Tapestry crochet yarn calculator
Find out how much yarn to buy for each color of your tapestry crochet chart. A color needs yarn for its own stitches and for every stitch it is carried through, so even a color with few stitches can need a lot of yarn.
The calculator needs JavaScript. The math below works by hand.
How to measure your yarn
- Crochet a swatch the way you will work the piece: your yarn and hook, and the other colors carried inside the stitches if you carry them.
- At the start of a row, put a pen dot on the working yarn where it goes into the first stitch.
- Crochet 20 stitches, over the carried colors if you carry them, then put a second dot on the working yarn.
- Pull those stitches out, lay the yarn flat without stretching it, and measure from dot to dot.
- Put that length in "Yarn for 20 stitches", under "Measure your own yarn".
Yarn carried inside makes the stitches a little taller. So if you carry the colors in the piece, carry them in the swatch too.
The math
To find how wide one stitch is, divide your gauge's width by its number of stitches. Each color then needs:
- its own stitches × yarn for one stitch
- + the chart's other stitches × one stitch width, if you carry it
- + 6 in (15 cm) of tail at each end of every ball
- + 10% extra
To find the yarn for one stitch, divide the yarn your 20 stitches used by 20. Until you measure, the calculator uses a quick range of 7.5 to 10 times the stitch width for single crochet, from our test swatch. Each stitch in our swatch used about 8.7 times its width in working yarn, and the range leaves room for crocheting a little tighter or looser. That is why it gives two numbers. For the balls, it divides each color's yarn by the length on the label and rounds up. The grams come from the label too.
A worked example
Take the cat chart the calculator opens with: 48 by 48 stitches, 2,304 in all, in five colors, every color carried. With 16 stitches in 4 inches, one stitch is 0.25 in wide.
The mint background has 1,102 stitches. They take 1,102 × 1.875 to 2.5 in of yarn, about 57 to 77 yd. The mint is also carried through the other 1,202 stitches, and that takes 1,202 × 0.25 = 300.5 in, about 8 yd. With the tails and 10% extra, the mint needs about 73 to 94 yd. That is 1 ball of 186 yd.
Why a color with few stitches still needs a lot of yarn
The pink has only 40 stitches, under 2% of the chart. Carried, it also runs through the other 2,264 stitches, so it needs about 20 to 21 yd. If you split the total by how much of the picture each color takes, the pink would get only 4 yd.
That is why the calculator works out each color on its own. With bobbins, the pink needs yarn only for its own stitches, its tails and the 10% extra.
Buying the yarn
Yarn companies advise buying at least 10% more than you expect to use, and the calculator adds that for you. Dye lots can differ a little in shade, so buy all of one color from the same dye lot, at the same time. If you cannot get more of that lot later, buy enough balls for the higher amount.
To see how big your piece will be, use the tapestry crochet size calculator.
Questions
Does tapestry crochet use more yarn?
Yes, when you carry the colors. Each stitch is made with one yarn, and the other colors run inside it. A carried color uses about one stitch width of yarn for every stitch it runs through, on top of its own stitches. In a chart of five colors, all carried, that adds about 40 to 53% to the yarn the stitches alone would use.
How much extra yarn should I buy?
At least 10% more than you expect to use, which is what yarn companies advise. The calculator already adds it. Buy all of one color from the same dye lot at once, because lots can differ a little in shade. If you cannot get more from the same lot later, buy enough balls for the higher amount.
How much yarn for a tapestry crochet blanket?
It depends on your gauge, your yarn and how many colors you carry. For example, take a blanket 100 stitches wide and 120 rows tall, at 16 stitches in 4 inches, in five colors of 2,400 stitches each, all carried. It needs about 1,058 to 1,287 yd in all, with the tails and 10% extra. That is 10 balls of 186 yd. Put your own chart and gauge into the calculator for your numbers.
Do bobbins use less yarn than carrying?
Usually, yes. With bobbins, a color is used only where it shows, so it does not run through the stitches of the other colors. But you have more ends to weave in, and each extra bobbin needs about 12 in (30 cm) more for its tails. Carrying every color uses more yarn, and it keeps the fabric the same thickness all over.