It’s a question every crocheter asks… how much yarn do I need? And what if I change the thickness of yarn?

Today, I’ll show you how to calculate how much yarn your project will need… no more guessing!

Discover your yarn + hook combo

The only way to know for sure is to calculate how much yarn each stitch (using your yarn and hook) takes. Using some yarn and hooks I had on hand, I did few examples:

As you see, the thicker the yarn (and the bigger the hook), the more yarn you’ll need.

Your calculations may be different depending on your exact yarn and gauge… but this should give you an idea! This tutorial will show you how to calculate how much yarn you use for each stitch.

How to calculate the total for the pattern

To find out the total amount of yarn you’ll use for your project, multiply the number of stitches in your pattern by the number of inches each stitch uses.

Let’s take Jay the Bird as an example. The pattern contains the stitch count at the end of each line.

Adding those up gives me a total of 1656 stitches.

How much yarn do I need if I want to crochet him in a fingering weight yarn?

46 yards! That’s less than the 85 called for in the pattern because fingering weight yarn is smaller, and the project needs less!

Calculate away!

Using this method, you can calculate how much yarn a project will require with any weight yarn and hook! No more guessing!

Best,

Stacey

