Knitting Yarn Calculator: Yards and Skeins from Your Gauge

How to use it

Knit a swatch in stockinette stitch and count the Stitches in 10 cm of your swatch and the Rows in 10 cm of your swatch.
Work out the Yards per 100 stitches: the yards the swatch used, divided by its stitches, times 100.
Choose the Yarn weight from the label, and type the Width of the piece and the Height of the piece in centimetres.
Type the Extra yarn allowance you want, and the Yards per skein from the label.
Read the Yarn needed (yards), the Skeins to buy and the Gauge check.

How the yardage is calculated

The stitches of the piece are its width and its height, in tens of centimetres, each multiplied by the stitches and rows in 10 cm of the swatch. The yards are those stitches times the yards per 100 stitches, divided by 100, plus the allowance you choose, rounded up to whole yards.

stitches = round(width × stitches per 10 cm ÷ 10) × round(height × rows per 10 cm ÷ 10)
yards = stitches × yards per 100 ÷ 100 × (1 + allowance ÷ 100), rounded up
metres = yards × 0.9144
skeins = yards ÷ yards per skein, rounded up

The Craft Yarn Council weights

The council gives each weight a knit gauge range in stockinette stitch over 4 inches, from 33 to 40 stitches for lace to 6 and fewer for jumbo, and gives needle sizes for each. The gauge check converts your count per 10 cm to 4 inches (10.16 cm) and shows whether it lies in the range of the weight you chose.

The council publishes no yardage per weight, so the yardage comes from your own swatch or pattern. The council also says to always follow the gauge stated in your pattern.

What the calculator does not cover

Yarn held double, or a fancy yarn with a different yardage per stitch: the yardage per 100 stitches must come from that yarn.
Shaping, pattern repeats and ribbing: the stitch count is for the whole rectangle of the piece.
Crochet, which has its own gauge and yardage.

Worked example: a 30 × 120 cm scarf at 20 stitches and 26 rows per 10 cm

Across, 30 × 20 ÷ 10 = 60 stitches; down, 120 × 26 ÷ 10 = 312 rows, so the piece has 60 × 312 = 18,720 stitches. At 2 yards per 100 stitches that is 374.4 yards. With a 10 % allowance it is 411.84, rounded up to 412 yards, which is 376.7 metres. Skeins of 200 yards: 412 ÷ 200 = 2.06, so 3 skeins.

Result	Value
Stitches in the piece	18,720
Yarn needed (yards)	412
Yarn needed (metres)	376.7
Skeins to buy	3
Gauge check	Your gauge gives 20 stitches in 4 inches, within the Medium range of 16–20 stitches.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the calculator need a swatch?

The stitch and row counts of a swatch give the gauge, which sets how many stitches the piece has. The yardage per 100 stitches also comes from a swatch or a pattern, because the council publishes no yardage figures.

Where do I get the yardage per 100 stitches?

Find the yards your swatch used, for example from the yards left on the skein, and divide them by the stitches of the swatch, then multiply by 100. A pattern that gives the yardage and the stitches of its piece gives the same figure.

Why does my result differ from the yardage in a pattern?

A pattern's yardage is for its own stitch count and its own yarn. A different gauge, yarn or size changes the stitch count and the yards per stitch, so the figures will not match exactly.

Does the yarn weight change the yardage?

Not in this calculator. The weight only selects the council's stitch range for the gauge check, and the yards come from your yardage per 100 stitches, which already depends on the yarn you use.

What allowance should I choose?

The allowance is your choice, because the council publishes none. Pick the extra you want to buy to cover a repeat, a mistake or a difference between dye lots.

How does the gauge check differ from the knitting gauge calculator?

Both use the council's ranges, but this tool checks the one weight you chose. The knitting gauge calculator works out cast-on stitches and rows for a width and a length, and shows which weights your gauge fits.

Sources

Figures and text last checked on Thursday, November 12, 2026.

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