Knitting counter · Free · No sign-up
Knitting Row Counter
A knitting row counter records how many rows you have worked. This one also tracks the pattern repeat and the shaping schedule, so it tells you whether the row you are on is an increase or decrease row, how many you have worked, and how many rows until the next. Rows go down as well as up for frogging.
Free, no sign-up, works offline, and nothing leaves this browser.
Shaping: work a row of shaping every so many rows, a set number of times. Leave it blank if the piece is straight.
Space or + works a row, − frogs one, Ctrl+Z undoes.
This counts rows and tracks the schedule you type in. It does not read your pattern. It has no stitch dictionary, no gauge maths and no idea what you are knitting, so a schedule entered wrongly will be followed faithfully and wrongly. The pattern is the authority; this just stops you holding three numbers in your head at once.
Row counters are a solved problem. The number knitters actually lose is the shaping: “increase every 4th row, 8 times” means holding three figures at once, and getting it wrong costs unpicked rows rather than a wrong number.
A knitting row counter is a tally of the rows worked on a piece, used to keep your place in a pattern repeat and to track shaping instructions such as increasing or decreasing on a fixed interval for a set number of times.
- No sign-up
- No ads
- Counts never leave your browser
- Works offline
- Unlimited counters
Key facts
| Detail | Answer |
|---|---|
| Price | Free, no sign-up, no ads |
| Counts | Rows worked, up and down |
| Pattern repeats | Row within the repeat, and repeats finished |
| Shaping | Every N rows, M times, from a starting row, with a finished state |
| Shaping types | Increase or decrease |
| Frogging | Supported. The minus key unwinds every derived figure with it |
| Undo | Yes, last 100 changes |
| Offline | Yes, after the first load |
| Where data goes | Nowhere. Local storage in this browser only |
| Pattern import | No. It counts; it does not read patterns |
How to use a row counter with shaping
Set the schedule once, at the point the pattern introduces it, and then only count rows.
Set the repeat length, if the piece has one
A twelve-row cable is a repeat length of 12. The counter then shows where you are inside the cycle rather than only the absolute row.
Read the shaping line off the pattern
“Every 4th row” is an interval of 4. “Every other row” and “every alternate row” are both 2. “Every RS row” is also 2 when working flat.
Enter the interval, the count and the first row
“Increase every 4th row, 8 times” starting on row 1 is: every 4, times 8, first on row 1. If the shaping starts later, put that row in instead.
Tap once at the end of every row
Not at the start. Counting a row you have not finished is the most common way a row counter goes wrong, and it is a whole row out by the end of the piece.
Work shaping when it says to
The box names the row as an increase or decrease row and counts them off. Between them it tells you how many rows until the next.
Stop when it says the shaping is complete
The schedule ends rather than repeating for ever, so there is no ninth increase in an eight-increase sleeve.
Where a knitting row counter gets used
Anywhere the pattern asks you to remember something across many rows.
Sleeve and side-seam shaping
The classic case: increase each end every fourth row, eight times, while a stitch pattern repeats on its own cycle.
Raglan and armhole decreases
Decreases on every other row for a fixed count, where losing track shows up as an armhole that does not match its pair.
Lace and cable repeats
A twelve-row cable or eight-row lace panel, where what you need is the row inside the repeat rather than the absolute row.
Crochet rows and rounds
The counting is the same. Set the repeat to the round length and the shaping to the increase schedule.
Picking a project back up
The count is saved as you tap, so a project put down for a fortnight opens on the row you left.
Knitting in company
It works with no signal at a knitting group, and there is nothing to install on a borrowed phone.
The number knitters actually lose is the shaping, not the row
Counting rows is the easy part, and every counter in this space does it. What knitters actually lose is not the row number — it is the shaping. A pattern says something like “increase 1 st each end of every 4th row, 8 times”, and from that moment you are holding three numbers at once: which row you are on, how many increases you have worked, and how many rows until the next one.
