Gradient Calculator — Calculate yarn for gradient colour transitions.

This calculator splits your total yarn requirement by colour percentage to estimate how much of each colour you need, then applies two buffers: a transition-overlap factor (because gradient blending zones consume a little extra at each colour change) and a colourwork extra (Fair Isle/stranded carries floats on the back, using more yarn).

The formula

Colour base = Total yarn x Colour % / 100 x Overlap factor

Colour total = Colour base x (1 + Extra %) + Blending waste

With the defaults (1200 m, 60/40 split, 1.1 overlap, 15% extra, 2 m waste): Colour 1 base = 1200 x 0.60 x 1.1 = 792 m, then 792 x 1.15 + 2 = 913 m. Colour 2 base = 1200 x 0.40 x 1.1 = 528 m, then 528 x 1.15 + 2 = 610 m. The overlap and colourwork buffers are why the purchase total (1523 m) sits above the 1200 m project figure — set the Overlap factor to 1.0 for a plain two-colour project with crisp colour blocks.