If your interest is piqued to participate in our Ultra Alpaca MKAL, you’re probably wondering how much yarn you need for the project! Here is some information to help you. Please note: all of these are only rough estimates. Your mileage (yardage) may vary!
To make the whole blanket – comprised of 5 of each of the 4 different squares (20 squares total) – in the colors we have chosen, here is what you should buy, along with the approximate yardage I believe you’ll use per color:
#6201 Winter White: 5 hanks (980 yds)
#6278 Stone Washed Mix: 2 hanks (335 yds)
#6243 Navy: 2 hanks (255 yds)
#62169 Twinkle Mix: 2 hanks (230 yds)
#62168 Candy Floss Mix: 1 hank (180 yds)
#62178 Grapefruit Mix: 1 hank (180 yds)
#62179 Melon Mix: 1 hank (175 yds)
#6268 Candied Yam Mix: 1 hank (165 yds)
#62180 Grove Mix: 1 hank (110 yds)
#62176 Pink Berry Mix: 1 hank (105 yds)
#62174 Dungaree Mix: 1 hank (110 yds)
One nice thing about the log cabin style of design is that the dye lots don’t matter so much (as long as they are not wildly different, which they won’t be with Ultra Alpaca), so you could purchase the yarn to make a few squares at a time, adding more yarn as you want to add additional colors.
In case you might like to change up the number of squares for your own blanket, here is a breakdown of approximately how many yards per color for each of the squares. Again, these are approximate, and I’ve also built in a little extra to help compensate for variations between knitters. Each square takes about 142 yds / 60g, and I’ve calculated these by estimating the percentage of each color used in each square.
Block 1: Emily’s Square
#6201 Winter White: 105 yds
#62168 Candy Floss Mix: 21 yds
#6278 Stone Washed Mix: 4 yds
#62178 Grapefruit Mix: 4 yds
#62179 Melon Mix: 4 yds
#6268 Candied Yam Mix: 4 yds
Block 2: Amy’s Square
#6201 Winter White: 12 yds
#62168 Candy Floss Mix: 7 yds
#6278 Stone Washed Mix: 20 yds
#62178 Grapefruit Mix: 27 yds
#62179 Melon Mix: 24 yds
#6268 Candied Yam Mix: 29 yds
#62180 Grove Mix: 22 yds
Block 3: Ashley’s Square
#6201 Winter White: 68 yds
#62168 Candy Floss Mix: 8 yds
#62178 Grapefruit Mix: 5 yds
#62179 Melon Mix: 7 yds
#6243 Navy: 25 yds
#62169 Twinkle Mix: 18 yds
#62176 Pink Berry Mix: 10 yds
Block 4: Alison’s Square
#6201 Winter White: 11 yds
#6278 Stone Washed Mix: 43 yds
#62179 Melon Mix: 7 yds
#6243 Navy: 26 yds
#62169 Twinkle Mix: 28 yds
#62176 Pink Berry Mix: 11 yds
#62174 Dungaree Mix: 22 yds
This project is pretty free-form – have fun with it and make it your own! I hope the information I’ve provided here will help you plan your yarn buying. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll answer them to the best of my ability (while trying not to spoil any surprises)!
Thank you for providing such a detailed list. This will be fun.
Are these squares going to be something, knitters from beginners novice etc, can do on their own?
The squares are pretty accessible for a beginning knitter. The most challenging thing involved is picking up stitches, which I think is something a beginner should be able to learn pretty quickly, especially with the help of Emily’s blog post and video.
I can’t find the page to sign up….have you posted the directions for Block 2?
hi Nancy – there is no actual sign-up process, you just knit along with us. It’s a bit more open-ended than some other KALs that we’ve done. If you’d like to post photos of your progress on social media, you can use the hashtag #UltraAlpacaMKAL for easy searching. Block 2 will be posted on July 21; they’re each spaced 2 weeks apart.
Help! I just now discovered what I missed with this MKAL georgeous blanket. I just happened onto your site and fell in LOVE. Am I too late? I can’t find the instructions for the first square? And also can’t find where to buy the yarn. It’s 5:30 in the am and I’ve been on your site all night and feel pretty sad that I missed the knit along. Love, elena . I would appreciate any help I can get. Thank you very much in advance your newbie.
hi Elena – Instructions for all the squares can be found here. Although the knit-along is officially over, you can of course still make your very own Ultra Alpaca blanket. To find a LYS or online retailer that stocks Ultra Alpaca, visit our store locator.