Miss one and you do not have a wrong number written down. You have a sleeve that is the wrong shape, and the repair is unpicking rows. That asymmetry is why shaping deserves to be tracked by the tool rather than by the knitter, and it is the one thing the free browser counters leave out — row repeats are handled well by several of them, shaping by none.
| Row | What this page says | Increases done |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Increase row | 1 of 8 |
| 2 | Next increase in 3 rows (row 5) | 1 of 8 |
| 5 | Increase row | 2 of 8 |
| 28 | Next increase in 1 row (row 29) | 7 of 8 |
| 29 | Increase row | 8 of 8 |
| 30 | Shaping complete — work straight | 8 of 8 |
The last row of that table is the one that matters most. A schedule that simply repeats for ever will happily let you work a ninth increase into an eight-increase sleeve, and you will not find out until the piece is blocked. The schedule ends, and the page says so.
Why the count goes down as well as up
Frogging is not an error state, it is ordinary knitting. Ripping back two rows and a counter that only goes up are incompatible, so the minus key is as prominent as the plus one and every derived figure follows it: step back past row 29 and the eighth increase is un-done, the “shaping complete” message disappears, and the next increase is due again. Nothing is stored separately from the row number, which is what keeps the two from drifting apart.
Repeats and shaping are different things, and both can run at once
A repeat is a pattern that cycles — a twelve-row cable, an eight-row lace panel — and what you need from it is where you are inside the cycle. Shaping is a schedule that runs once and stops. Most pieces have both: a cable repeating every twelve rows while the side seam increases every fourth row, eight times. They are tracked separately here precisely because they are not the same kind of thing, and a single counter forced to do both ends up telling you neither clearly.
Reading the schedule off a pattern
Patterns phrase shaping in a few standard ways, and the translation is mechanical. “Every 4th row” means an interval of 4. “Every other row” and “every alternate row” both mean 2. “Every RS row” also means 2 when you are working flat in stocking stitch, because right-side rows are the odd ones. Where a pattern says “then every following 6th row” after a first block, that is a second schedule: finish the first, then set the interval to 6 and the first row to wherever you have got to.
What this does not do
It does not import a pattern, connect to Ravelry, hold a photograph of a chart, or run a separate counter for each piece of a garment. Those exist, several of them are good, and the native apps do them better than a web page will. It also does no gauge or stitch maths: it will not tell you how many stitches you should have after eight increases, because that depends on how many you increase per shaping row and on whether the pattern means each end or each row. Everything is kept in this browser, so it works in a room with no signal and clearing site data clears the count.
Online counter vs a clicker, an app, paper and a spreadsheet
Every counting method trades something away. This is what each one actually costs you.
| Feature | This online counter | Handheld clicker | Counter phone app | Pen and paper | Spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | $5–$15 | Free with ads, or paid | Cost of paper | Subscription |
| Anything to install | No | Buy the device | App store download | No | Yes, or a web login |
| Several counts at once | Unlimited | One per device | Usually limited | Yes, messy | Yes |
| Fix a miscount | Undo and redo | Start over | Sometimes | Cross it out | Edit the cell |
| Counts by more than one | Any step size | One at a time | Sometimes | Manual maths | Yes |
| Below zero | Yes | No | Rarely | Yes | Yes |
| Keeps the count if you close it | Saves automatically | Until you reset the dial | Yes | If you keep the paper | Yes |
| Works with no signal | Yes, after first load | Yes | Yes | Yes | Often not |
| Keyboard and shortcuts | Full | None | None | None | Partial |
| Sends your data anywhere | Never | Never | Often, for accounts and ads | Never | Yes, to the cloud |
Other counter types
The same counter, set up and explained for a specific job. Your counters are shared across all of them.
Online counter
The all-purpose counter. Any step size, any number of counters, negative values allowed.
Open online counter →Tally counter
Tally marks in groups of five for surveys, stock takes and wildlife counts.
Open tally counter →Click counter
A browser clicker that replaces the handheld thumb counter for door headcounts.
Open click counter →Lap counter
Count pool lengths, track laps and treadmill intervals without losing your place.
Open lap counter →Rep counter
Track reps and sets during a lifting session, with a step size for supersets.
Open rep counter →Score counter
A scoreboard for cards, darts and board games. One counter per player, negatives allowed.
Open score counter →Tasbeeh counter
A digital dhikr counter that stops at 33, 99 or 100 and keeps each dhikr separate.
Open tasbeeh counter →Differential counter
Six keys for a manual white cell differential, with an auto-stop and live percentages.
