How much yarn to knit a blanket? 48 UK patterns

The quick answer, by blanket size

Find the size nearest to yours. Use the lower figure for stocking stitch (US stockinette), lace or ripples, and the upper one for garter stitch, moss stitch and cables. If your pattern gives its own quantity, buy what the pattern says. These are the same sizes as our crochet blanket guides: the pram and throw sizes are common designer sizes, and the bed sizes are UK mattress tops. If you want the blanket to hang over the sides, add the drop to both measurements first.

The aran column needs more balls than the DK one. At the median, a square metre of knitted aran took 1,268m against 1,518m for DK, about 16% less. A ball of Special Aran holds a third less yarn than a ball of Special DK, 196m against 295m, so the aran blanket ends up needing more balls. In our crochet blanket guide the two effects roughly cancelled out. Only nine aran and worsted blankets in our sample gave clean figures, against 17 in DK, so treat the aran column as the roughest of the three.

Where the 48 blankets come from

We opened free pattern PDFs from King Cole and Stylecraft, and the pattern listings for Sirdar, King Cole, Stylecraft, Paintbox Yarns and Rowan on Ravelry. We kept knitted blankets that state both a finished size and a yarn quantity, and left out leaflets where we couldn’t tell which quantity went with which size. That gave 22 Sirdar designs, 18 from King Cole, 4 from Paintbox Yarns, 3 from Stylecraft and 1 from Rowan: 17 in DK, 9 in aran or worsted, 14 in chunky and 8 in super chunky. Where a pattern lists balls, we multiplied by the length on the brand’s own ball band. Where Ravelry lists the total length, we used that. Then we divided by the finished area.

We haven’t knitted these blankets. The quantities are the designers’ own, and they are buying figures rounded up to whole balls, so they show what to buy rather than what each blanket weighed. Every pattern is linked at the bottom of this page.

Even within one weight the spread is wide. The DK blankets run from 1,214 to 2,576 metres per square metre, and the middle half sit between 1,374 and 1,764. The top of the list is Angela Morton’s garter stitch blanket for Stylecraft: ten shades of Highland Heathers DK, one ball of each, for 110 × 96cm. Ten colours means ten whole balls, and that rounding lifts it well above the rest.

Stocking stitch is the thrifty choice

The neatest test is King Cole’s leaflet 5333, four baby blankets in the same Comfort DK at 310m a ball. The stocking stitch blanket takes 4 balls for 95cm square. The moss stitch blanket takes 5 balls for a slightly smaller 91cm square. The cable blanket takes 3 balls for 57 × 89cm. Per square metre that is 1,374m, 1,872m and 1,833m, so moss stitch and cables cost about a third more than plain stocking stitch.

The tension figures explain it. The same leaflet gives 22 stitches and 28 rows to 10cm over stocking stitch on 4mm needles, and 21 stitches and 42 rows over moss stitch. That is 616 stitches in every 10cm square against 882, or 43% more. Garter stitch packs its rows in the same way: King Cole’s leaflet 5101 gives 20 stitches and 40 rows over garter against 22 and 28 over stocking stitch, about 30% more stitches. Each ridge pulls the fabric up, so you knit more rows to cover the same length.

Across the whole DK group, the three garter blankets have a median of 1,822 metres per square metre and the four stocking stitch ones 1,412, a gap of 29%. These are small groups, but the gap points the same way as the tension figures. The biggest gap we found is in two Sirdar throws that each ask for 12 balls of Country Classic Worsted. The Diamond Textured Blanket is 120 × 159cm. The Bobble, Cable and Trinity Stitch Blanket is only 100 × 125cm, and needs 52% more yarn per square metre.

Lace, ripples and super chunky

Open stitches usually save yarn, but not always. In King Cole’s Yummy leaflet 4533, the garter stitch blanket takes 3 balls for 66 × 76cm and the wavy lace blanket takes 2 balls for the same size, a third less. Sirdar’s Diamond Trellis Afghan comes in 7% under the Diamond Textured Blanket in the same worsted. The lowest DK figure in our sample is a ripple, King Cole’s Chevron Blanket in Tropical Beaches DK at 1,214, and the knitted Forest Aran Ripple sits exactly on the aran median of 1,268. Against that, King Cole’s Cloud Nine lace blanket takes 5 balls for 95cm square while the stocking stitch one takes 4 for 91cm, about 15% more per square metre.

In super chunky, stitch hardly mattered at all. Sirdar’s ribbed and cabled blankets in Adventure come out at 588 and 583 metres per square metre. King Cole’s moss stitch and stocking stitch blankets in Yummy Crush come out at 592 and 588. Six of the eight super chunky blankets sit between 583 and 624. The outlier is Sirdar’s Alpine Plush Blanket at 329, knitted in a plush yarn that holds about 33m in each 50g ball: 18 balls for 100 × 180cm.

Whole balls blur small blankets

A baby blanket only needs 3 to 5 balls, so one ball of rounding can be a fifth to a third of the total. That can hide the stitch effect. King Cole’s 4137 leaflet asks for 4 balls of Big Value Recycled Cotton Aran for each of its eyelet, lace and cable blankets. Its 5101 leaflet asks for 3 balls for every one of its four baby blankets, from stocking stitch to garter. For a small blanket, the stitch matters less than how much is left in the last ball.

