Knit vs crochet

Does crochet use more yarn than knitting? Pattern pairs

Usually yes, but in patterns published in both crafts the gap is smaller than swatch tests suggest. We compared 20 Lion Brand designs that come in a knitted and a crocheted version in the same yarn. Going by the balls each pattern tells you to buy, the crochet version asked for a median of 7% more yarn for the same finished size. Blankets showed the clearest gap, at a median of 18% more, while a quarter of the pairs asked for exactly the same amount. These are buying quantities rounded up to whole balls, all from one brand, not yarn anyone weighed. Here are all 20 pairs, how we evened out the sizes, and what that means when you plan a crochet project.

HazelLoop planning guide · Reviewed 1 October 2026 · Figures from cited sources

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The short answer, from 20 pattern pairs

Each pair below is one design that Lion Brand publishes twice, once to knit and once to crochet, in the same yarn. We divided what the crochet version asks for by what the knitted version asks for, after evening out the finished size. A ratio of 1.20 means the crochet pattern asks for 20% more yarn for the same size.

Across all 20 pairs the median is 1.07 and the range runs from 0.86 to 2.24. Eleven crochet versions ask for more than 5% extra, seven are within 5% of the knitted one, and two ask for less. So in Lion Brand’s paired patterns crochet does tend to need more yarn, but not in every pattern, and not by a fixed amount.

Crochet ÷ knit yarn ratio for 20 Lion Brand designs published in both crafts in the same yarn. Quantities are the amounts Lion Brand tells you to buy (whole balls, or estimated metres or grams as shown), not measured use, normalised per m² for flat pieces. Compiled 1 October 2026.
Design	Yarn	Knit: size, quantity	Crochet: size, quantity	Crochet ÷ knit
Hooded Bobble Baby Blanket	Jiffy	71 × 71cm, 4 balls (solid shade)	71 × 71cm, 5 balls (solid shade)	1.25
Temperature Blanket 2023	Schitt’s Creek yarn	178 × 231cm, 15 balls	152 × 206cm, 14 balls	1.23 per m²
Temperature Blanket 2025	Wool-Ease DK	114 × 153cm, 11 balls	152 × 196cm, 23 balls	1.22 per m²
Temperature Blanket 2026	Basic Stitch Anti-Pilling	168 × 224cm, 31 balls	152 × 206cm, 31 balls	1.20 per m²
Temperature Blanket 2024	Basic Stitch Anti-Microbial	168 × 224cm, 31 balls	152 × 206cm, 30 balls	1.16 per m²
Mood Blanket 2024	Color Theory	130 × 152cm, 14 balls	152 × 114cm, 13 balls	1.06 per m²
Mood Blanket 2026	Coboo	114.5 × 132cm, about 1,220g	114.5 × 132cm, about 1,260g	1.03
Mood Blanket 2025	Coboo	114 × 132cm, about 1,154g	114 × 152.5cm, about 1,197g	0.90 per m²
Patriotic Pocket Wrap	Chunky USA	46 × 178cm, 6 balls	46 × 178cm, 6 balls	1.00
Eternity Wrap	Moonlight Mohair	18 × 112cm, 3 balls	18 × 112cm, 3 balls	1.00
Ribbon Poncho	Incredible	45.5 × 122cm, 5 balls	40.5 × 139.5cm, 5 balls	0.98 per m²
Candy Cane Tree Skirt	Hometown USA	91.5cm across, 9 balls	104cm across, 10 balls	0.86 per m²
Oversized Poncho	Wool-Ease Thick & Quick	137cm hem, 13 balls	137cm hem, 13 balls	1.00
Tutu Onesy and Hat	Microspun	61cm chest, 5 balls	61cm chest, 5 balls	1.00
Next Generation Crewneck Cardigan, 5 child sizes	Heartland	2,562m in total	5,750m in total	2.24
Next Generation Crewneck Pullover, 5 child sizes	Heartland tweeds	16 balls in total	23 balls in total	1.44
Next Generation V-Neck Pullover, 5 child sizes	Heartland	14 balls in total	14 balls in total	1.00
Curvy Girl Cabled Cardigan, 4 sizes	Heartland	122–152.5cm bust, 6,440m in total	117–147.5cm bust, 6,954m in total	1.08
Hat, Glove and Cowl Set	The Cottony One	3 balls, 2 colours	4 balls, 3 colours	1.33
On Campus Hat, XS to L	Hometown	2 balls	3 balls	1.50

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How we compared the pairs

We opened each pattern page on lionbrand.com and its free pattern download, and noted the finished size and the yarn the pattern tells you to buy. All quantities are Lion Brand’s own. We haven’t made these projects ourselves.

