To answer the person who found the blog with this search, I will quote a true giant of the spinning world…

“It depends.”

What kind of yarn?

Worsted? Woolen?

Singles? 2-ply? 3-ply?

Lace? Bulky?

Lincoln? Merino?

As *really* rough estimates:

4oz is 114g, 100g is about standard for a pair of socks (in sock weight) so about… 400 yards of sock yarn.

I can get about 150ish yards of worsted weight 2-ply yarn in my standard semi-worsted method. (A hat, if you’re measuring that way).

Somewhere around 1200 yards of laceweight 2-ply is about standard…

But the real answer is, “It depends.”

Woolen will give you more, 3-ply will give you more, finer will give you more… your method affects a lot.

I’m pretty reliable with the 150 yds of worsted weight from 4oz measurement, but that really doesn’t mean you will be. Superwash I always get less yarn out of than non-superwash (I presume due to the combination of higher compaction and the weight of the coating).

EDIT:

In response to the question about why…

A singles yarn is a rod, it fills the entire space that makes the gauge of the yarn.

A 2-ply yarn has to be a little larger than the single to match up with the same gauge, but there’s also a lot of air space (on the sides). The two plies sit smoothly against eachother.

A 3-ply yarn has a central core of air, doesn’t have to be much larger than the singles yarn to make gauge, and still has some outside air.

So the short answer is: A 3-ply yarn has more air than a 2-ply yarn, and thus you get more yarn out. Same as woolen vs worsted prep.

And as to why 2-ply vs 3-ply? A 3-ply is rounder, thus more comfortable for walking on and showing a better stitch definition.

Laceweight, however, which rarely uses the stitch definition, but the negative space, is usually done in 2-ply.