How to Count Rows and Stitches

Counting knitting

Stockinette fabric is made of interlocking V shapes on the right side. That is the unit.

1. Stitches: count the Vs across a row. Each V is one stitch.
2. Rows: count the Vs stacked vertically in one column. Each V is one row.
3. Do not count the loops on the needle. Those are the live stitches of the row you are about to work, not a finished row.
4. Do not count the cast-on edge as a row unless the pattern explicitly says it does.
5. Count in good light, from the right side, with the fabric flat and unstretched.

Garter stitch is different and easier to get wrong: it forms ridges, and each visible ridge is two rows. Count the ridges and double. Ribbing is counted by column - each knit column and each purl column is one stitch.

Counting crochet

• Never count the loop on the hook as a chain or a stitch.
• The turning chain may or may not be a stitch. This decides whether your count agrees with the pattern's - see how to read a crochet pattern.
• Count the tops, not the posts. The tops are what the next row is worked into, so they are what the pattern's number refers to.
• The foundation chain is not a row in most patterns, but a minority count it. The pattern will say.

Stop counting from the beginning

Recounting 180 stitches every row is how counting becomes the reason people stop. The fix is to make each count short.

1. Place a locking marker every ten stitches on the first row of a wide piece.
2. Count the markers, then the stitches after the last one. Eighteen markers and four stitches is 184.
3. Move the markers up every few rows, or leave them and let the fabric carry them.
4. Mark every twentieth row with a marker on the edge. Then a row count is markers times twenty, plus the few since the last one.
5. Never trust memory over a marker. The marker was placed when you were paying attention.

Counting rows a different way

• A mechanical counter clicks once per row and cannot be knocked out of sync by a phone notification. Reset it by turning the gears in the direction of the arrows.
• A tally on paper is the cheapest reliable method and works for anything.
• A row counter app works until a call interrupts it.
• Counting the fabric is the method of last resort but it is the only one that is verifiable, which is why the fabric-reading skills above still matter.
• Whichever you use, click or mark at the same point in each row - the end, not the start.

Counting for gauge

Gauge is a count over a measured distance, and it is the one count where the technique differs. Lay the swatch flat without stretching it, measure a 4 inch span in the middle of the fabric rather than at the edges, and count the stitches and rows inside it.

• Measure in the middle. Edge stitches are always a different size.
• Include partial stitches as halves rather than rounding - gauge is sensitive.
• Block the swatch first if you will block the finished piece.
• Measure over 4 inches, not 1. Small errors multiply.

Knitting gauge and swatching covers the full method, and how much yarn do I need uses the result.

When the count is wrong

A count that does not match the pattern means one of three things: you have gained a stitch, lost one, or you are counting differently from the designer - most often over the turning chain in crochet or the cast-on edge in knitting.

Check the convention first, because it is free. Then look for the error. How to fix crochet mistakes and how to fix common knitting mistakes cover the repairs.