Beginner

How much yarn is needed for a scarf?

Yes, what can I think, maybe 3 skeins or two hanks…

This thing about yarn requirements for an unspecified scarf depends on many factors, such as how long and how wide it should be, which yarn it should be knitted with, and what size needles you have in mind. But this question about yarn requirements is an interesting one.

Many times I have stood in the store and been asked which yarn can be used for a garment instead of the one specified in the pattern.

Let's take the example of a sweater. I have chosen to start from the pattern It’s not a sweatshirt from Knitting for Olive in size M. The pattern states that you knit with two strands, one strand of Knitting for Olive Merino and one strand of Knitting for Olive Soft Silk Mohair, and the specified gauge is 20 stitches and 26 rows per 10 cm.

For a size M, 250g of Merino (5 skeins) and 125g of Mohair (5 skeins) are needed. This yarn combination gives a soft, warm, and lightweight material, but here we want to replace the yarn with one that has a bit more weight and knit with a single yarn.

So I look at yarn options, and in our example, I suggest the yarn Cumbria, which has a gauge of 18-20 stitches per 10 cm with 4 - 5 mm needles, so it should be suitable as a replacement.

To calculate the amount needed, I go to the pattern and see that for Merino, which has a length of 250m/50g, five skeins are required. That is: 5 skeins x 250m = 1250m.

The yarn I want to switch to, Cumbria, has a length of 216m/100g. Then I take out my calculator and divide 1250m by 216m (the length of one skein of Cumbria). The result is: 5.78 - rounded up to 6. So 6 skeins of Cumbria are needed for this sweater in size M.

It works the same way to count in the other direction

Let's take an example with a cardigan, One Cardigan size M, knitted in one thread of Lore, a lovely yarn made of lambswool, but in this example, we want to knit with one thread of Merino and one thread of Soft Silk Mohair instead. Replacing one thick yarn with two thin ones.

The pattern specifies a gauge of 20 stitches and 27 rows per 10 cm using 4mm needles, and that for size M (size 3) you need 5 skeins of Lore, which has a length of 250m/100g = 1250m.

So we see that Merino, which also has the same length but in only 50g skeins, means we need 5 skeins of Merino, and we should also have one strand of mohair. But the mohair has a slightly shorter length of 225m/25g, which means 5 skeins only give 1125m, so in this case we take an additional skein of mohair.

So, 5 skeins of Merino and 6 skeins of Soft Silk Mohair.

Something that is very important in general, but especially when changing yarn, is to knit a swatch and carefully measure to ensure the correct gauge is achieved.

And to return to the original question about yarn requirements for an unspecified scarf, I would say that between 150-200g of a soft and comfortable yarn is needed. That will give you a really lovely scarf!

Hugs / Pernilla