It goes without saying that spinners make yarn. It’s fun to do, it’s relaxing, and we do it because we enjoy it. But we also have another reason for making yarn and that is that we want yarn to use to make projects. Whether we knit with our yarns, crochet with them, use them for weaving, hooking, macrame, or needlework there is always one question that comes up: Do I have enough of this yarn spun up for this project?

This question becomes of prime importance if you’ve spun the yarn without a particular project in mind and the yarn has been lounging in your stash just waiting for the right pattern or idea to come along. Some spinners keep excellent notes and will have a record of the exact weight and yardage of every yarn in their stash and will know instantly if they have enough yarn. Others, and I confess to being one of them, are sporadic note takers at best and we have no idea what the yardage of any given yarn in our stash might be. Add to this the fact that commercial yarns labels do not always include yardage figures and it becomes apparent that we need and easy and effective way to determine the yardage in a given weight of yarn.

Fortunately, we have such a tool. Called the McMorran Yarn Balance, this tool is a small scale which is used for the purpose of computing the number of yards to a pound of yarn. The balance consists of a rectangular box, the base of which forms the base of the scale. The metal pivot bar of the balance arm fits into two small notches in the base while the arm itself fits into two large notches, allowing the arm to have a range of motion. One end of the balance arm is notched to hold a strand of yarn. The scale is easy to use, set it at the edge of a table and place a strand of yarn in the notch of the balance arm. Then trim the ends of the strand of yarn, trimming so both ends are even, until the balance arm moves to a horizontal position. Now, measure that piece of yarn, being careful not to stretch it while measuring. Take the number of inches, including any fractions of an inch, and multiply that by 100. The results is the number of yards in 1 pound of that particular yarn. Example: If your strand of yarn is 8 1.2 inches long, take 8.5 X 100 = 850 yards per pound. If you need a per ounce figure, simply divide by 16.In this example, there are 53 yards per unce.

From there, it is easy to figure the amount of yardage of yarn you have available. Weigh your yarn to get the number of pounds and/or ounces that you have and do a simple bit of math and you’re there.

McMorran Yarn Balances are available for both Imperial and Metric measuring systems so no matter which system you are accustomed to using you can find one that will work for you.