Gauge Shift

1. The two gauges

Both measured over 10 cm (4 in), on a washed and rested swatch.

To measure one: knit a swatch at least 15 cm (6 in) square in the yarn and stitch pattern of the piece, wash it and dry it the way the finished piece will be washed, and let it rest flat for a day; then lay a ruler across the middle of the swatch — never at the cast-on or the edge, which pull in — and count the stitches and the rows over 10 cm, in whole stitches, without stretching the fabric.

The figures are a rate, not a width, so a gauge per 10 cm describes a piece of any size.

Tick “Show exact figures” if you would rather see the answers unrounded — to at most two decimal places — than as whole stitches and rows.

2. Cast on for a width

The stitch repeat rounds the cast-on to a multiple of that number, so the pattern’s repeat finishes. The box takes a whole number of 2 or more; 1, or an empty box, means no repeat at all, and a 0 is not a repeat, so the page flags it. A fraction is not a whole number of repeats either: a box reading 2.5 is worked with no repeat and flagged, never rounded down to 2.

If the pattern writes its repeat with extra stitches on the end — “multiple of 12 + 3” — put the 12 in the repeat box and the 3 in the offset box, and the cast-on lands on 15, 27, 39 … instead: whole repeats with the pattern’s extra stitches at the end of the row.

The cast-on is brought to the nearest count of that form, so it can land just above or just below your exact figure, but never more than half a repeat away — unlike section 3, whose row count rounds down so the last repeat finishes.

Edge stitches are extra stitches cast on at each side — a selvedge, a seam allowance, or the pair you slip — and they are added on top of the repeat, so the fabric body still measures the width you asked for.

3. Rows for a length

Uses the same unit as section 2.

If the stitch pattern repeats over a set number of rows (lace, cables, stripes), give that number and the count is kept to a whole repeat so the last one finishes. The box takes a whole number of 2 or more, the same as section 2’s stitch repeat; 1, or an empty box, means no row repeat. A fraction is not a whole number of repeats either: a box reading 2.5 is worked with no row repeat and flagged, never rounded down to 2.

If the pattern writes its row repeat with extra rows on the end — “rows repeat 8 + 2” — put the 8 in the repeat box and the 2 in the offset box, and the count lands on 2, 10, 18 … rows instead.

Row counts round down, never up: the largest whole repeat plus its extra rows that still fits inside the length you gave, so you may finish a few rows short but never overshoot. (Section 2’s cast-on rounds to the nearest such count instead, above or below.)

The row count is always a whole number of rows, whatever the exact-figures box in section 1 says: you cannot work half a row.

4. Resize a stitch count, and see what it measures

For any number the pattern gives you — cast-on, a sleeve count, a stitch marker line.

It gives the count for your gauge, then says how wide the pattern’s own count comes out on your needles against the pattern’s gauge, so you can see what knitting it as written would do.

The repeat and its offset from section 2 change the resized count, and that count rounds to the nearest such number; the two widths are worked out from the counts as written, so a repeat does not move them. Do not include section 2’s edge stitches in the count you put in here.

The box as it arrives is a worked example of this section, written out in the worked-examples panel under the title: 92 becomes 101 for your gauge, and those 92 as written measure 41.8 cm on your needles against the pattern’s 46.0 cm.

5. Sleeve and shaping steps

For a sleeve, a waist or a raglan: how often to increase or decrease to get from one count to another. Uses the row gauge above, the row repeat and its offset from section 3, and the unit from section 2.

These steps are always whole stitches and whole rows, so the exact-figures box in section 1 does not change them.

The page works out one straight line of shaping — the shape of a sleeve or a waist. A neckline, a shoulder or an armhole is not a straight line: it steps in over a few rows and then stops, so use the pattern’s own shaping rows for that part and this section for the straight run beside it.

The boxes as they arrive are a worked example, the third one in the panel under the title: 40 stitches becoming 60 over 44 cm at 30 rows per 10 cm, which comes to an increase every 13 rows, 10 times, with the last 2 rows worked even.

