Spacing increases and decreases evenly

An instruction to increase evenly leaves three things unsaid: how many stitches the increase itself uses, how many groups the row is split into, and what to do with the stitches left over.

A make one is worked in the strand between two stitches and uses none. A knit front and back turns one stitch into two, so it uses one. A knit two together uses two. Take those stitches away first; what is left are the plain stitches to share out.

In the round, every increase or decrease is followed by a group of plain stitches, so there are as many groups as changes. Worked flat, a group of plain stitches also closes the row, so that neither edge stitch is touched: one group more than the number of changes.

The plain stitches rarely divide exactly. The quick answer works the same group every time and leaves the remainder in a lump at the end. One published example adds six stitches to fifty-two in the round that way and ends with four stray stitches; the better version in the same article makes four of the six groups one stitch longer. That is the rule the calculator follows: every group gets the whole-number share, and the leftover stitches are handed out one to a group, so no two groups differ by more than one stitch. Mix the longer groups among the shorter ones.

The count check is simple: the plain stitches plus the stitches the technique uses must equal the stitches on the needle.

Chart: plain stitches between make one increases in the round, by stitches and increases

Each cell is the number of plain stitches in the shorter groups for the stitch count in its row and the number of increases in its column. Where the division leaves a remainder, some groups are one stitch longer; the calculator says how many.

	Stitches to increase or decrease
Stitches on the needle	4	6	8	10	12	16	20
40	10	6	5	4	3	2	2
48	12	8	6	4	4	3	2
60	15	10	7	6	5	3	3
72	18	12	9	7	6	4	3
80	20	13	10	8	6	5	4
96	24	16	12	9	8	6	4
120	30	20	15	12	10	7	6
144	36	24	18	14	12	9	7
180	45	30	22	18	15	11	9
200	50	33	25	20	16	12	10

Work out your own numbers: Increase and decrease evenly calculator

Chart: plain stitches between knit two together decreases in the round, by stitches and decreases

Each cell is the number of plain stitches to knit before each decrease, for the stitch count in its row and the number of decreases in its column. The decrease itself uses two more stitches.

	Stitches to increase or decrease
Stitches on the needle	4	6	8	10	12
64	14	8	6	4	3
72	16	10	7	5	4
80	18	11	8	6	4
88	20	12	9	6	5
96	22	14	10	7	6
104	24	15	11	8	6
112	26	16	12	9	7
120	28	18	13	10	8

Work out your own numbers: Increase and decrease evenly calculator

Chart: how many groups are one stitch longer, make one increases worked flat

Each cell is the number of groups that get one extra stitch, for the stitch count in its row and the number of increases in its column. Zero means the stitches divide exactly.

	Stitches to increase or decrease
Stitches on the needle	4	6	8	10	12	16	20
40	0	5	4	7	1	6	19
48	3	6	3	4	9	14	6
60	0	4	6	5	8	9	18
72	2	2	0	6	7	4	9
80	0	3	8	3	2	12	17
96	1	5	6	8	5	11	12
120	0	1	3	10	3	1	15
144	4	4	0	1	1	8	18
180	0	5	0	4	11	10	12
200	0	4	2	2	5	13	11

Work out your own numbers: Increase and decrease evenly calculator

Used by

• Increase and decrease evenly calculatorSpace increases or decreases evenly across a row or round.

Sources

• Modern Daily Knitting, Kate Atherley: Less evenly across?
• Berroco: Decreasing gracefully
• YarnSub: knitting increase calculator