I Chose My Yarn, Now How Much Do I Buy!!

Choosing your materials and tools when you're just starting out with a craft like knitting can be confusing even daunting.  Seriously.  First there is the dizzying selection of infinite colors, then there is fiber content, then whether or not you prefer a traditional smooth yarn or a novelty yarn. Once you choose your yarn, then the proper tools must also be chosen.  Straight needles, or circulars, how about double points?  Metal, wood, plastic or some other material that that suites your  yarn choice and your preference.  Ok, so you've cleared these hurdles, now to consider what to make with this stuff!


Well, if you're just starting out, you might be considering a making up a shape such as a rectangle, square or triangle, all of which of course can be cleverly used as is or combined to serve as scarves, hats, shawls, pillows, bags, cosies, cowls, or anything else your creativity dictates can be fashioned from these basic shapes.


This is my favorite path to set new knitters on ... don't be afraid to let your creativity run wild, you don't really need a set pattern to make basic shapes, and who is to tell you what those shapes can be used for, except for you and your creative eye.  Inspiring!


I digress, so back to the point:  how much of this stuff do I buy to make what I want and not run out or have gads left over?  The answer .... To the Swatch, with a detour to Mathtopia - Go!


The Swatch, simply is a sample of the fabric you want to make with the yarn and needles you want to use.


Mathtopia?  Gauge ... YOUR gauge, or how many stitches to the inch are you knitting with your chosen yarn and needles AND how many rows to the inch you are knitting with said yarn and needles.


What to do with this bit of information, what to do indeed ....


Let's suppose you want to knit yourself a scarf, say in a lovely worsted weight merino wool that makes your heart go bumpity-bump, and you want this scarf to be, oh, 8 inches wide and say, 54 inches long.


Ok the next part involves a mind bending tour through Mathtopia ... don't ask me how or why the following works, just trust me, it does.  Here is the formula:


First, figure out your surface area, in this case (length x width =  area)  54 x 8 = 432


Second, divide your surface area by the yardage in the ball (lets say our merino has 110 yards per ball) so, 432 ÷ 110 = 3.927.  What does this mean?  We need 3.927 balls of our lovely merino.  Since we can't buy fractions of a ball we will round up to 4 balls of yarn.


Since you have to be on pretty good terms with math in order to feel comfortable in Mathtopia, and everyone knows numbers and me don't get on too well, I'm happy to announce that some dear folks over the years have come up with standard estimates for various knitted articles and here they are:


Keep in mind these are estimates and you may need to add more yarn.  Cardigans, add 100 extra yards. For turtleneck and cowls, add 200 extra yards.  Oversize sweaters add about 25%, all-over pattern stitches add 33 % more yardage. Sweaters with more than one color also require more yarn.  Add 30% to amounts for crochet.