How much yarn for a baby blanket? UK sizes and balls

Balls by UK baby blanket size

Find the size closest to the blanket you want. Use the lower figure for lacy or open stitches and the higher one for granny squares or dense textured stitches. If your pattern gives its own quantity, trust the pattern.

The DK figures use the range we found in baby patterns, 1,340 to 2,320 metres per square metre. The aran figures use 1,110 to 1,570 metres per square metre, the range from our main blanket guide; the one baby aran pattern we found, Snowberry, sits inside it. Our main blanket guide, which is based on bed and throw patterns, gives 4 to 5 balls for a 76cm pram blanket. Four of the eleven DK baby patterns use little enough that 3 balls would cover a 75cm square at their rate, all of them shell or V-stitch designs, so 3 can do for a blanket in an open stitch like those. For granny squares or a dense stitch, buy 4 or 5.

Where the sizes come from

Baby blankets don’t have one standard size, so we used what UK shops sell. The Little Green Sheep’s cellular blanket is 75 × 75cm, which it describes as sized to lay over a baby in your arms, in the pram or in a Moses basket. Mamas & Papas sells a travel blanket for the pushchair at 70 × 90cm and a large cellular blanket at 100 × 150cm. Jera’s Jamboree, a UK designer, lists 76 × 76cm as a stroller or newborn size.

For cots, the mattress sets the size. Mamas & Papas gives 120 × 60cm for a cot or small cot bed mattress and 140 × 70cm for a cot bed. The cot rows in the table cover the mattress top only. If you want to tuck the blanket under the mattress, measure the extra on your own cot and add it to both dimensions before you look up a row.

What 12 published baby blankets use

We opened each pattern page and noted the finished size and the yarn the designer asks for. Where a pattern gave grams or yards, we turned that into metres using the yarn’s own label figure, then divided by the blanket’s area. The quantities are the designers’ own; we haven’t made these blankets, and every pattern is linked in the sources.

Eleven of the twelve are DK. They range from 1,340 to 2,320 metres per square metre, with half of them between about 1,480 and 2,170.

Baby blankets often use less yarn per square metre

In our main blanket guide, the DK bed and throw blankets needed 1,780 to 2,530 metres per square metre. Seven of the eleven baby DK patterns came in lower. The lowest ones are in open stitches. Two Jera’s Jamboree blankets are a good example. Shell Bay and Tangerine Dreams both use 600g of Stylecraft Special DK, both cover about 1.2 square metres, and both are worked in open shell or V-stitch rows. They need about 1,440 and 1,480 metres per square metre.

Granny designs mostly sat at the top, as they did in the main guide. Paintbox Yarns’ Round and Round, one giant granny square, came out highest at 2,320, and their Bear Blanket, made of granny squares, needs 2,170. The Simply Yarn granny square blanket is the exception, near the middle at 1,650. If you’re making squares or a solid textured stitch, budget from the top of the range.

Baby and cotton yarns change the ball count

The metres stay roughly the same, but the balls don’t. Stylecraft Special DK has 295m in 100g. King Cole Cottonsoft DK has 210m in 100g. Paintbox Yarns Baby DK has 167m in a 50g ball.

Take the top figure for a 75cm Moses basket or pram blanket, about 1,300 metres. That’s 5 balls of Special DK, 7 balls of Cottonsoft DK or 8 balls of Paintbox Baby DK. Always divide by the metres on your own yarn label, not by the number of balls a pattern lists for a different yarn.

What The Lullaby Trust says about blankets

If the blanket is for a cot or Moses basket, read The Lullaby Trust’s guidance on bedding. It says to “Firmly tuck in sheets and blankets – but make sure they’re not above shoulder height”, and to sleep your baby “in the feet-to-foot position, which means their feet are right at the bottom of the cot so they can’t wriggle down under the blankets”.

It also says that “one blanket doubled over counts as two blankets”, and “If your baby needs an extra blanket, make sure it’s lightweight.” Weighted blankets, quilts and duvets are on its list of bedding to avoid. Follow the Trust’s page itself for anything about sleep; this guide only covers yarn.

Turn the estimate into a shopping list

Without a pattern, crochet a 20 × 20cm swatch in your yarn and stitch, then weigh it. A 20cm square is one twenty-fifth of a square metre, so multiply its weight by 25. A 15g swatch means 375g per square metre, and a 75 × 75cm blanket covers 0.5625 square metres, so 375 × 0.5625 = 211g. That’s 3 balls of 100g, before any border.

Round up each colour to whole balls on its own, and add the border yarn separately. Then put each colour into the yarn planner as its own row to get a ball count and a shopping basket.

Common questions

Sources and scope

• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/baby-blankets-to-crochet/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/snowberry-baby-blanket-crochet-pattern/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/seaside-dreams-crochet-blanket-free-pattern/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/crochet-baby-blanket-pattern-shell-bay/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/crochet-baby-blanket-pattern-candyfloss-horizon/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/crochet-baby-blanket-tangerine-dreams/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/baby-blanket-crochet-pastel-dreams/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/tranquil-moments-baby-afghan-crochet-pattern/
• www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/easy-crochet-baby-blanket-millie/
• simply-yarn.com/crochet-patterns/easy-free-granny-square-baby-blanket-crochet-pattern
• www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/products/bear-blanket-free-crochet-pattern-for-babies-and-kids-in-paintbox-yarns-baby-dk-by-paintbox-yarns
• www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/products/round-and-round-baby-blanket-free-crochet-pattern-for-babies-in-paintbox-yarns-baby-dk-prints-by-paintbox-yarns
• www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/products/noahs-cat-cot-blanket-crochet-pattern-by-crafty-penguin-crochet
• www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/products/paintbox-yarns-baby-dk
• www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/products/paintbox-yarns-baby-dk-prints
• www.kingcole.com/product/cottonsoft-dk/
• yarnsub.com/yarns/deramores/studio_dk
• www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/yarns/special-dk
• www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/yarns/special-aran
• www.thelittlegreensheep.co.uk/products/organic-knitted-cellular-baby-blanket-white
• www.thelittlegreensheep.co.uk/collections/moses-basket-mattresses
• www.obaby.co.uk/collections/moses-and-crib-mattress
• www.mamasandpapas.com/pages/buying-guide-mattresses
• www.mamasandpapas.com/products/travel-baby-blanket-29641st00
• www.mamasandpapas.com/products/cellular-blanket-100x150cm-white-786502703
• www.lullabytrust.org.uk/baby-safety/baby-product-information/mattresses-and-bedding/

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