Open differential counter →Multi counter
Run as many counters as you like at once, side by side in a grid.
Open multi counter →Pitch counter
Count pitches, then get the rest days owed and the next eligible date.
Open pitch counter →Auto counter
Counts on its own from every 0.1 seconds to once an hour, and stops at your limit.
Open auto counter →Click speed test
Measure your clicks per second over 1 to 60 seconds, with your personal best kept on-device.
Open click speed test →Habit counter
Count toward a daily target and keep the streak, with a day boundary you choose.
Open habit counter →People counter
In and out at a door, with live occupancy against a capacity and a fix for drift.
Open people counter →Bird counter
A row per species recording the high count, so a circling flock is not counted twice.
Open bird counter →Inventory counter
A count sheet holding the book quantity beside the counted one, with the variance per line.
Open inventory counter →
Frequently asked questions
What is a knitting row counter?
A tally of the rows you have worked on a piece. It saves you recounting rows by eye, which gets unreliable in dark yarn and textured stitches. This one also tracks the pattern repeat and the shaping schedule, so it answers what to do on this row rather than only how many rows you have done.
How do I track increases every 4th row, 8 times?
Set shaping to increase, every 4, times 8, and the row the first one falls on. The counter then names each increase row as you reach it, counts them off, and tells you how many rows remain until the next. After the eighth it says the shaping is complete rather than continuing.
What does “every other row” mean on a pattern?
An interval of two: you work the shaping, then a plain row, then shaping again. “Every alternate row” means the same thing. “Every RS row” also means two when you are working flat in rows, because the right-side rows are the odd-numbered ones.
What happens if I have to frog a row?
Press the minus key, once per row ripped back. Everything derived follows it: the position in the repeat, the number of shaping rows worked and the countdown to the next all move back with the row number, because they are calculated from it rather than stored separately.
Does the row counter work for crochet too?
Yes. Rows and rounds count identically, and the repeat and shaping schedules work the same way. Set the repeat to your round length and the shaping interval to the increase schedule the pattern gives.
Can it track a pattern repeat and shaping at the same time?
Yes, and most garment pieces need both. A cable repeating every twelve rows and a side seam increasing every fourth row are tracked separately, because one cycles for ever and the other runs a fixed number of times and stops.
Will my row count save if I close the tab?
Yes. Every tap is written to this browser's local storage immediately, so closing the tab or locking the phone does not lose your place. It is tied to this browser on this device, and clearing site data will clear it.
Does it work without internet at a knitting group?
Yes. After the first visit the page is cached and opens with no signal. Nothing is sent to a server at any point, so there is nothing to be offline from.
Should I tap at the start or the end of a row?
At the end, every time, without exception. A counter tapped at the start is counting a row you have not worked, and the two conventions mixed in one project put you a row out, which is exactly the error the counter is there to prevent.
How is this different from a row counter app?
The apps import patterns, sync with Ravelry and hold a counter per garment piece, and for a complex project they are worth having. This is a web page: nothing to install, no account, and it opens in a second on any phone. What it adds over the other free browser counters is the shaping schedule.
Counting guides
Longer answers to the questions behind the counting.
- Swimming
How to count laps while swimming
Why swimmers lose count at length 14, and five methods that actually hold up.
- Tallying
Tally marks explained
Groups of five, the five-bar gate, and why the convention has survived for centuries.
- Events
How to do an accurate headcount
Counting people is easy. Counting them accurately, twice, is not.
- Habits
Track a daily habit streak
Why streak apps fail, and what a plain daily counter does better.
- Click speed
How to click faster
Hardware and grip account for most of the gap. Practice accounts for less than people think.
- Inventory
How to do a stock take
Counting is the easy part. Preparing, and knowing your count is right, is the job.
- Training
Reps and sets explained
How to read a programme, and why the rep range matters more than the total.
- Reference
Types of counters explained
Synchronous vs asynchronous, mod-N, ring and Johnson, plus mechanical and software counters.
- Build it
How to make a counter
Twenty lines gets you counting. Here is what to add after that, and why.
- Baseball
How to keep an official pitch count
Little League requires an official recorder at every game. Almost nobody explains the job.