A yarn inventory spreadsheet lists every yarn you have by color and dye lot, with how much of it is left, so you know before you start a project whether there's enough. The dye lot is the part that matters most. Yarn dyed in different batches can differ enough to show as a stripe across a blanket, so a project needs all its yarn from one lot, and "I have plenty of that color" isn't the same as "I have enough of that lot." Weighing partial skeins and turning grams into yards makes the answer exact. In the example below, a maker has 1,657 yards of one merino color, more than a 1,600-yard blanket needs, but only 1,221 yards of it in a single dye lot, and the sheet says so before the first stitch. Below is what to track, the example, how to count a stash, and a free template.
The short version
- One row for each yarn, color and dye lot; a new lot of the same color is a new row.
- Copy grams and yards per skein from the label once.
- Weigh what you have, partial skeins included, and let the sheet turn grams into yards.
- Check every project against the yards in one dye lot, not the color as a whole.
- Value the stash at what the skeins cost.
- Buy enough of one lot for the whole project, plus a little; the same lot may not be available later.
- TaroStack treats each dye lot as a lot: stock by lot, at what you paid. More below.
What to track
| Column | Why |
|---|---|
| Yarn and weight | Fingering, DK, worsted, chunky: what it can be used for |
| Color and dye lot | From the label; a different lot is a different row |
| Grams and yards a skein | From the label, so grams can become yards |
| Cost a skein | So the stash has a value and a project has a cost |
| Grams on hand | Weighed, partial skeins included |
| Yards on hand | Grams × yards a skein ÷ grams a skein |
How to run a count that's quick and accurate is in how to count inventory; for yarn, a kitchen scale is the counting tool.
A maker's stash
Fiddlehead Stitch Co., a made-up crochet and knitting maker in Missoula, Montana, I use in these examples, weighs its stash before taking a commission:
| Yarn | Weight | Color | Dye lot | Grams on hand | Yards on hand | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merino | Worsted | Juniper | 2207 | 560 | 1,221 | $53.20 |
| Merino | Worsted | Juniper | 2311 | 200 | 436 | $19.00 |
| Acrylic and wool | Chunky | Oatmeal | A41 | 1,000 | 870 | $50.00 |
| Cotton | DK | Coral | 18 | 450 | 1,107 | $38.25 |
| Sock yarn | Fingering | Tidepool | 9 | 300 | 1,200 | $72.00 |
| Wool | Bulky | Charcoal | 33 | 600 | 480 | $66.00 |
The stash is worth $298.45 at cost. The merino is 218 yards to a 100-gram skein, so 560 grams is 1,221 yards.
Checking a project against one dye lot
| Project | Yarn, color and lot | Yards needed | Yards of that lot | Enough? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baby blanket, commission | Merino, Juniper, lot 2207 | 1,600 | 1,221 | Short by 379 yards |
| Ten chunky beanies | Acrylic and wool, Oatmeal, lot A41 | 850 | 870 | Yes |
| Socks, one pair | Sock yarn, Tidepool, lot 9 | 400 | 1,200 | Yes |
Across both lots there are 1,657 yards of Juniper, more than the blanket needs. But lot 2311 is a different dye batch, and mixing it in risks a visible line across the blanket. So the commission needs two more skeins of lot 2207 if the shop still has them, or the whole blanket from a new lot. Knowing that before quoting a date is the point of the sheet. What the blanket should cost the customer is in how to price handmade items.
Counting a stash
Weigh, don't guess. A partial skein that looks like "about half" can be a third or two-thirds; the scale knows. Count once at the start, then update the grams when you finish a project or buy yarn, and do a full weigh-in a couple of times a year. Skeins bought for a specific project can be marked with the project's name, so they don't get used on something else. The yarn in a finished piece is part of its cost; how materials and finished goods are valued for the books is in raw materials inventory example.
Get the template
Download the yarn inventory spreadsheet. Two sheets. Stash takes each yarn, weight, color and dye lot, the grams and yards in a skein, its cost and the grams you have, and works out the yards on hand and the value. Projects takes a project, its yarn, color and lot, and the yards it needs, and tells you whether that one dye lot has enough, or how many yards short it is. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The sheet is right on the day it's weighed. A maker selling beanies at markets and taking commissions uses yarn every day, buys it from three shops and an online supplier, and has a dozen dye lots of the colors that sell. By the end of a busy month the grams in the sheet are a guess, and the yarn reserved for a commission has gone into market stock.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack treats a dye lot the way a food maker's lots are treated.
Each dye lot a lot. Each yarn and color is an item, and each dye lot comes in as its own lot, at what you paid, and units convert: yarn bought by the skein, used by the gram. Stock is shown by lot, so the yards of lot 2207 are a number, not a guess.
Projects as recipes. A design is a recipe of its yarn by weight, so recording finished pieces takes the yarn off stock from the lot used. Commissions are sales orders that show whether the yarn to fill them is on hand while you're still typing.
And counts on a phone. Counting works on a phone, and before a count is posted it shows what each difference is worth in dollars. The reorder list works in days of cover for the yarns you use all the time, and margins are reported by product.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Yards of lot 2207 | Weigh the bag | Stock by lot |
| Yarn for a commission | Hope it's still there | Sales order, checked against stock |
| Which lot is in this blanket? | Not written down | The lot, on the batch |
| Best-selling colors | Found short | The reorder list, in days |
Lots, recipes, counting and margins by product are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.