Yardage by size and weight
These are typical totals for a plain blanket in stockinette or a simple texture, knit at the gauge on the ball band. Garter stitch takes about 10–15% more than stockinette, cables and dense texture 20% or more, and an open lace pattern noticeably less. A wide border adds a little; a fringe adds a lot.
| Blanket | Finished size | DK | Worsted | Chunky | Bulky & super bulky |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baby (receiving) | 30 × 36" | 1,100–1,300 yd | 850–1,000 yd | 550–700 yd | 350–450 yd |
| Stroller or crib | 36 × 45" | 1,650–1,950 yd | 1,300–1,550 yd | 850–1,050 yd | 550–700 yd |
| Lap blanket or throw | 50 × 60" | 3,000–3,600 yd | 2,400–2,800 yd | 1,550–1,900 yd | 1,000–1,250 yd |
| Twin bed | 66 × 90" | 6,000–7,200 yd | 4,700–5,600 yd | 3,100–3,700 yd | 2,000–2,500 yd |
In skeins: a worsted skein holds about 200 yards, so a baby blanket is five skeins and a throw twelve to fourteen. Chunky and bulky skeins hold far less — 100 to 130 yards — so a chunky throw is fifteen skeins or so, and it is the yardage, not the number of skeins, that says what a blanket will cost.
Getting your own number
The table assumes the fabric on the ball band. Your fabric may be looser or denser, and the stitch pattern may be anything, so for a blanket of any size it is worth doing the sum from a swatch.
- Knit a swatch in the stitch pattern, at least 6" square, with the needle you will use. Wash and dry it the way the blanket will be washed.
- Measure the middle of it — say 5" × 5" — and weigh the whole swatch on a kitchen scale, in grams.
- Work out the yards in the swatch: swatch grams ÷ skein grams × skein yards. (A 12 g swatch of a 100 g, 210-yard skein holds 25 yards.)
- Yards per square inch = swatch yards ÷ swatch area. (25 yards ÷ 36 square inches ≈ 0.7.)
- Multiply by the blanket's area. A 50 × 60" throw is 3,000 square inches × 0.7 ≈ 2,100 yards. Divide by the yards per skein, round up, add one.
The extra skein matters more on a blanket than on anything else, because you cannot make a blanket shorter after the fact without it looking like you ran out. It can be returned unused within 30 days if you do not need it.
Which weight for which blanket
Baby blankets want a yarn that goes through a washing machine without a second thought — superwash merino, cotton, or a wool-cotton blend — in DK or worsted, which drape over a baby rather than sitting on one. DK takes a third more yardage than worsted and twice the knitting time, so most people choose worsted for a crib blanket and DK for a small heirloom one. The baby yarn shelf is the machine-washable set.
Throws are where chunky and bulky yarn earn their keep: a 50 × 60" throw in chunky wool is a few weeks of evenings, not a few months, and the weight of the fabric is the point. Non-superwash wool is fine here — a throw is not washed often — and it is the weight that makes a wool-mohair like Lamb's Pride Bulky worth having.
Bed blankets are a commitment at any weight. In worsted a twin is five thousand yards; in super bulky it is a quarter of that and knits in a fraction of the time, but check the pattern's finished weight — a super bulky queen blanket can weigh ten pounds.
Buy it all at once
A blanket is the single largest expanse of one color you will ever knit, which makes it the project where a dye-lot change shows most. A line across a sweater can hide under an arm; a line across a blanket cannot. Every skein in an order from us comes from one lot, and if you need to buy in two stages, say so and we will hold the lot for you. The dye lot guide covers what to do if you have to mix lots anyway.