Crocheting a blanket is an ambitious, often time-consuming project that can require a lot of yarn. For those who are crocheting their first blankets, it’s often daunting to visit a craft store because you don’t know how many skeins of yarn you will need.
So, how much yarn do you need to crochet a blanket? To choose the right amount of yarn for a crochet blanket, you will need to consider the size of the blanket, the weight of the yarn, the crochet hook size, and the pattern. By combining these factors, you will be able to determine the right amount of yarn for a crochet blanket.
In this article, we will help you find out how much yarn you need to get to crochet your blanket.
How To Choose The Right Amount Of Yarn For A Crochet Blanket
Why does it matter to calculate how much time you’ll need anyway? Can’t you visit the craft store again if you run out of yarn when making your blanket?
Well, it’s not that simple. If you are using color yarn, you’ll see on the label of the yarn that there’s something called a ‘dye lot.’ The dye lot is the batch of yarn that has been dyed together, so all the skeins that belong to the same dye lot will have the exact same color.
Different dye lots can sometimes have different colors because of the different manufacturing conditions, and you’ll see that yarn in the same color but with a different dye lot can look slightly different in terms of color.
That’s why it’s important that when you buy yarn for a big project such as a blanket, you need to buy the same color with the same dye lot so that your project will look nice and even.
This is my favorite wool yarn for crocheting warm blankets. It comes with 3 skeins from the same dye lot.
When you need to calculate how many skeins of yarn you will need for a certain yarn, there are a few things that you will need to consider. Before you start your project, you will need to answer the following questions.
Blanket Size
When you say “blanket,” what size are you thinking of? Blankets have vastly different sizes, ranging from tiny baby blankets to huge king-size blankets. Of course, the bigger the blanket is, the more yarn it will consume to crochet.
Here are some common blanket sizes for you to consider:
| Blanket Type | Size |
| Lovey (baby) | 10” x 10” |
| Security (baby) | 14” x 17” |
| Stroller (baby) | 30” x 35” |
| Baby | 36” x 36” |
| Crib | 40” x 60” |
| Toddler | 36” x 48” |
| Throw | 54” x 66” |
| Twin | 60” x 90” |
| Queen | 90” x 90” |
| King | 108” x 90” |
When it comes to a handmade garment, the measurements don’t have to be too exact, but knowing what size blanket you want to make will make the calculations much easier.
Yarn Weight
The yarn weight, or the thickness of each individual strand of yarn, will also affect how much yarn will be needed to crochet a blanket.
The bigger the yarn, the bigger the stitches, so you can crochet a bigger area with less yarn. Beginners often start with chunky yarn since it doesn’t require much yarn or time at all to crochet a blanket.
In comparison, if you are using fine yarn, it can require substantially more stitches to create the same length of fabric, which means you will need much more yarn to accomplish the task.
It’s recommended that you pick the yarn weight first before calculating how much yarn you’ll need, and we’ll tell you why in the next section.
Crochet Hook Size
The hook size will correspond to the yarn weight – the thicker the yarn, the bigger the crochet hook you will need to use to work with it. You can also use a larger crochet hook than the recommended size to create an open, lacy effect.
A big crochet hook size will allow you to create a bigger area with fewer stitches, so it will take less yarn to create a large blanket. This also means that you can finish an entire blanket in a shorter time since you don’t need to crochet so many stitches to create a big area.
In comparison, a smaller crochet hook will help you create small, fine details, but you will need more yarn and more time to achieve the same size blanket.
Crochet Blanket Pattern
‘Crochet’ doesn’t mean just one thing – when you say crochet blanket, you will need to specify the pattern you’d like to use – whether it’s corner to corner crochet, plain double crochet, or any other patterns that you want to use.
Different patterns will require different lengths of yarn. For example, single crochet will require more yarn than the moss stitch (where you alternate between single crochet and a chain) because one creates a tight pattern while the other creates a lacy pattern.
