Yarn tab: yarn estimate, skein length and grams

Yarn tab: yarn estimate, skein length and grams

The Yarn tab in the chart editor, beside Legend, Written and Notes, estimates how much of each color a stitch chart needs. Cross stitch charts count floss in the key's Skeins column instead.

Measure your swatch

Mark your yarn, work some stitches of your swatch, and measure the yarn they used. Type the number of stitches in Stitches measured (10 to start) and the length in Yarn they used, in inches, or in centimeters once you pick meters and cm under Units. The more stitches you measure, the closer the estimate. Add a safety margin under Extra % and a Skein price if you like.

Where the skein length comes from

Skein lengths are in yards or meters, as yarn labels print them. When a color is a yarn from the yarn list or My yarns, its line gets its own box under Length per skein (for example Bernat Super Value), and every color of that line uses it. The box is filled in this order:

1. Your own length. A length you type in the box, or pick with an "Also sold as" link, is remembered for your account, so the next chart that uses the same yarn fills it in.
2. The yarn's label. For most yarn lines the box starts with the length of one skein from the yarn's label (its ball band). A label that prints only meters is converted when you work in yards.
3. Blank. A few lines have no label number yet; type the length from your yarn's label.

A line also sold in another size shows a link under its box, such as "Also sold as Jumbo (14 oz), 744 yd", that fills that length in. Colors with no yarn named use Per skein (or Other yarns when some colors have a yarn).

Reading the table

Each color shows its stitches, its length, and its skeins, rounded up only after the color's yardage is added up, so a one-color lace chart is one line. When the yarn's label gives its weight, a g column shows how many grams each color uses. A dash means that number is not known yet, for example the skeins of a color with no skein length. It is an estimate from your swatch, not a promise.