🎯

Knitting Yarn Yardage Calculator

Estimate exactly how much yarn a knitting project needs from a small gauge swatch — total yards, metres and the number of skeins to buy, with a waste margin.

Finished width

Finished height

Yarn used in swatch

Swatch width

Swatch height

Yards per skein

Waste / safety margin

Loading calculator…

How it works

yards per in² = swatch yards ÷ (swatch W × swatch H) · yarn = yards/in² × (width × height) × (1 + waste%) · skeins = ⌈yarn ÷ skein length⌉

The most reliable way to estimate yardage is to let the yarn measure itself. Knit a gauge swatch, unravel it (or weigh it against the ball band) and note how many yards it took to cover its area; that gives yards per square inch for this exact yarn, needle and stitch pattern. Multiply by the finished area and add a margin for seaming, ends and a spare, and you have the total to buy — then round up to whole skeins so every ball comes from the same dye lot. Textured stitches such as cables or garter eat more yarn per square inch than stockinette, which is why measuring your own swatch beats a generic per-project number.

Worked example

A 40×30 in blanket is 1,200 in². A 4×4 in swatch (16 in²) took 20 yd, so yards per in² = 20 ÷ 16 = 1.25. Yarn = 1.25 × 1,200 = 1,500 yd, plus a 10% margin = 1,650 yd. At 200 yd per skein that is ⌈1,650 ÷ 200⌉ = 9 skeins.

Frequently asked questions

How do I measure the yarn a swatch used?

Either unravel the finished swatch and measure the strand with a tape or yardage counter, or weigh the swatch on a kitchen scale and multiply the ball-band yards-per-gram by that weight. Both give the yards this yarn takes to cover the swatch area.

Why round up to whole skeins?

Dye lots vary, so buying extra of the same lot up front avoids a visible colour shift if you run short. Rounding up and keeping the leftover for repairs is standard practice.

Does the stitch pattern change the estimate?

Yes. Cables, colourwork and dense textures use noticeably more yarn per square inch than plain stockinette. Because you measure a swatch worked in your actual pattern, that difference is already baked into the yards-per-square-inch figure.

Related calculators

Crochet Gauge Calculator

Turn your crochet gauge swatch into the exact stitch and row counts for any finished size — chain length, stitches per row and rows to work.

Yarn Substitution Calculator

Swap the yarn in any pattern: enter the yardage required and your substitute's yards per skein to find how many skeins to buy and your leftover.

Model Paint Mixing Ratio Calculator

Mix model or airbrush paint to an exact ratio: enter the parts and total volume to get millilitres and drops of each component, with the ratio simplified.

Aspect Ratio Resize Calculator

Resize an image or video without distortion: enter the original dimensions and a new width to get the matching height, the simplified ratio and the new megapixels.

This calculator is for educational purposes. Double-check important results before acting on them.