Cap schedule (optional)

Here the two counts above change meaning: “Stitches you have now” is the count at the start of the cap, just before the underarm bind-off, and “Stitches you want” is the count left at the top.

Give the cap length and the page fills in a step-by-step cap. Leave these two boxes empty if you only want the plain shaping steps.

The cap schedule always works in whole stitches and whole rows.

6. Yarn estimate

Two ways to a figure: scale the pattern’s own yarn amount by your stitch ratio, or measure a swatch and let the page work out the yarn per area of fabric.

Yarn lengths are in metres or yards, whichever the pattern used — the unit in section 2 does not change them.

Both figures are for plain fabric: extra stitches at the sides (section 2’s edge-stitch box), selvedges, seams, a ribbed band or any edging all take yarn of their own on top, so add a margin for them before you buy.

From a swatch you measured

Yarn used follows the area of the fabric, so a swatch you have actually measured beats any scaling. Swatch sizes are in the same unit as section 2; leave all three boxes empty if you have no swatch.

This method is the one the page recommends, so here is what its boxes do, worked out on the defaults above: a swatch 15 × 12 cm (180 cm²) that used 20 m comes to about 11.1 m per 100 cm², and for the 52 × 56 cm piece built from sections 2 and 3 it asks for about 324 m — beside the about 484 m that scaling the pattern’s 400 m by the two default gauges gives, so you can read the two methods side by side before typing anything in.

7. Compare two gauges side by side

For choosing between two yarns — or two needle sizes — before you commit. Swatch each one, enter its gauge as A and B, and the page shows what the same piece from sections 2 and 3 needs at each.

Stitch and row repeats from sections 2 and 3, including both offsets, are applied to both, and the width, length and unit are the ones set there.

Each of the two cast-ons is brought to the nearest repeat-plus-offset count, the way section 2’s cast-on is, and each of the two row counts is rounded down to a whole repeat, the way section 3’s is, so A and B are rounded by the same rules as the sections they come from.

These four boxes arrive filled with one example pair — A at 24 stitches and 32 rows per 10 cm against B at 20 and 28 — so the section answers from the moment it loads: on the 52 × 56 cm piece with no repeats that gives 125 stitches and about 179 rows at A against 104 and about 157 at B, about 27% less knitting in total. Swatch each of your two yarns and type its gauge over the example to compare them.

8. Take the results away with you

Nothing on this page is saved and no account is needed, so this box is how you keep an answer. Press the button and every result currently showing above — the two gauges, the cast-on, the rows, the resized stitch count, the shaping steps, the cap schedule, both yarn figures and the A/B comparison — is gathered into one plain-text block in the box below, together with the settings those figures came from: the stitch and row repeats, the edge-stitch count and the exact-figures tick box.

Select it and copy it with your keyboard; the page cannot reach your clipboard itself.

You can also print the page (Ctrl+P, or Cmd+P on a Mac). What is left off the sheet: the boxes, the drop-downs, the tick box, the buttons, the footer, and the summary box itself until you have pressed the button and there is a block in it — an empty box would print as a blank frame where a block of figures should be. What prints, black on white: the headings, the hints, the worked examples, the results, a refusal message and the About note. The worked-examples panel is opened for the print job even if you left it closed.

So press the button first and the sheet carries the figures and the summary block together; printing without pressing it still gives you the results and the hints, just without the four gauges written out and without the settings the summary block records. The tick box is the one setting a sheet cannot show on its own, so if you were showing exact figures and want that on paper, gather the summary first, because the block names it.

About

Built by an AI agent. It is one static page: everything is worked out in your browser, nothing is saved, nothing is sent anywhere and no account is needed. Counts come out as whole stitches and rows — brought to a repeat when you give one, and shown unrounded if you tick the exact-figures box — so treat them as a good starting point and check them against your own swatch, especially on a fitted garment.

The four worked examples in the panel under the title — open it by pressing its heading — and the lines written into the hints of sections 4, 5, 6 and 7, are the page’s own starting examples, not your answer: each one says what the boxes as they arrive give, and change a box and the results below move with it while those lines stay put.

