Scarf quantities

How much yarn do I need for a crochet scarf?

An adult crochet scarf of about 18 × 160cm takes 400 to 750 metres of DK, which is 2 or 3 balls of Stylecraft Special DK. In aran it’s 350 to 490 metres, also 2 or 3 balls of Special Aran. We got those figures from 21 published scarf patterns that state a finished size and a yarn quantity, turned into metres per 1,000cm² of fabric. The stitch you pick changes the ball count more than the yarn weight does.

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

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The quick answer, by scarf size

Pick the size nearest the scarf you want. In the DK column the low figure fits lacy stitches and the high figure fits ribbing and post stitches. The aran and chunky columns show the spread of the patterns we found, and none of those was lacy. If your pattern states its own quantity, buy what the pattern says.

The adult size is close to what Jera’s Jamboree gives for a regular adult scarf: 15 to 20cm wide and 152.5cm long. The child size is close to Ned & Mimi’s child scarf, 4 inches by 46 to 48 inches. The wrap is close to Annie Design Crochet’s 30 × 193cm colour-block scarf. Add fringe or tassels on top of these figures.

Yarn for a crochet scarf by size. DK low figures from lacy patterns, high from post-stitch ones; aran and chunky span the patterns found (fringe not included)
Scarf	Size (cm)	Special DK, 295m	Special Aran, 196m	Special Chunky, 144m
Child	12 × 120	200–370m, 1–2 balls	170–250m, 1–2 balls	130–140m, 1 ball
Adult	18 × 160	400–750m, 2–3 balls	350–490m, 2–3 balls	260–290m, 2 balls
Long and wide	20 × 180	500–940m, 2–4 balls	430–610m, 3–4 balls	320–360m, 3 balls
Super scarf or wrap	30 × 200	840–1,560m, 3–6 balls	720–1,020m, 4–6 balls	540–600m, 4–5 balls

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Where the numbers come from

We opened each pattern page and noted the finished size, the yarn and the quantity. Where a designer gave grams, we turned them into metres with the yarn maker’s metres per 100g. Then we divided the metres by the area of the scarf, in units of 1,000cm². A 1,000cm² patch is about the size of a 10 × 100cm strip.

Make It Crochet is unusually precise: most of its scarves state the yards actually used, such as 485 yards out of two balls for the lacy scarf. Most other designers state what to buy, in whole balls, so their figures run a little high. Several sizes leave out the fringe while the quantity probably includes it, which also pushes a figure up a little. Make It Crochet and most of the American designers write in US terms, so we’ve given every stitch in UK terms. We haven’t made these scarves ourselves. The quantities are the designers’ own, and every pattern is linked below.

What 21 published crochet scarves use, in metres per 1,000cm² of fabric. Stitches in UK terms. Sizes exclude fringe and tassels, but some quantities include them
Pattern	Yarn	Finished size (cm)	Stated quantity	Stitch	m per 1,000cm²
Boxed Bobbles (Make It Crochet)	Stylecraft Special DK	18 × 152	1 ball (295m)	Bobbles and clusters	109 or less
Lacy scarf (Make It Crochet)	Stylecraft Special DK	20 × 157	485 yd used	V-stitch lace	139
Two Color scarf (Make It Crochet)	Stylecraft Special DK	15 × 160	400 yd used	dc, tr, trtr	150
Crossed Trebles (Make It Crochet)	Stylecraft Special DK	18 × 147	440 yd used	Crossed double trebles	154
Shell scarf (Make It Crochet)	Stylecraft Special DK	22 × 152	644 yd used	Shells and post stitches	179
Adult rainbow scarf (Ned & Mimi)	Any DK	13 × 165	466m	dc back loop, worked as a tube (double layer)	222 (footprint, two layers)
Child rainbow scarf (Ned & Mimi)	Any DK	10 × 119	280m	dc back loop, worked as a tube (double layer)	231 (footprint, two layers)
Diagonal Drifts (Make It Crochet)	Stylecraft Special DK	17 × 152	696 yd used	Ribbing and post stitches	253
Celtic Weave (Jera’s Jamboree)	James C Brett Marble DK	19 × 164	300g (804m), tassels likely included	Crossed post stitches	258
Zig Zag (Jera’s Jamboree)	Emu Classic DK	16 × 115	200g (564m)	Spike stitch	307
Cozy scarf (Leelee Knits)	Worsted	25 × 175	597 yd	Post-stitch cables and shells	123
Moss stitch scarf (Stitching Together)	Worsted	22 × 132	2 × 207 yd	Moss and open rows	133
Minimalist scarf (Ned & Mimi)	Aran or worsted	21.5 × 178	555m (240m + 315m)	Moss	145
Champagne scarf (The Crochet Swirl)	Paintbox Simply Aran	19 × 175	300g (552m), tassels likely included	Herringbone htr and dc	166
Colour-block scarf (Annie Design Crochet)	Stylecraft Special Aran	30 × 193	5 balls (980m), fringe likely included	Shells	169
Sierra Nevada (Jera’s Jamboree)	Woolcraft New Fashion Chunky	15 × 218	300m, no extra yarn listed for the chain fringe	Crossed htr	90
Stonehaven (Stitching Together)	Lion Brand Hue + Me, bulky	15 × 165	274 yd	Extended dc back loop	100
Super bulky scarf (love. life. yarn.)	Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick	15 × 114	1 skein, 106 yd	Extended dc	56
Quick and Chunky (Crafting Each Day)	Lion Brand Hometown, super bulky	10 × 183	129 yd	dc back loop and alternative tr	64
Heather Super Scarf (The Loopy Lamb)	Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick	25 × 213	424 yd, tassels likely included	Slip stitch and tr	72
Beginner scarf (Sarah Maker)	Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick	15 × 168	2 skeins (212 yd)	htr back loop	76

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Stitch choice changes the total by nearly half

Most of the DK patterns ran from about 140 to 260 metres per 1,000cm². Make It Crochet’s lacy scarf, made of V-stitches and shells on a 5mm hook, came out at 139. Its Diagonal Drifts, with ribbing and extended front post trebles, came out at 253, and Jera’s Jamboree’s Celtic Weave, a crossed post-stitch pattern, at 258 from the 300g she says to buy. So the lace uses roughly 45% less yarn for the same area. If you want cables or ribbing, plan from the top of the range.

