663,69617
724,03219
Gauge42,68813
4.53,02414
53,36016
5.53,69617
64,03219
Row gauge (rows per inch)5.62,68813
6.33,02414
73,36016
7.73,69617
8.44,03219
Yarn consumption rate62,52012
72,94014
83,36016
93,78018
104,20020
Yards per skein1763,36020
1983,36017
2203,36016
2423,36014
2643,36013

Estimated yardage needed: Project width against Project length

Yarn Requirement: Estimated yardage needed at combined Project width and Project length settings.
Project width / Project length486072
162,150.42,6883,225.6
182,419.23,0243,628.8
202,6883,3604,032
222,956.83,6964,435.2
243,225.64,0324,838.4

Yarn Requirement: values and definitions

Worked-example inputs and the results they produce for the Yarn Requirement Calculator.
Quantity and definitionValue used
Project width — Finished project width, in inches.20
Project length — Finished project length, in inches.60
Gauge — Stitches per inch at your tension.5
Row gauge (rows per inch) — Measure rows per inch on the same washed swatch; this is not the stitch gauge.7
Yarn consumption rate — Approximate yards of yarn consumed per 100 stitches for your yarn weight and stitch pattern.8
Yards per skein — Yardage printed on one skein of your chosen yarn.220
Estimated yardage needed3,360
Whole skeins needed16

Yarn consumption rate: half and double

Yarn Requirement scale comparison; assumed inputs.
Yarn consumption rateEstimated yardage needed
41,680
83,360
166,720

Yarn is estimated from stitches: the area of the project times the gauge squared gives a stitch count, and a rate per hundred stitches gives yardage. A project 20 by 60 inches at 5 stitches an inch has about 30,000 stitches, and at 8 yards per hundred that is about 2,400 yards, or 10.9 skeins of 220 yards. You buy 11, and more if the stitch pattern is dense, since cables and textures use more yarn than plain stitches.

Swatch first to get your own gauge and yarn use, and buy all the skeins from one dye lot at once, since colors can vary between lots.

Adjust for your gauge on the knitting gauge calculator, plan fabric on the fabric yardage page and quilts on the quilt backing and binding calculator. The pattern scaling and seam allowance pages help with sewing, and the unit conversion calculators change inches and centimeters.

Can I square my stitch gauge to find total stitches?

Only if the row gauge happens to equal it. At 5 stitches and 7 rows per inch, use 35 stitches per square inch.

How are skeins rounded?

Up to a whole skein: 3,360 divided by 220 is 15.27, so buy 16 for the stated assumptions.