If you want to use less yarn and take less time to crochet your blanket, it can be wise to opt for a lacy, openwork pattern, where there are a lot of chain spaces that don’t need to be filled in with stitches. This type of pattern consumes less yarn and can work up fairly quickly.
That’s why deciding on the pattern is important before buying your yarn so that you can easily tell how much yarn it will take to crochet an entire blanket in the size that you want.
How To Calculate How Much Yarn You Will Need For A Blanket
If you are using a pattern, chances are the pattern will tell you which yarn to use, how much yarn to get, the crochet hook size to use, and the gauge you will need to achieve this size.
However, if you are not using a written pattern, there’s still a way to calculate how much yarn you will need. Let’s follow the steps below.
1. Crochet a swatch
When crocheting a swatch, it’s important to have one skein of the yarn you intend to use, the crochet hook size you want to use, and the pattern you want to use.
Then, you can use the crochet hook and the yarn to crochet a small 4″ by 4″ swatch in the intended pattern.
2. Measure the swatch
If you have a fine food scale, now is the time to bust it out. You can place your swatch on the scale to measure how much it is.
For this example, let’s say it’s 32 grams. Your swatch is 4″ by 4″, which means it is 16 square inches. You can divide the weight by the size to see how many grams of yarn are required for 1 square inch.
- 8 grams / 16 square inch = 0.5 gram per square inch
The sleeve of your yarn will also tell you how much yarn is in a skein in grams and yards. This is different for every type of yarn, so you will need to investigate the sleeve closely to find out the specific numbers for your type of yarn.
In our example, a skein is 50 grams and approximately 245 yards. Divide the yards by the grams, and you’ll get 4.9 yards per gram.
- 245 yards / 50 grams = 4.9 yards per grams
Remember that before, when we measured our swatch, we already knew that each square inch was 0.5 grams. Multiply this by 4.9, and you’ll get how many yards of yarn are required to make a square inch.
- 0.5 grams per square inch x 4.9 yards per grams = 2.45 yards per square inch
3. Calculate the amount of yarn
Now, you can use the chart above to see the weight of the yarn needed to achieve the square inch you want to make by multiplying the number above with the total square inch for the blanket.
| Blanket Type | Size | Amount of Yarn |
| Lovey (baby) | 100 square inches | 245 yards (one skein) |
| Security (baby) | 238 square inches | 583.1 yards (2.38 skeins) |
| Stroller (baby) | 1,050 square inches | 2,572.5 yards (10.5 skeins) |
| Baby | 1,296 square inches | 3,175.2 yards (12.96 skeins) |
| Crib | 2,400 square inches | 5880 yards (24 skeins) |
| Toddler | 1,728 square inches | 4,233.6 yards (17.28 skeins) |
| Throw | 3,564 square inches | 8,731.8 yards (35.64 skeins) |
| Twin | 5,400 square inches | 13,230 yards (51 skeins) |
| Queen | 8,100 square inches | 19,845 yards (81 skeins) |
| King | 9,720 square inches | 23,814 yards (97.2 skeins) |
This is just an example, and the exact measurements will largely depend on the factors that we have already mentioned above. You can use this same formula to calculate how much yarn you will need for your particular pattern using your particular yarn and crochet hook.
This also doesn’t account for colorwork patterns. If you are creating designs using different colors, then what to get for each color will need to be estimated since it can be difficult to account for the design in a swatch.
If you need to make a second trip to the craft store to get more yarn for your blanket, then it’s wise to know the dye lot of your batch of yarn; that way, you can ask the store to match it as close as they can. Sometimes, you can also find the same dye lot online if you can’t find it in stores.
How To Crochet A Blanket Of Any Size
So, now you’ve finally gotten this far and have calculated how much yarn you’ll need for your blanket. But if you aren’t sure where to start when it comes to actually get the job done, check out this tutorial for how to crochet a blanket from B.Hooked Crochet & Knitting on YouTube.
Up Next: How Long Does It Take To Crochet A Blanket?
