Yarn Yardage Chart
Typical yardage for nine common projects across every yarn weight, lace to jumbo.
"How much yarn do I need?" has no single answer, because the same garment swallows far more lace than bulky. This table lays nine common projects against all eight Craft Yarn Council weights so you can read the ballpark off the page before you buy. The figures are for an average adult size in plain fabric and already carry a conservative padding — treat them as a shopping guide, and follow your pattern’s stated yardage whenever you have one.
Yardage by project and yarn weight
Scroll sideways to see all eight weights →
| Project | 0 Lace | 1 Super Fine (Fingering) | 2 Fine (Sport) | 3 Light (DK) | 4 Medium (Worsted) | 5 Bulky | 6 Super Bulky | 7 Jumbo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult hat | 475 | 388 | 325 | 288 | 250 | 188 | 150 | 113 |
| Cowl | 665 | 543 | 455 | 402 | 350 | 263 | 210 | 158 |
| Scarf | 950 | 775 | 650 | 575 | 500 | 375 | 300 | 225 |
| Socks (pair)† | 475 | 388 | 325 | 288 | 250 | 188 | 150 | 113 |
| Shawl | 1,520 | 1,240 | 1,040 | 920 | 800 | 600 | 480 | 360 |
| Baby blanket | 1,235 | 1,008 | 845 | 747 | 650 | 488 | 390 | 293 |
| Adult sweater (pullover) | 2,660 | 2,170 | 1,820 | 1,610 | 1,400 | 1,050 | 840 | 630 |
| Cardigan | 3,800 | 3,100 | 2,600 | 2,300 | 2,000 | 1,500 | 1,200 | 900 |
| Throw blanket | 3,325 | 2,713 | 2,275 | 2,012 | 1,750 | 1,313 | 1,050 | 788 |
All figures are yards for an average adult size in plain fabric. Project names open the Yarn Yardage Estimator with that project selected, where you can switch weight and see the amount to buy.
† The socks row is calibrated to fingering, the weight socks are nearly always worked in — read the 1 Super Fine column. The other columns on that row are extrapolated from that one figure and run low for heavier sock yarns, which is also why it reads the same as the hat row.
Good to know
- These are ballpark figures for shopping, not pattern requirements. Size, ease, length and stitch pattern all move them — cables and colourwork use more, lace uses less.
- Buy about 15% more than the figure you read, and buy it all at once in the same dye lot. A leftover skein is easy to use; a missing one in the wrong dye lot is not.
- Crochet generally eats more yarn than knitting for the same piece — often 20–30% more — so add that on top of the figure you read, in the column for the yarn you are actually using.
- Yardage scales with the weight of the yarn, not the weight of the ball. A 100 g ball of fingering holds far more yards than a 100 g ball of bulky.
FAQ
- How many skeins is that?
- Add the 15% first, then divide by the yards printed on the ball band and round up. A worsted sweater reads 1,400 yd, so shop for about 1,610 yd; against 220 yd skeins that is 1610 ÷ 220 = 7.3, so buy eight. The calculator does that arithmetic for you.
- Why do two rows show the same numbers?
- The socks row is calibrated to fingering — the weight socks are nearly always worked in — so read the Super Fine column for them. The other columns on that row are extrapolated from that one figure and run low for heavier sock yarns, which is also why the row happens to line up with the hat row.
- My yarn is sold in metres, not yards.
- Multiply the yardage by 0.914 to get metres — so 1,400 yd is about 1,280 m. Metre figures are always the smaller number, which is easy to misread on a ball band.
- What if my project is not on the list?
- Find the closest one and scale by area. A child’s sweater is roughly half an adult’s; a long cardigan is a pullover plus a third. If you have already knit a swatch, the Yarn From Swatch calculator turns a measured sample into a yardage for any size.