How the rounding works

Rounding rule: the page rounds half up, and when you give a repeat multiple it rounds to the nearest multiple of that number (a row repeat is rounded down, so the last full repeat finishes inside the length you gave). When a stitch repeat also has an offset, the offset is taken off before rounding and added back afterwards, so the count is brought to the nearest number of the form “a multiple of the repeat plus the offset” — “multiple of 12 + 3” rounds on 3, 15, 27 … — and the pattern's extra stitches land at the end of the row. That is why such a count is never more than half a repeat away from your own exact figure.

The stitch offset is used in section 2's cast-on and in section 4, and in the two cast-ons section 7 works out, and nowhere else. A row-repeat offset works the other way round: the row count is the largest whole repeat plus its extra rows (2, 10, 18 … for “repeat 8 + 2”) that still fits inside the length, and it is used in section 3's row count, in the shaping steps in section 5 and its cap schedule, and in the two row counts in section 7. An offset on its own — a repeat of 1, or an empty repeat box — has nothing to sit on and is refused, in the stitch offset box in section 2 and in the row offset box in section 3 alike.

The “Show exact figures” box in section 1 replaces whole stitches and rows with the unrounded figure to at most two decimal places, so a cast-on can read 114.4 and a figure can fall between two stitches: those numbers are what the maths works out before rounding, not a number of stitches you can cast on, so round them yourself before you knit. It has no effect on the shaping steps in section 5, on the cap schedule or on the row count in section 3, which stay whole because you cannot work part of a row.

What each figure leaves out

The shaping steps fit whole rows inside the length you give, so they may fall a few rows short of it, and they describe one straight line of increases or decreases: they ignore a neckline, a shoulder or an armhole, where a pattern steps in over a few rows and then stops, so use the pattern's own shaping rows for those and this section for the straight run beside them.

The edge-stitch box in section 2 works in whole stitches per side and is added after the repeat rounding; those stitches are extra, they widen the finished piece past the width you asked for, and sections 4 to 7 work from the plain counts, so leave edge stitches out of boxes where the page does not ask for them.

The yarn-weight figures in section 1 are middle-of-the-range values for a typical needle and fibre; they are a starting point, not a swatch, and no gauge is any use until it has been measured on a washed and rested swatch of the yarn and stitch pattern you mean to knit, the way section 1's hint describes.

In section 4 the widths are worked out from stitch counts alone, so they ignore the repeat, its offset, selvedges, seams and any edge treatment.

The swatch figure in section 6 assumes the swatch is the same yarn and stitch pattern as the piece and that the piece is plain fabric, and it is worked out in centimetres before being shown in the unit you chose. Neither yarn figure in section 6 counts edge stitches, a selvedge, a seam allowance, a ribbed band or an edging: those sit outside the plain rectangle the figures describe and need yarn of their own, so add a margin for them.

Section 7 compares counts, rows and total stitches worked, but not yarn length: two yarns of the same weight can need different lengths per stitch, so measure the swatch method in section 6 for each yarn. Its totals describe a plain rectangle and ignore shaping, seams and edges.

The cap schedule in section 5 assumes the cap is knitted flat, with the bind-offs and decreases at both ends of right-side rows and the plain rows purled; it suggests whole stitches and whole rows, rounds the cap length to your row repeat with its offset, and starts from the two counts you typed in section 5.

The summary and the printed sheet

The summary box in section 8 is just the text of the results that are on the page at the moment you press the button: it does not work anything out, it is not saved anywhere, and it goes stale if you change a box afterwards until you press the button again.

Printing the page leaves off the boxes, the drop-downs, the tick box, the buttons, the footer, and the summary box while it is still empty; the headings, the hints, the worked examples, the results, a refusal message and this note do print, black on white, so a printed sheet shows everything except what you typed into the boxes. The worked-examples panel is a folded panel on screen and is opened for the print job, so its four examples are on the sheet whether or not you had opened it. The summary box and its label appear on the sheet as soon as the block is gathered, so nothing blank is printed where a block would be. The gathered summary block is the one thing on paper that records those typed settings, including whether exact figures were showing, so press the button before printing if you want them on the sheet.