How much yarn for a blanket?
Tap a standard blanket size below, weigh a small swatch of your yarn, and the tool tells you how many skeins to put in the basket — not a vague yardage range.
How this is calculated
Your swatch tells the tool how many grams of your fabric cover one square inch. Multiply that by the blanket's area, add your margin, divide by the weight of one skein and round up. No lookup tables, no assumptions about whose yarn you are using.
The blanket sizes on this page
These are the commonly published finished sizes in inches. Handmade blankets are often made slightly larger than the chart to allow for overhang and for a little shrinkage after the first wash.
| Name | Size (in) | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Lovey | 12 × 12 | Comforter for a newborn |
| Preemie | 18 × 24 | Hospital / very small babies |
| Stroller | 30 × 36 | Pram and car seat |
| Receiving | 40 × 40 | Swaddling, square |
| Crib | 45 × 60 | Cot and toddler bed |
| Lapghan | 36 × 48 | Wheelchair, lap cover |
| Throw | 50 × 60 | Sofa, the default adult size |
| Twin | 65 × 90 | Single bed |
| Full | 85 × 90 | Double bed |
| Queen | 90 × 95 | Queen bed |
| King | 108 × 95 | King bed |
One thing worth more than the number
Buy every skein in one purchase and check they share a dye lot. A blanket is large enough that a mid-project colour shift is impossible to hide, and restocking the same shade three weeks later is exactly how people end up with a stripe they never designed. Buy the spare at the same time, not later.
Working on something that is not a rectangle? The general yarn calculator handles any dimensions and multiple identical pieces.
Questions people actually ask
How much yarn for a blanket, roughly?
There is no honest single answer, and that is the point of this page. The same throw takes wildly different amounts depending on your yarn weight, your hook or needle size and your tension. A chunky yarn worked loosely can need less than half the length of a DK yarn worked tightly for the identical blanket. Weigh a swatch and the guessing stops.
I do not want to make a swatch. Can I just get a number?
You can, but understand what you are buying: a number from a chart is someone else's yarn at someone else's tension. For a blanket that is often the difference between three spare skeins and running out two rows from the end. A 4×4 inch swatch takes about ten minutes and it is the same swatch you should be making to check your gauge anyway.
Which blanket size should I pick?
Match the bed if it is for a bed, and remember a blanket that only covers the mattress top looks mean — most people add 10 to 15 inches of width for overhang. For a sofa throw, 50×60 inches is the standard and it suits most adults. Baby sizes are smaller than people expect: a crib blanket at 45×60 is already large for a newborn.
Should I add extra for the border?
Yes, and the safety margin is where it goes. A simple single-crochet edging around a throw adds only a little; a wide granny border or tassels can add 10 to 20% on its own. If your border is substantial, raise the margin rather than hoping.
Why does the result change so much between yarn weights?
Because the calculation is driven by how many grams of fabric cover a square inch, and that is exactly what changes when you switch yarn weight. That is also why the swatch has to be worked in the yarn you will actually use — substituting after swatching invalidates the number.
Does this work for crochet blankets too?
Yes, and it matters more for crochet: crochet stitches generally eat noticeably more yarn per square inch than knitting. Because you swatch in your own stitch, that difference is already baked into the answer.
Last checked: 2026-08-09