How to Keep Track of Rows in Knitting

Two kinds of tracking

There are two separate jobs here, and it helps to keep them apart.

• A running count. A number you update at the end of each row, so you always know where you are without looking at the knitting.
• A record in the fabric. Markers, ridges and Vs you can count later to check the running count, or to recover when you lose it.

The running count is fast. The fabric is the truth. Good tracking uses both. Our guide to counting rows in knitting explains how to read the fabric itself.

Keep a running count

Pencil and paper

Tally marks on paper or on a printed copy of the pattern work, and cost nothing. Lion Brand's one warning applies to every running-count method: it only works if you remember to update it. A tally has another weakness. It is easy to lose the sheet, or to forget whether you marked the row you just finished.

A small improvement is to write the row number, not just a tick. "14" is harder to misread than fourteen strokes.

A mechanical counter

Row counters slide onto a needle, clip to your bag or sit beside you. Noble Knits describes the main styles: a barrel that slides onto the end of a straight needle and is turned after each row, and clicker counters that you press after each row. Its tip is to write your current row down before you put the knitting away, in case someone clicks the counter while you are gone. KnitPro suggests locking the counter during breaks if it has a lock.

See what is a row counter for how the types compare.

A phone app

An app does the same job as a clicker, with a few things a mechanical counter cannot do: several counters per project, notes tied to particular rows, and undo when you tap twice.

Row Counter: Knit & Crochet

Counts rows and stitches for knitting and crochet projects, with linked counters and per-row notes.

Get it on Google Play

In Row Counter the whole counter screen is the +1 button, so you can tap with a needle still in your hand. You can also turn on volume-button counting and press a phone button instead of looking at the screen. Tap-lock stops stray taps when the phone is in your project bag, and each project keeps its own undo.

Put a record in the fabric

Markers every 5 or 10 rows

KnitPro suggests placing a marker every 5 or 10 rows, then counting the markers and multiplying. A locking stitch marker or a safety pin on an edge stitch works. This turns a long recount into a short one: count the markers, then count the few rows above the last one.

Mark the rows that matter

Lion Brand suggests marking cable rows: after working a cable, put a marker or safety pin on one of the cable stitches. Later you can count the Vs above it to see how many rows remain before the next cross. The same idea works for the start of shaping, the first row of a lace chart, or any row you will want to find again.

Lifelines

A lifeline does not count rows, but it protects the count you have. Brooklyn Tweed describes it as a strand of smooth scrap yarn threaded through every live stitch on the needle. If you make a mistake later, you can rip back to that row knowing exactly where you are. It suggests placing them at checkpoints where you are confident the work is correct. A lifeline at the end of a pattern repeat gives you a known row number and a safe point in one.

Track repeats separately from rows

Patterns often say something like "repeat rows 1 to 8 until the piece measures 30 cm" or "work the 12-row repeat five times". The Craft Yarn Council's guide shows how patterns write these: an asterisk marks the start of a stitch repeat, as in *K2, P2; rep from * across, and instructions such as "Rep Rows 1 and 2" tell you to keep working the same rows.

Here a single number is not enough. You need to know which row of the repeat you are on and how many repeats are done. You can work both out from a total row count with some arithmetic, but mid-project that is where mistakes creep in.

Simpler ways to handle it:

• Two counters. One for the row within the repeat, one for the number of repeats. Advance the repeat counter each time the row counter finishes a cycle.
• A wrapping counter. Set the row counter to count 1 to 8 and start again, so it always shows the row of the repeat.
• Linked counters. In Row Counter, a repeat counter can be linked to the row counter and set to advance every N rows. With the row counter set to wrap at 8 and the repeat counter linked every 8 rows, tapping rows also counts repeats, and undo reverses both.

Notes for the rows where things change

The other thing that gets lost is the instruction. "Start the neck decreases on row 47" is easy to miss when you are watching a film. Writing the row number in the margin of the pattern helps. In Row Counter you can pin a note to a row, and it appears when the counter reaches that row.

A routine that works

1. Before you cast on, decide how you will track: paper, counter or app.
2. Update the count at the end of every row, before you do anything else.
3. Put a marker in every 10th row, and on any row the pattern calls out.
4. For repeats, track the row of the repeat and the repeat number separately.
5. Before you put the work away, check the count against the fabric.
6. If they disagree, recount the fabric and correct the counter.

KnitPro notes that simple fabric such as plain garter stitch can be worked without a counter, while cables, lace, sweaters and shawls benefit most. Use as much tracking as the pattern needs.