Ned & Mimi’s rainbow scarves came out at 222 and 231, but they’re crocheted as a tube, so each centimetre of scarf is two layers of fabric.

Two DK patterns sit outside the range. Boxed Bobbles fits in a single ball, so it uses 109 or less. Jera’s Jamboree’s Zig Zag, in spike stitch, works out at 307, but the pattern lists two 100g balls and doesn’t say how much is left over, so the real figure may be lower.

DK, aran or chunky

Thicker yarn covers more ground per metre. The eight single-layer DK patterns had a median of about 167 metres per 1,000cm². The five aran and worsted patterns ran from 123 to 169 with a median of 145, and the two chunky patterns were 90 and 100. The four super chunky scarves in Lion Brand Thick & Quick and similar yarns used 56 to 76.

Balls are a different story, because thicker yarn has fewer metres in each 100g. At the median, 1,000cm² takes about 56g of Special DK, 74g of Special Aran and, from the two chunky patterns, about 66g of Special Chunky. So a thicker yarn needs fewer metres, but not fewer 100g balls. In these patterns the aran and chunky scarves took a little more weight per patch than the DK ones. We only found two chunky patterns that met our rules, so treat the chunky column as a rough guide.

Fringe and tassels are extra

Most patterns measure length without the fringe, and few say whether the fringe yarn is counted. Jera’s Jamboree’s Sierra Nevada lists 300m for the whole fringed scarf, with no extra yarn for the chain fringe. Ned & Mimi’s minimalist scarf asks for 80 strands of about 25cm at each end, which is 20 metres per end or 40 metres for the pair, and the pattern doesn’t say whether that is inside its 555m.

Forty metres is about a fifth of a ball of Special Aran. If your estimate lands close to a whole number of balls, buy one more for the fringe.

Narrow the range with a weighed swatch

Crochet a 20 × 20cm swatch in your yarn, hook and stitch, and weigh it. That swatch is 400cm². Multiply its weight by the metres per gram on the label (2.95 for Special DK) and divide by 0.4 to get metres per 1,000cm².

Say the swatch weighs 30g of Special DK. That’s 88.5 metres, or about 221 metres per 1,000cm². An 18 × 160cm scarf is 2.88 lots of 1,000cm², so 221 × 2.88 = 636 metres. Divided by 295, that’s 2.16 balls, so buy 3.

A worked UK example with prices

An adult scarf, 18 × 160cm, in Stylecraft Special DK. In a lacy stitch, 140 × 2.88 = 403 metres, which rounds up to 2 balls. In ribbing or post stitches, 260 × 2.88 = 749 metres, or 3 balls. At £2.35 a ball, the price Wool Warehouse listed on 1 October 2026 (though it showed as out of stock that day), that’s £4.70 for the lacy version and £7.05 for the textured one.

Wool Warehouse listed Special Aran at the same £2.35 a ball, so an aran version of the same scarf, at 2 to 3 balls, costs the same. Prices change, so check before you order. For a striped scarf, round each colour up to whole balls separately, then put each colour into the budget calculator as its own row.

Check before you move on

Finished width and length decided in centimetres
Stitch type noted: lacy, solid or post-stitch
Metres per 100g taken from your own yarn label
Pattern’s own quantity used if it gives one
Fringe or tassel yarn added on top
Each colour rounded up to whole balls

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For a scarf in DK or aran

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Illustration · colour approximate

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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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Illustration · colour approximate

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Stylecraft Special Aran, Cream (1005)

One 100g / 196m ball, 100% acrylic, sold by The Great British Yarn Company.

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Illustration, not a product photo

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Vitafit 500g digital pocket scale

Tare function, 500g capacity, 0.01g display increment as stated by the listing, uses 2 x AAA batteries.

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Paid links: we may earn a commission from qualifying purchases. Nothing you type into our tools is added to these links. Check price, seller and delivery at Amazon. Colour swatches are approximate.

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

How many balls of DK for a crochet scarf?

For an adult scarf of about 18 × 160cm, 2 or 3 balls of a 295m DK such as Stylecraft Special DK. Lacy stitches fit in 2. Dense ribbing or crossed post-stitch patterns can need 3.

How much yarn for a child’s crochet scarf?

About 200 to 370 metres of DK for 12 × 120cm, so 1 or 2 balls of Special DK. Ned & Mimi’s child scarf, worked as a double-layer tube, uses 280m.

How many balls of aran for a scarf?

2 or 3 balls of Stylecraft Special Aran for an adult scarf of 18 × 160cm. A wide 30 × 200cm wrap needs 4 to 6. Annie Design Crochet’s 30 × 193cm colour-block scarf uses one ball in each of five colours.

Does a chunky scarf use less yarn?

Fewer metres, but not many fewer balls. A 1,000cm² patch took roughly 55 to 75g of yarn in DK, aran or chunky in the patterns we checked, because thicker yarn has fewer metres in each ball.

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.