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Knitting Increase Calculator

Enter your current and target stitch counts to evenly space your increases.

Result

30 sts
2 sts
20 sts

How it is calculated

Both stitch counts are first rounded to whole stitches. The number of increases is inc = target − current. The spacing is interval = floor(current / inc), the number of stitches worked between increases, and remainder = current − interval × inc is the number of stitches left over once every increase has its full gap. The tool does not place the leftover stitches for you: spread them by making a few gaps one stitch longer, or work them at the start or end of the row. It only handles growing a row: the target must be larger than the current count and the current count must be at least 1, otherwise there is no result. If increases outnumber stitches, the interval shows 0, which means some increases must sit next to each other.

Worked example

You have 80 stitches and the pattern wants 110. Increases needed: 110 − 80 = 30 sts. Spacing: 80 / 30 = 2.67, rounded down to 2 stitches between increases. Stitches used by those even gaps: 2 × 30 = 60, so the remainder is 80 − 60 = 20 stitches. In practice you knit 2, increase, repeat, and use the 20 spare stitches to lengthen 20 of the 30 gaps to 3 stitches so the row ends exactly at 110.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Entering the number of increases as the target. The second field is the final stitch count after the row, not the number of stitches to add.
  • Ignoring the remainder. If it is not 0, working the plain interval all the way across leaves the increases bunched at one end or the row short of the target.
  • Counting stitches that belong to edges or button bands. Enter only the stitches that the even increase is meant to cover, and set the selvedge stitches aside.
  • Using the tool for decreases. A target at or below the current count returns no result, so decreases need to be planned separately.
  • Overlooking an interval of 0. When you add more stitches than you have, increases must touch each other, and a single-row increase may distort the fabric.

About this calculator

When a knitting pattern says to increase evenly across a row — shaping a raglan yoke, the crown of a hat, or the body of a sweater — this calculator works out the mechanics for you. It takes your current stitch count and target stitch count, finds how many increases you need (the difference), and divides the current stitches by the number of increases, rounding down, to tell you how many stitches to work between each increase. Any stitches left over after the even spacing are shown as a remainder, so you can spread them out across the row so the shaping lands symmetrically.

Knitters following (or writing) a pattern use this instead of eyeballing spacing, which is especially important for garments where uneven increases show up visibly, like the crown increases on a top-down hat or the raglan “seams” on a sweater yoke. It removes the trial-and-error of splitting an odd stitch count across an arbitrary number of increase points.

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