Free crochet tool
Crochet Yarn Yardage Calculator
A yarn yardage calculator estimates how much yarn a crochet project needs from a swatch. Measure your swatch, record the yards it used, then enter the finished project size. It scales yardage by area, adds a safety buffer and tells you how many skeins to buy.
By the crochetpatterns.io editorial team · Reviewed · Editorial policy
Result
1,875 yd before the 10% buffer.
How do you work out how much yarn a project needs?
Yarn use scales with fabric area. Divide the yards used in the swatch by the swatch area to get yards per square inch, multiply by the project area, then add 10–15 % for joins, borders and weaving in ends.
Find the yards a swatch used by unravelling and measuring it, or by weighing it on a kitchen scale and converting grams to yards using the skein label.
Why buy extra yarn?
Dye lots vary between batches, so buying one extra skein at the start is cheaper than trying to find a matching lot later. Textured stitches such as bobbles and puffs also use noticeably more yarn than the same area of plain stitches.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is swatch-based estimating?
Usually within 10 % if the swatch uses the same stitch, hook and yarn as the project and has been blocked.
Does a border change the estimate?
Yes. Add the border width to the project dimensions or increase the buffer to 15–20 %.
Can I use metres?
Enter metres instead of yards throughout; the result will be in metres per skein.