How much Yarn needed?

[fornight]

I am wondering ...how do you know how much yarn you need for your project?

 

It costs slightly more than 1.5 50g DK yarn balls of 17 colours.  The border is 6 balls of 50g DK yarn.

I bought the yarn in batches since I was not sure how many balls i need. 

I almost risk not being able to get refill of same colour because some of the colours I selected was limited edition (I was not aware they were seasonal range).

 

I am a very stiff person.  If I cannot get the exact colour, I get really uncomfortable with the whole project so I started wondering how do other people manage to get the right number of balls for their projects.

 

Do share!

[nancybanta]

If you stick to the guage that the pattern calls for, you should have the correct amount - but for me - I ALWAYS but a skein or two (depending on how much or low little there is on a skein) as a comfort zone for myself.

 

There is nothing worse than running out of yarn and if you find that you haven't touched the extra you purchased, you can always return it.

[Granny Square]

I agree with Nancy. I always buy an extra ball for a project 'just in case'.

 

However, I've never worked with a project with 17 colors!  All I can say is if your pattern calls out both meters and grams, go by the meters not the grams if you aren't using the same brand of yarn that the pattern calls for.  50g skeins of DK can have different yardage for different brands.

 

Is most of the project just a few colors, and the other colors for accent?  I might buy an extra ball of the 'main' color(s) in this case.