Colour planning

Work out yarn for each colour separately, then round up

Round each colour up to whole balls on its own, then add the balls together. If you add up the metres first and round once, you’ll usually buy too few, because leftover cream can’t finish a pink round. A real three-colour blanket shows the difference.

HazelLoop planning guide · Updated 12 October 2026 · Figures from cited sources

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A real example: Blossom Cottage

Jera’s Jamboree’s Blossom Cottage blanket uses Stylecraft Special Aran in three colours. The pattern gives about 777 yards of Pale Rose, 753 of Cream and 770 of Parchment, and says you’ll need 4 balls of each. We haven’t made it ourselves, so these are the designer’s figures.

A ball of Special Aran holds 214 yards. Pale Rose needs 777 ÷ 214 = 3.6 balls, Cream 3.5 and Parchment 3.6. Each rounds up to 4, so 12 balls in all, which matches the designer.

Now add the yards first: 777 + 753 + 770 = 2,300 yards, and 2,300 ÷ 214 = 10.7, so 11 balls. That’s one ball short. Eleven balls hold enough yarn in total, but not enough of each colour.

Combine repeats of the same shade first

If the body and the border use the same yarn and shade, add those two quantities together before rounding. 250 m for a body and 100 m for a border is 350 m, which is 2 balls of 196 m, not 2 plus 1. The planner asks you to merge duplicate yarn-and-shade rows for this reason.

Many colours, small amounts

The gap grows with the number of colours. Ten colours that each need a third of a ball still mean ten balls, not four. Our temperature blanket guide shows this with real UK weather data: in a DK blanket about 110 cm wide, most colours need one or two balls, and each is rounded up on its own.

Write the shade code on the list

‘Pink’ isn’t enough to order from. Copy the exact shade name and code, such as Pale Rose (1080) in Special DK, and check it on the shop’s selected variant before you pay.

Don’t split a total evenly

If a three-colour pattern gives only one overall length, don’t assume a third each. Look for per-colour quantities in the pattern, or ask the designer. Blossom Cottage happens to be close to even, but many patterns use far more of the background colour.

Blossom Cottage in Stylecraft Special Aran (214 yards per ball)
Colour	Pattern gives	Balls needed	Rounded up
Pale Rose	777 yd	3.6	4
Cream	753 yd	3.5	4
Parchment	770 yd	3.6	4
Each colour rounded separately	2,300 yd		12
Total rounded once (too few)	2,300 yd	10.7	11

Download this table (CSV) · free to reuse with a link to HazelLoop

Check before you move on

One row per exact yarn and shade
Repeats of the same shade added together before rounding
Each colour rounded up on its own
Shade codes copied from the pattern or label
No even split guessed from an overall total

Try it with your own numbers.

See how colour count changes whole-ball purchases, with a chart and downloadable examples.

Explore the numbers ↗

Common questions

Why does adding up the metres give fewer balls?

Because the leftover from one colour can’t be used for another. Rounding once lets those part-balls cancel out on paper, which they can’t do in the blanket.

Does adding a colour always mean more balls?

No. Whole-ball rounding can go up or down as the split changes. The colour rounding explorer shows this for equal splits; a real pattern needs its own colour quantities.

Sources and scope

Sources checked 1 October 2026. Label facts come from the linked references; worked purchase examples and arithmetic are our own illustrations. Original pattern and product names retain their source spelling.

How much yarn do I need? All UK wool quantity guides

Keep planning

These are planning estimates, not claims of projects we have made. Read our method and editorial approach.