Gauge, stitch counts and finished size

Gauge is a number of stitches over a width. Divide one by the other and you have stitches per inch, and two sums follow from it. Width times stitches per inch is the number of stitches for that width. A stitch count divided by stitches per inch is the width that count makes.

The first sum gives a cast-on. It seldom lands on a count your stitch pattern accepts: a rib or a chart needs a whole number of repeats, often plus a few balancing stitches. One guide rounds a cowl down to full repeats of its chart and then divides back to see what width is left. The calculator does both steps and lets you choose whether to go down, up or to the nearest count.

The second sum explains what happens when your gauge is not the pattern's. The stitch counts stay the same, the stitches per inch change, so the size changes in proportion: the size you get is the pattern's size × the pattern's gauge ÷ your gauge. More stitches to the inch always means a smaller piece. One designer's chart follows a body of two hundred stitches through every gauge from bulky to fingering weight, and a single stitch over four inches moves the chest by about two inches in the middle of the range.

There are two fixes. Change the stitch count: multiply the pattern's count by your gauge and divide by the pattern's gauge. Or, for a sized garment, follow a different size: the one whose listed measurement is the size you want × your gauge ÷ the pattern's gauge.

Units matter. Four inches is a little more than ten centimeters, so a gauge counted over four inches is not exactly the gauge over ten centimeters. Enter the length your stitches were really counted over.

Published arithmetic slips too. One article gives a bust that its own figures put more than an inch and a half larger, and one row of the chart mentioned above is rounded the wrong way. The reference cases behind these calculators leave those figures out.

Chart: stitches to cast on, by width and stitches over four inches

Each cell is the cast-on for the width in inches in its row and the swatch stitches over four inches in its column, to the nearest stitch, with no stitch multiple.

	Swatch: stitches counted
Width you want	14	16	18	20	22	24	28
6 in	21	24	27	30	33	36	42
8 in	28	32	36	40	44	48	56
10 in	35	40	45	50	55	60	70
16 in	56	64	72	80	88	96	112
20 in	70	80	90	100	110	120	140
24 in	84	96	108	120	132	144	168
30 in	105	120	135	150	165	180	210
36 in	126	144	162	180	198	216	252
40 in	140	160	180	200	220	240	280
48 in	168	192	216	240	264	288	336
60 in	210	240	270	300	330	360	420

Work out your own numbers: Knitting gauge calculator

Chart: what a stitch count measures, by your gauge and the number of stitches

Each cell is the width of the stitch count in its column at the gauge in its row, in stitches over four inches. Compare two rows to see what a difference in gauge does to the same count.

	Stitches in the pattern
Your gauge: stitches	80	120	160	200	240
16	20.00 in	30.00 in	40.00 in	50.00 in	60.00 in
17	18.82 in	28.24 in	37.65 in	47.06 in	56.47 in
18	17.78 in	26.67 in	35.56 in	44.44 in	53.33 in
19	16.84 in	25.26 in	33.68 in	42.11 in	50.53 in
20	16.00 in	24.00 in	32.00 in	40.00 in	48.00 in
21	15.24 in	22.86 in	30.48 in	38.10 in	45.71 in
22	14.55 in	21.82 in	29.09 in	36.36 in	43.64 in
23	13.91 in	20.87 in	27.83 in	34.78 in	41.74 in
24	13.33 in	20.00 in	26.67 in	33.33 in	40.00 in

Work out your own numbers: Knitting gauge conversion calculator

Used by

• Knitting gauge calculatorFrom a swatch to the stitches to cast on and the rows to knit.
• Knitting gauge conversion calculatorWhat a pattern's stitch count measures at your gauge, and how to correct it.

Sources

• We Are Knitters: how to adapt patterns to different yarns
• Pacific Knit Co: Doodle math, changing yarn weight and gauge
• Elizabeth Smith Knits: How big should my swatch be?
• KT's Slow Closet: How to account for gauge differences
• Deborah Robson: Some thoughts about gauge and swatching with regard to sweaters
• Knitty, Stefanie Japel: Five easy steps to great-fitting knits