Two limits matter. First, nearly all the figures are balls to buy, and each colour is rounded up to a whole ball, so they show what the designer told you to buy, not what the project used. Rounding hides small differences and can exaggerate others: a crochet version that needs a few metres more than one ball gets a whole extra ball. Second, every pair comes from Lion Brand, so this is one company’s house style, not a survey of all patterns.

Most pairs are not exactly the same size. For flat pieces, such as blankets, wraps and the tree skirt, we worked out yarn per square metre of the stated finished size and compared those. For garments and hats we compared the stated quantity for the listed sizes. Where the two versions use different balls of the same yarn range, such as Heartland solids (230m) against Heartland tweeds (183m), we compared metres rather than balls. Two mood blanket pairs give estimated totals in grams for both versions, the least rounded figures we found, so we used those.

Blankets show the clearest gap

The eight blanket pairs are the best evidence, because most of them need many balls and one ball of rounding matters less. Their median ratio is 1.18, with a range of 0.90 to 1.25. The exception is the Hooded Bobble Baby Blanket: 4 balls knitted against 5 crocheted in the solid shade, but 5 balls in both crafts in the multicolour shades, which come in shorter balls.

The four temperature blankets cluster tightly. The 2024 pair, both in Basic Stitch Anti-Microbial, lists 31 balls across its colours for a 168 × 224cm knitted garter-stitch blanket and 30 balls for a 152 × 206cm single crochet one. The crochet blanket is smaller but uses almost as much yarn, which works out at 16% more per square metre. The 2026 pair lists 31 balls for both, so 20% more per square metre, and the 2023 and 2025 pairs come out at 23% and 22% more. Lion Brand notes that the balls per colour will vary with your own weather.

The mood blankets are closer. The 2026 pair in Coboo is the cleanest comparison on the page: the same 114.5 × 132cm size, about 1,220g knitted and 1,260g crocheted, so 3% more. In the 2025 pair the crochet version came out 10% lower per square metre, which is a useful reminder that stitch choice can outweigh craft.

Garments and hats are noisier

Smaller projects are bought in whole balls of each colour, so one extra ball can swing the ratio a long way. The Hat, Glove and Cowl Set asks for 3 balls of The Cottony One knitted in two colours and 4 crocheted in three colours, at almost the same sizes. The On Campus Hat asks for 2 balls of Hometown knitted and 3 crocheted, although the crochet sizes stop at 56cm and the knitted ones go to 61cm.

The Curvy Girl Cabled Cardigan is a good garment pair, though the shapes differ. Per size, the crochet version asks for 2% to 14% more metres of Heartland. Its listed bust is 2.5 to 5cm smaller, but its hips are 10 to 15.5cm wider and its length 1.5 to 4cm shorter, so this is not quite like for like. At the other extreme, the crocheted Next Generation Crewneck Cardigan is striped in two colours of Heartland while the knitted one is plain, and it asks for more than twice as many metres. Its V-Neck Pullover sibling asks for 14 balls in total across its five sizes in both crafts.

Garment pairs size by size: metres or balls of Lion Brand Heartland the pattern asks for. Heartland solids 230m per ball, tweeds 183m. Compiled 1 October 2026.
Pattern and size	Knit	Crochet	Crochet ÷ knit
Curvy Girl Cabled Cardigan, size 1 / 1X	1,380m (122cm bust)	1,464m (117cm bust)	1.06
Curvy Girl Cabled Cardigan, size 2 / 2X	1,610m (132cm bust)	1,647m (129.5cm bust)	1.02
Curvy Girl Cabled Cardigan, size 3 / 3X	1,610m (142cm bust)	1,830m (139.5cm bust)	1.14
Curvy Girl Cabled Cardigan, size 4 / 4X	1,840m (152.5cm bust)	2,013m (147.5cm bust)	1.09
Next Generation Crewneck Cardigan, child XS	366m, plain	690m, striped	1.89
Next Generation Crewneck Cardigan, child XL	732m, plain	1,610m, striped	2.20
Next Generation Crewneck Pullover, child XS	2 balls	3 balls	1.50
Next Generation Crewneck Pullover, child S	3 balls	3 balls	1.00
Next Generation Crewneck Pullover, child XL	5 balls	7 balls	1.40

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Small projects usually list the same amount

We also checked 14 small Lion Brand pairs that need one or two balls of each colour, including the 2-Color Mittens, Ribbed Hat, Gold Medal Hat, Harry Potter Wizard Scarf and Bright Placemats. All 14 list the same number of balls for the knitted and the crocheted version, in the same yarn.

