Skeins Needed Calculator
Convert yards needed and yards per skein into how many skeins to buy, with a safety margin.
Buy the full amount in one trip and check that the dye lot number matches on every skein. A new dye lot partway through a project can show up as a subtle color shift in the finished piece.
How it works
Start with the total yards your project needs (the yardage estimator above helps with this if you don't have a pattern), add a safety margin on top, then divide by how many yards are in one skein. The result rounds up to the next whole skein, since a fraction of a skein still means buying the full skein.
Worked example: an adult sweater needs 1200 yards, and you're working with skeins that hold 220 yards each. With a 10% safety margin, the target becomes 1320 yards, and 1320 divided by 220 comes out to exactly 6, so you'd buy 6 skeins. Drop the safety margin to 0% on a project where you're confident in the yardage, and a 400-yard project using 400-yard skeins needs exactly 1 skein, not 2, since there's nothing left over to round up for.
FAQ
Why add a safety margin at all?
Real projects rarely use the exact yardage a pattern predicts. Gauge swatches, frogged rows, and slightly looser tension all eat into your yarn supply. A 10% margin covers most normal variance; go up to 20% for a first-time pattern or a yarn you haven't worked with before.
What if I end up with leftover skeins?
Most yarn shops and online retailers won't take back a skein once its wrapper is off, so leftover unopened skeins are usually returnable within a return window, and leftover partial skeins are great for small projects like dishcloths, amigurumi, or stripes.
Why does the dye lot matter if the color name is the same?
Yarn is dyed in batches, and even the same color name can shift slightly between batches. Buying all your skeins from a single dye lot up front avoids a visible color break partway through a scarf or blanket.
Does this work if I'm buying yarn by weight instead of yardage?
Convert grams to yards first using the yardage printed on the yarn label (it's usually given as yards per given weight, like 220 yards per 100g), then use that yards per skein figure here.
For more on choosing and buying yarn, see how to read a yarn label, yarn weights explained, from lace to bulky, and the supplies every beginner needs.