How can you determine how many yards of yarn you need?

Question

I am crocheting an afghan for a wedding gift for my cousin and I am using a new pattern I found online.
The pattern says "ch any multiple of 5 to desired width of afghan." There is no certain width or length on the pattern. I have determined that I need to make the afghan 250 stitches wide by 400 rows long.
But I am having trouble trying to determine how many yards of yarn I need to buy.
The gauge on the yarn I want to use, says that 12 stitches by 15 rows will be approximately 4". How many yards of yarn will it take to make a square that it 12 stitches by 15 rows, using a J hook? That way I can figure out how many yards of yarn I will need to buy before I start. I want to make sure I buy enough to start with so that all the yarn will be from the same dye lot.
Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

I am afraid you will have to make a test piece measuring your yarn.
Either you can make a 12 stitches by 15 row sample that does measure 4" and weight it, and do your calculations from there or undo the yarn and measure it for length.
But 4" is a very small sample for weight, so you might need to make a 10" sample before the scales can help you.

You can also try to ask a staff member in a good shop.
They can compare it to other patterns.
You will need to be able to tell them how many inches as well as how many rows and stitches you are going to use.
And if it is a good shop, they will sell you more than you need with the guaranty that they take it back for money when you have some left over.

Answer 2

I found a software program for designing knitting and crochet garments, afghans etc. on the net at www.greatknitdesigns.com which I use often to determine how much yarn I would need for a garment , unfortunately the other answer is correct as you would need to crochet up a portion of the blanket with one ball of yarn to determine how much you will need in the end the only difference is the software would make the calculations for how much yarn you would need. The software is free to use, if interested you can download and install it.

Answer 3

2 strands of yarn supply you a weight this is provided to length 19 needles, yet with the aid of actuality you have purely 4 skeins, you will no longer have adequate to make a blanket that length. at the same time as you will get approximately 2 stitches in step with inch, you will want 2 to 3 inches of yarn for each stitch. Wrap your doubled yarn around the needle without stretching it 12 cases and degree the scale of yarn used for this, and divide the scale with the aid of 12. Now multiply that with the aid of sixty 4, the approximate style of stitches you will want, and then with the aid of sixty 4 returned to get the approximate style of rows you will might desire to knit in stockinette, double that in case you're utilising garter stitch. that's no longer ineffective on precise, even with the undeniable fact that it gets you in the ball park, then look on Caron's internet site to be certain what number yards in step with skein the submit is. With 4 6 oz..skeins, you have have been given the equivalent of three 4 oz..skeins whilst doubled. i think of you will want a minimum of three greater skeins. Will this is too loose? nicely it merely isn't as loose as in case you used purely one strand, however the stitches would be fairly large and there is often the prospect that toddler gets its palms caught in the stitches. you're greater effective off to apply smaller needles and single yarns for some thing toddler won't doubtlessly get harm in. you will additionally get greater knitting from the yarn you have on a length 9 needle.