Yarn length of a ball of wool

Dear users and authors,
what are your thoughts on yarn length? Do you have any preferences, requests, or even dislikes regarding this topic?

The most common yardage for a 100 g skein of merino wool (or sock yarn) is 400–420 meters.
Personally, I prefer somewhat longer yardages, e.g. 800 meters per 100 g, like with a Laceball from Schoppel. This length is just right for designing a pretty knitted shawl or a delicate scarf or stole. I can’t yet judge how the yardage works out for crocheting.

For crocheting, I like a yardage of 1000 meters best, but so far I’ve only seen that with the “Bobbel” yarn cakes (see other thread). Or rather, there you can choose your yardage yourself.

I really don’t like the often very short yardage with cotton. It is naturally somewhat heavier than merino wool, which is why it also has a correspondingly shorter yardage per 50 or 100 g skein.

I use the yardage to calculate roughly how many balls I’ll need for a sweater (when knitting—I don’t have much experience with crocheting). Like Michaela, I also love lightweight yarns with a higher yardage—that way, even loose-fitting and long sweaters in size 50 don’t end up too heavy.

As a general rule: the more air the yarn traps or encloses, the greater the yardage for the same weight. Plant-based fibers like cotton and linen are quite dense and trap little air. They therefore have a relatively low yardage. Animal fibers like merino, alpaca, or mohair, on the other hand, trap a lot of air and have significantly more yardage for the same needle size.

I also prefer to crochet with Merino Lace, which has a yardage of about 600–700 m. It’s perfect for crocheting wonderfully soft and airy shawls and other items.

Since I prefer crocheting amigurumi, my stash cupboard is mostly filled with the “typical” cotton yarn with a yardage of 125 m/50 g.
I find it simply ideal for figures and other little things like flowers:
-- it is relatively firm, so it holds its shape well and is very long-lasting (durable)
-- there is a HUGE selection of colors, with wonderfully bright shades as well as soft and subtle tones
-- it is smooth (doesn’t fuzz) and is therefore easy to work with, meaning it glides well over the hook and is also very suitable for beginners
-- it is a natural product, which is popular with both people with allergies and vegans 

But I admit that for clothing, shawls, or even cozy blankets it is certainly too firm and also too heavy.

So for my next cozy blanket (which is still stuck in the planning stage, though), I’d rather use beautiful, soft merino wool with a yardage of 160 m/50 g. It is just as nice and smooth (glides well) and at the same time lighter and more supple. That makes it even easier to work with, and of course, especially in winter, much cozier :-)
I crocheted myself a lovely scarf with a matching hat from this merino wool 1.5 years ago—it feels wonderful on the skin.
And last winter I also crocheted another scarf from a blend of merino and alpaca—it keeps you super warm too and is very soft. However, that was a fairly thick yarn; I think around 70 m/50 g.


For baby items, such as small comfort toys or security blankets, I also have a selection of extra-soft baby yarn made of acrylic with a yardage of 185 m/50 g. It is nice and light and soft. However, it can happen that it squeaks a bit on the hook while you’re working with it (I also affectionately call it “plastic yarn”). So it probably wouldn’t necessarily be my first choice for clothing, but for toys and comfort toys it’s quite practical because it is easy to wash and hypoallergenic—plus it comes in really sweet baby pastel colors :-)