I reckon that I have so many oddments and scraps of wool leftover from knitting projects, that I could knit a whole sweater with them! Although before I start, and so that I don’t run out, I’d like to make sure that I have enough. Here’s a handy guide to help you work out how much leftover yarn you have, so you can make the most of it in your next scrappy project.

Firstly, you need to find out how many metres of your yarn there is in 100g (I’m going to work this out in metric measurements as it’s easier!). A good place to find this would be the ball band. If you don’t have the ball band then you could look it up on the yarn companies website, or do an online search. If you are able to use Ravelry without it causing health issues, then you could also look there.

Write this amount down. If your yarn comes in 50g balls then you’ll need to multiply this amount by 2 to find out the meterage for 100g, likewise if your yarn comes in 25g balls, you’ll need to multiply by 4 to calculate the meterage for 100 grams-worth.

For example, the band on the partial ball above is from a 25g ball of Jamieson & Smith’s 2 Ply Jumper Weight yarn, which has 115 m per ball:

25g = 115m

4 x 115m = 460m

Therefore 100g = 460m

Secondly, work out how many metres of yarn are in 1g by dividing the meterage of 100g (which in my example is 460m) by 100:

460m divided by 100 = 4.6m

Therefore 1g = 4.6m

Lastly, weigh how much yarn you have left (digital jewellery scales are ideal for this as they are very precise).

In my photographed example, I have 14.32g left and if I multiply that amount by 4.6m then I’ll know how many metres of yarn I have left from this ball:

14.32 x 4.6 = 65.87m

Therefore I have approximately 65m of this orange Jamieson & Smith’s yarn left and now I can start working out which knitting patterns I could use it in.

Now you know how much yarn you’ve got, next week’s blog post will have some fantastic ideas about what you could knit with your oddments and scraps! By following my blog (clicking on “follow” in the right hand corner), you’ll know exactly when my posts go live.