Gauge calculator

The knitting gauge calculator above works for crochet too: it turns your gauge into stitch counts. Gauge is how many stitches fit in 4", measured on a swatch: the small test square you knit or crochet before a project. Choose “Cast-on for a width”, “Resize a pattern”, or “Increase or decrease evenly” to space increases or decreases across a row or round. To see which yarn weight (thickness category) your gauge fits, use the yarn weight chart; no label? See how to tell yarn weight. To buy yarn from the same swatch, use the yarn calculator.

Measure your gauge after washing or blocking

Measure your swatch after blocking it: soaking or wetting it and drying it flat to shape. Purl Soho, a yarn shop, on knitting: “Generally, patterns give the gauge of your knitting after it’s been blocked. This is an extra step, but critical, because your gauge can change dramatically after you block it.”

Sarah Stearns of Sarah Maker, a crochet blog, gives the same advice for crochet: “Once finished, block the swatch in the same way you’ll block the finished piece. Let it dry completely before measuring.”

Purl Soho says to measure in a few places, average the counts if they differ, and count partial stitches, so your gauge can be a decimal.

A swatch ruler with a 4" (10 cm) scale ad is one way to measure it.

Cast-on for a width

Casting on puts your first stitches on the needle; in crochet, it’s your starting chain or first row. The calculator rounds that count to one that fits your stitch pattern.

Say your gauge is 22 stitches per 4" and you want a piece 20" wide. Your stitch pattern is a multiple of 4 + 2: it repeats every 4 stitches, plus 2 extra. Add 2 edge (selvage) stitches, one at each side. The straight math gives 110, which doesn’t fit; 108 (19⅝") and 112 (20⅜") are equally near, and the calculator picks 112. Type 22 in “Your gauge”, 20 in “Width you want”, 4 in “Stitch multiple”, 2 in “Plus” and 2 in “Edge stitches” to see each step in “Show the math”.

Resize a pattern

If your swatch doesn’t match but you like the fabric, change the stitch count instead of the needle or hook.

Say a pattern casts on 96 stitches at 22 per 4", and your gauge is 20. Type 96 in “The pattern’s stitch count”, 22 in “The pattern’s gauge” and 20 in “Your gauge”: the answer is 87 stitches, and the pattern’s width is 17 7/16". Rows work the same way, with row gauges.

Increase or decrease evenly

This knitting increase and decrease calculator spaces the shaping for you: fill in “Stitches you have now”, pick “Increase” or “Decrease” and “How many”, then “Flat, in rows” (back and forth) or “In the round” (a tube or circle, without turning).

For 120 stitches and 10 increases, flat, the calculator writes “K11, (M1, K11) ×4, M1, K10, (M1, K11) ×5”, for 130 stitches. K11 means knit 11, and M1 is an increase. In the round, the same numbers give “(K12, M1) ×10”.

With “Decrease”, 82 stitches and 6 decreases, flat, give “K10, (k2tog, K10) ×6”, for 76 stitches; k2tog means knit 2 together. Enter these above and “Show the math” lists each group. To mark each decrease before you start, use stitch markers (small clips or rings), such as locking stitch markers ad .

Why a flat row has no increase at the edge

Barbara Breiter, writing for Lion Brand, gives the reason: “If you’re knitting in rows, you’ll need to add one to the number of stitches you are to increase.” Otherwise, she explains, 10 increases across 100 stitches would put the last one on the 100th stitch, the edge. The calculator adds one in rows, so the 120-stitch example above starts and ends with K11.

Laura Yona, also at Lion Brand, says that on flat pieces you may prefer to offset your first and last shaping “to preserve a selvage”. Other methods also keep both ends plain: DROPS’s worked example of 21 increases across 140 stitches starts with 6 stitches and ends with 4.

Which of the shorter groups go where is our calculator’s own choice, not Breiter’s, Yona’s or DROPS’s; “Show the math” lists them.

M1, KFB, SSK and “2 sc in next”

The Craft Yarn Council’s (CYC) knitting abbreviations, in US terms:

• M1: “make one stitch knitwise; single knit increase”. Knitwise means as if to knit.
• KFB: “knit 1 into front and back of a stitch”.
• k2tog: “knit 2 stitches together”.
• SSK: “slip 2 stitches knitwise, knit these 2 stitches together through back loops; single left-leaning decrease”. Back loops are the back strand of each stitch.

Your pick changes the plain stitches between increases: with KFB under “Stitch to use”, the 120-stitch row reads “K10, (KFB, K10) ×10”.

For crochet, choose “Crochet” under “Craft”. The options use single crochet (UK double crochet), written sc in CYC’s crochet abbreviations. “2 sc in next” means two single crochet in the next stitch, and sc2tog is “single crochet 2 stitches together”. For 72 stitches and 12 increases in the round, you get “(sc in next 5, 2 sc in next) ×12”, or 84 stitches.

FAQs

Does my gauge have to match the pattern exactly?

Not always. Yarnspirations says matching “isn’t as important for something like a dishcloth or a bag”, but a garment or accessory may not fit at the wrong gauge.

My stitch gauge matches, but my row gauge doesn’t. What now?

Row gauge is how many rows fit in 4". Purl Soho, writing about knitting: “In most cases you should use the needle that gives you the proper stitch gauge.” Work more or fewer rows for length, it suggests; for fitted garments or ones with complex shaping, try a yarn that gives both gauges. To rescale a row count, use Resize a pattern above.

Should I swatch in the round for a project knit in the round?

For stockinette in the round, which is all knit stitches, our reading is yes. A flat swatch has purl rows (purl is the reverse of a knit stitch), so if you purl tightly or loosely, Purl Soho says it “will not be a very accurate reenactment of you knitting your project.”