🧶 Yarn

Yarn & Fiber Weight Converter

Convert between wraps per inch, yards per pound, metres per kilogram, yards per 100 g and metres per gram, and find out which standard yarn weight category your yarn belongs to. Press Convert.

Written and reviewed by SM Arijul Islam · Last reviewed 20 October 2026 · Editorial standards · Report an error

About the yarn weight converter

Yarn comes with a thickness but no agreed measurement for it. American patterns talk about wraps per inch, European labels print metres per 100 g, older books quote yards per pound, and the craft council numbers everything from 0 for lace to 7 for jumbo. This converter moves between the numeric systems exactly, and estimates wraps per inch through the standard weight categories.

The yardage units convert perfectly because they are only length per mass. Wraps per inch is a different kind of measurement — it counts strands in an inch, not length per weight — so it is mapped through the Craft Yarn Council category rather than calculated. Measurements in the table below are taken around a ruler, so treat the wraps figure as accurate to within a category.

Standard yarn weight categories

Craft Yarn Council weight numbers with wraps per inch, yardage, gauge and needle size
#	Category	Wraps per inch	Yards per 100 g	Gauge (sts per 4 in)	Needle (mm)
0	Lace	18+	600 – 1,000+	33 – 40	1.5 – 2.25
1	Super fine / fingering	14 – 17	350 – 500	27 – 32	2.25 – 3.25
2	Fine / sport	12 – 14	270 – 370	23 – 26	3.25 – 3.75
3	Light / DK	11 – 13	200 – 300	21 – 24	3.75 – 4.5
4	Medium / worsted, aran	8 – 11	150 – 250	16 – 20	4.5 – 5.5
5	Bulky / chunky	7 – 9	100 – 150	12 – 15	5.5 – 8
6	Super bulky	5 – 6	50 – 100	7 – 11	8 – 12
7	Jumbo	1 – 4	under 50	6 or fewer	12 and up

Conversion factors

Yarn yardage units expressed in yards per pound
Unit	Equals
1 metre per kilogram	0.4961 yards per pound
1 yard per 100 g	4.5359 yards per pound
1 metre per 100 g	4.9605 yards per pound
1 yard per ounce	16 yards per pound
1 metre per gram	496.05 yards per pound
1 foot per pound	0.3333 yards per pound

How to measure wraps per inch

Wrap the yarn around a ruler or a pencil for a full inch, keeping the strands snug but not stretched and not overlapping. Count how many strands fit inside the inch. Measure in two or three places and take the middle value. Plied yarns are easier to count if you let them lie naturally rather than forcing them parallel.

Worked examples

A yarn at 1,900 yards per pound is 3,824 metres per kilogram, which is a fingering weight.
10 wraps per inch falls in the worsted range, which usually means 800 to 1,100 yards per pound.
A 100 g skein marked "400 m" is 4,000 metres per kilogram, or 1,984 yards per pound — lace to light fingering territory.
A 50 g ball with 90 yards is 815 yards per pound, a solid worsted or aran.

Frequently asked questions

Can wraps per inch be converted exactly?

No. Wraps per inch measures how many strands sit side by side, while yardage measures length per weight; the two depend on fibre density and how tightly the yarn is spun. The converter maps both through the standard weight category, so treat the result as a close estimate.

Why do two yarns of the same weight have different yardage?

Weight category describes thickness, not density. An airy wool and a dense cotton can both be worsted yet sit at opposite ends of the yardage range.

What about metres per 50 g on European labels?

Double it to compare with the per-100 g figures used here. A label reading 125 m per 50 g is 250 m per 100 g.

How do I know how much yarn a project needs?

Use the pattern's length requirement, which is the only figure that survives a change of yarn. A sweater that needs 1,200 m still needs 1,200 m whatever the ball weight.

Common mistakes to avoid

Comparing wraps per inch across fibre types. Merino and cotton of the same thickness measure differently.
Using yards per pound to judge thickness alone — fibre density is part of the answer.
Mixing up metres per 50 g with metres per 100 g, a factor of two error.
Stretching the yarn while counting wraps, which pushes the figure up by a category.