Stripes make it worse, because each colour is rounded up on its own. King Cole’s Yummy Crush squares blanket uses 5 balls of each of two colours for 87 × 128cm, which works out at 745 metres per square metre. The moss stitch blanket and the two-colour stocking stitch blanket in the same leaflet come out at 592 and 588. If you are planning several colours, round each one up separately. The colour rounding explorer shows how fast the extra balls add up.

Knitting against crochet, for the same blanket

King Cole publishes its Forest Aran Ripple Blanket in both crafts, and both versions ask for the same 11 balls. The knitted one measures 137 × 190cm in the pattern’s measurements box, though its cover says 173cm long. The crocheted one is 114 × 166cm. So the crochet ripple needs 1,744 metres per square metre, against 1,268 knitted, or 1,392 if you go by the knitted cover. That is 25 to 38% more yarn for the crochet version.

That fits our other guides. Crocheted DK blankets in our crochet blanket guide use 1,780 to 2,530 metres per square metre. Thirteen of the 17 knitted DK blankets here use less than 1,780, and their median is 1,518. For a single bed, that guide suggests 13 to 19 balls of Special DK in crochet, against 10 to 13 knitted here. Our comparison of 20 Lion Brand designs made in both crafts found the crochet blankets asked for a median 18% more.

Needles, tension and the ball band

Check the ball band before you estimate. Stylecraft Special DK recommends 4mm needles and 22 stitches and 30 rows to 10cm. Special Aran says 5mm and 18 by 24, Special Chunky 6mm and 14 by 20, and Special XL, a super chunky, 10mm and 9 by 12. American patterns call tension gauge.

Older British patterns use needle numbers that run backwards, so a bigger number means a thinner needle. In the leaflets we opened, 3.25mm is UK 10 and US 3, 4mm is UK 8 and US 6, 5mm is UK 6 and US 8, 6mm is UK 4 and US 10, and 10mm is UK 000 and US 15. The US sizes match the Craft Yarn Council’s needle table.

A pattern’s quantity only holds at its stated tension. Sirdar puts it plainly in the Alpine Plush notes: the amounts are based on average requirements when the specified tension and yarn are used. If your tension square comes out different, change needles before you change the shopping list.

Weigh a swatch, then buy

Without a pattern, knit a 20 × 20cm square in your yarn, needles and stitch, then weigh it. A 20cm square is one twenty-fifth of a square metre, so multiply the weight by 25. Say it weighs 20g. That is 500g per square metre, and a 120 × 175cm single blanket covers 2.1 square metres, so 500 × 2.1 = 1,050g, or 11 balls of 100g. Knit any border separately, because a swatch doesn’t include one.

Then put the total into the yarn planner to turn metres or grams into whole balls, one row per colour. If your label only gives grams, the grams to metres converter helps, and the yarn substitution calculator checks a swap to a different ball length. Buy the main colour in one go so the dye lot matches.

Common questions

Sources and scope

• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cuddlesome-blanket
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/rosy-garden-blanket
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-blanket-50
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/diagonal-garter-blanket-5341
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/5333-blankets
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/6062-blankets
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/blanket-4590
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/design-c---cable-rib-baby-blanket
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/design-e---pink-lace-blanket
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/5477-textured-baby-blanket
• www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/Content/Downloads/Free%20Patterns/F065_SpecialforBabiesWebPatternComplete_p1.pdf
• www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/Content/Downloads/Free%20Patterns/F086_freestripeybalnket_A5Insert_p3.pdf
• www.kingcole.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Free_38.pdf
• www.kingcole.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Free_28.pdf
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hibernate-throw
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bobble-cable--trinity-stitch-blanket-10158
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/diamond-textured-blanket-10232
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/diamond-trellis-afghan-10164
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/4145-throws
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/10142-domino-blanket
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/10723-rippling-meadow-blanket
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/check-me-out-bed-throw
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/big-softie-blanket
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/2640-scandi-stripe-blanket
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/2641-scandi-shapes-blanket
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/5575-petal-pom-pom-blanket
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/blankets-5407
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/diagonal-stripe-blanket-5398
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/10862-wave-knit-blanket
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cabled-blanket-7
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/blanket-9811
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/10193-ribbed-blanket
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cable-blanket-10194
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cabled-blanket-10229
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alpine-plush-blanket-10118
• www.kingcole.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Free_32.pdf
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/5604-blankets
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/4533-blankets
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/4822-blankets
• www.kingcole.com/product/knitted-forest-aran-ripple-blanket/
• www.kingcole.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Free_27.pdf
• www.kingcole.com/product/forest-aran/
• www.kingcole.com/product/christmas-super-chunky/
• www.kingcole.com/product/christmas-super-chunky-ripple-blanket/
• www.kingcole.com/product/chevron-blanket/
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/4137-blankets
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/5101-blankets
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/5309-blankets
• www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/5643-throws-and-cushions
• www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/p/paintbox-yarns-baby-dk-prints
• www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/p/paintbox-yarns-cotton-aran
• www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/p/paintbox-yarns-chenille
• www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/yarns/special-dk
• www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/yarns/special-aran
• www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/yarns/special-chunky
• www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/yarns/special-xl
• www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/yarns/special-for-babies
• www.stylecraft-yarns.co.uk/yarns/highland-heathers-dk
• www.craftyarncouncil.com/standards/hooks-and-needles

Sources checked 4 October 2026. Label facts come from the linked references; worked purchase examples and arithmetic are our own illustrations.