Fernwood Cardigan / Calculating Yardage for Substitute Yarns
In my last post I shared some of the yarns I'd sampled for my next Fernwood Cardigan I plan to cast on for our knit-along. The swatches I made each combined two different yarns to create a unique and interesting fabric and also achieve the super bulky gauge required.
Now that I've landed on my dream combo, I've had to do a few calculations to determine how much yarn I'll need of each to knit my sweater. I've shared my spreadsheet below so that you may enter your own numbers to help guide you with yardage requirements when making substitutions.
The tools are set up to calculate two yarns held double but could easily be used for a single yarn by filling in information only for Yarn 1. To use these tools you'll need to make a swatch following the steps provided:
Calculating Yardage
1 — Weigh your yarn + make a swatch
Before beginning you must weigh the balls you intend to use to make your swatch. Your swatch should match the recommended gauge.
2 — Enter Ball Band Information
Using information from the ball band of your yarn, enter Grams per ball, Meters per ball, and Yards per ball into the spreadsheet below. These cells are green.
3 — Weigh your yarn again
After knitting your swatch, weigh each ball of yarn again and subtract this from your original weights to determine exactly how much yarn was used. Enter these Grams used to make swatch into the spreadsheet below. These cells are blue.
Measure the length and width of your swatch then multiple together to determine total square inches. Enter your Swatch size in square inches into the spreadsheet below. These cells are also blue.
The green and blue numbers below are the values from my own calculations using Wish (yarn 1) and Air (yarn 2) held together. Delete these cells to enter your own information. Refreshing the page will reset the spreadsheet.
Fernwood Cardigan / V-Neck
Fernwood Cardigan / Yoke
