How Much Yarn Do You Need for a Blanket?

A guide explaining how to determine the amount of yarn needed to make various blanket types, from baby blankets to chunky throws.

Before starting the project, make sure you have enough yarn because blankets can use a lot of it. As a general rule, one yard per stitch may be needed to make a baby blanket, while 300–330 yards are typically needed to make a twin-sized blanket.

To learn how much of each you will need to finish your next blanket project, keep reading.

How Much Yarn Do You Need for a Blanket?

Knowing the size you want your blanket to be before calculating the number of stitches required is a great way to determine how much yarn you’ll need.

For instance, if you wanted your finished blanket to be loose (not too tight) and to have ruffles around the edge, your starting chain would need to be 480 + 6 = 486 stitches.

This means that for each row, the total length would be 486 stitches plus 2 chains plus two feet when the length of each climb, in this case, two feet, and the number of chains, in this case, two, are added together.

This equates to roughly 57 inches in each row. To get a looser blanket with less ruffling around the edges, you could reduce the number of stitches per row to 400–450, which would give you about 42–45 inches for each row.

How Much Yarn for a Baby Blanket?

Depending on the type of yarn you use, you’ll need a certain amount to make a baby blanket. Baby weight yarn also referred to as superfine yarn, is a popular choice when creating a blanket for a newborn. You’ll probably need between 1200 and 1300 yards of this kind of yarn to complete your blanket.

A baby blanket can be made out of fewer yards of heavier yarn types, like worsted or medium weight. To finish your project, you might need 900 to 1000 yards of this kind of yarn.

How Many Yards of Yarn Do I Need to Make a Large Blanket?

Large blankets usually require a lot of yarn, though the precise amount depends on the size of yarn you use. A jumbo yarn would be a good choice if you wanted to make a queen-size blanket, for instance, as it is bulkier and will require fewer yards to finish.

Even so, the total length of this size blanket could be between 800 and 1000 yards of jumbo yarn.

However, you’ll require a lot more yards if you use a lighter weight of yarn to make a blanket that size. It will take between 8,000 and 10,000 yards of medium- or worsted-weight yarn to complete such a sizable project. To finish, you might need to buy several dozen skeins of yarn.

How to Calculate How Much Yarn for Different Size Blankets?

There are a few techniques you can use to figure out how much yarn you need for a particular blanket size. The amount of yarn required can be determined using the pattern you’re using or by creating a test swatch.

Follow a Pattern

One of the simplest ways to determine how much yarn you need is to follow a pattern. It’s not even necessary for the pattern to be for the exact size of blanket you’re making! Based on the information provided by the pattern, you can usually estimate how much yarn will be needed to make a larger or smaller blanket.

You can determine the yardage required by using some simple math, for instance, if you want to make a baby blanket but the pattern you are using is for a throw blanket.

If the pattern says that you will need 1500 yards of yarn to make a 60″ by 60″ throw blanket, dividing that in half would show you that you need only 750 yards to make a 30″ by 30″ baby blanket.

The numbers might not divide or multiply evenly depending on how big of a blanket you want. But you can use this to get a general idea of how much yarn you’ll need for the size of blanket you’re planning to make.

Make a Test Swatch

Making a gauge swatch with the yarn and/or needle(s) you already have on hand is one of the simplest ways to figure out how much yarn you need. Knit or crochet a 4″ by 4″ square using the yarn and the style of stitch you intend to use throughout the blanket.

Once you have completed your 4″ by 4″ square, cut the yarn but do not tie it off. After that, unravel the square to determine how much yarn was used. Using this measurement as a starting point, you can determine how much yarn is required for the entire blanket.

For example, if you plan to make a 48″ by 48″ blanket, you will need 122 of those 4″ squares. If it took you two yards of yarn to make that 4″ square, you will multiply the 2 yards by 122 to get a total of 244 yards. You should anticipate using this much yarn to complete your blanket.

Remember that having extra yarn on hand will help ensure that you have enough. The amount that your yarn stretches can change significantly as you work. The amount of yarn you need will depend on the stitch size, tension, and weight of the piece pulling on your stitches.

Conclusion

To plan your projects and achieve the desired results, determining how much yarn you need is a necessary step.

If you already have a nice blanket you want to recreate in a different color/yarn, you could also weigh that existing blanket and use it as a rough estimation of the amount you will need for the next project. That’s not entirely reliable, though, unlike swatches.

We hope this article has helped you determine how many yards of each kind of yarn you will need to make your ideal blanket.

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