Yarn Pricing

Let’s use the formula (price ÷ # of yards = $/yard) in a practical application.

One popular luxury line of yarn offers 60 yrd/50 g skeins for $12.10. This seems like a great deal, right? The skeins are reasonably priced. But let’s go on. One pattern to support this yarn is for a simple scarf. The pattern calls for 7 skeins of yarn. So here we go with our calculations:

$12.10 ÷ 60 yds = .20/yard

We need 7 skeins, or a total of 420 yards (60 yds x 7 skeins):

$12.10 x 7 = $84.70

Let’s compare this to a yarn of similar fiber content that we carry. The yarn for this example comes in 235 yard skeins for $38.00. At first glance, you may think that this is way too much money to spend on your project. Let’s do the math.

$38.00 ÷ 235 yds = .16/yard

We only need 2 skeins of this yarn to get 420 yards of yarn. 235 yds x 2 = 470 yds

$38.00 x 2 = $76.00

Although you can see that the second yarn is a better value just by the price per yard, it is sometimes useful to continue the calculations all the way through.

Pricing can be deceiving, but with this information, you can now make more informed decisions about the yarn you purchase.