That doesn’t mean the crochet uses no extra yarn. Any difference is smaller than the slack left in the last ball, so it disappears from the shopping list. That rounding is also why our median is lower than a swatch test would give. For a hat or a pair of mittens, the craft is unlikely to change how many balls you buy.

What swatch tests say

Swatch experiments measure something different: the yarn each fabric actually takes, with the same yarn and tool size and nothing rounded to whole balls. Yarnandy worked double crochet (US single crochet), stocking stitch and Tunisian crochet in Alize Cotton Gold, a cotton and acrylic blend, with 4mm tools, and weighed each swatch on a kitchen scale.

Per 100cm², the crochet swatch weighed about 24% more than the knitted one, and the author describes regular crochet as using about 25% more yarn per given surface, with Tunisian crochet about 26% more than knitting. That is a measure of the fabric itself, so it isn’t at odds with our pattern figures, which measure what designers tell you to buy after choosing a different hook, stitch and size for each craft. The author notes her scale reads in whole grams, so the small knitted swatch in particular could be half a gram either way.

Swatch test by Yarnandy: one swatch per craft in Alize Cotton Gold, 4mm tools, weighed on a kitchen scale in whole grams. A measure of the fabric, not of a pattern’s buying quantity. Grams per 100cm² worked out by HazelLoop from the published measurements.
Swatch	Size	Weight	Grams per 100cm²
Double crochet (US single crochet)	10.5 × 10cm	6g	5.7
Stocking stitch, knitted	10 × 6.5cm	3g	4.6
Tunisian crochet	11 × 12.5cm	8g	5.8

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Planning a crochet project from a knitting quantity

If you only have a knitted quantity to go on, add about 25% for a blanket and then round up to whole balls. In these eight Lion Brand pairs, 25% would have covered every crochet version, while 15% would have fallen short in five of them. Yarnandy’s swatch test points the same way, at about 24%. A knitted blanket that takes 10 balls becomes 12.5, so 13 balls in crochet. For a hat or mittens, the knitted number of balls was enough in 14 of the 16 small pairs we checked. The exceptions were the On Campus Hat and the Hat, Glove and Cowl Set.

The more reliable route is a weighed crochet swatch in your own yarn, hook and stitch. Multiply its weight per square metre by the finished area, then use the yarn planner to turn grams or metres into whole balls.

Check before you move on

Your pattern’s own crochet quantity used if it gives one
For a blanket worked from a knitted quantity, about 25% added before rounding up
For a hat or mittens, the knitted quantity kept as it is
Metres compared, not balls, if the two yarns have different ball lengths
A crochet swatch weighed in your own yarn and hook
Each colour rounded up to whole balls on its own

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For your first crochet blanket

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Our pick

Four of the nine blankets in our blanket guide use Stylecraft Special DK, so our tables convert straight to its 295m balls.

Stylecraft Special DK, Charcoal (1128)

One 100g / 295m ball, 100% acrylic, sold by The Great British Yarn Company.

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Our pick

Covers 2mm to 8mm, including the 4mm and 5mm hooks most DK and aran patterns in our guides call for.

RealPlus soft-grip crochet hook set, 12 hooks

Twelve hooks: 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0 and 8.0mm, with case. Check the handle colour offered.

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Try it with your own numbers.

Calculate whole balls or packs for every colour. Subtract your stash and add UK delivery.

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Common questions

Does crochet use more yarn than knitting?

Usually a little more. In 20 Lion Brand designs made in both crafts in the same yarn, the crochet version asked you to buy a median of 7% more for the same finished size. Blankets came out at 18% more, and many small projects list the same number of balls.

Does crochet use more wool than knitting?

The fibre doesn’t seem to be what matters, though we have too few pairs to be sure. Wool-Ease DK, which Lion Brand lists as acrylic and wool, gives 22% more per square metre for the crochet temperature blanket. Jiffy, an acrylic, gives 25% more for the crochet Hooded Bobble Baby Blanket in its solid shade.

How much more yarn do I need to crochet instead of knit?

For a blanket, about 25% more covered all eight Lion Brand pairs we checked, then round up to whole balls. For a hat, mittens or a small scarf, the same number of balls usually does, because the difference is smaller than one ball.

Why do swatch tests show a bigger gap than patterns?

A swatch test weighs the fabric itself, with the same yarn and tool size. One published test found about 24% more by weight per square centimetre for crochet. Patterns pick a different hook, stitch and size for each craft and round up to whole balls, which narrows the gap. In our pairs only 4 of 20 crochet versions asked for a third more or above.

Sources and scope

Sources checked 1 October 2026. Label facts come from the linked references; worked purchase examples and arithmetic are our own illustrations.

Keep planning

These are planning methods, not physically tested crochet patterns. Read our method and editorial approach.