Stitching School :: Counting Rows

11/13/2008

I was so happy to get a How To request over on my FaceBook wall from an old classmate of mine:
“Hey kristin, I LEARNED HOW TO KNIT ! AND HOW TO PURL! AND HOW TO DO CABLES! all from youtube! I’m so excited because now i can make really pretty scarves and no longer feel completely inept at knitting. Except I have no idea how to count rows. MAKE A CRAFT LEFTOVER BLOG ON HOW TO COUNT ROWS! DO IT!”

I love requests like that! What a great idea for a how to post. I think I will! So here we go!

When counting a row, the tip of your knitting needle is the best tool out there. The thing to remember is that Knit stitches look like a “V” and Purl stitches look like a dash “-”.

When working in garter stitch, a pattern will often say “10 garter ridges”. Well, garter ridges are the purl rows and the little valley is the knit. If you pull the ridges away from each other, you can see the knit row hiding down there. I knit this swatch at a very loose gauge so you can see them pretty easy.

Seed Stitch is simply a knit, purl and then a purl knit.

Anyway, so with a cable, put your needle at the hole of your cable (where it twists) and that is your cable row, from there you can count up rows or down rows to figure out where you are in your pattern.

Sorry this photos is a little blurry and the others look so funky colorwise, I tried several times and just couldn’t get the picture to turn out. It’s one of those nasty cold overcast days all day yesterday and today. No good light at all. I need to get a tripod and start using that now that it’s overcast all the time.

Now today is the last day to get your hands on a Holiday Craft Leftovers Monthly Issue. There is a great buy one get one 20% off sale going on too, so make sure to pick one up for yourself and a crafty buddy too! It’s a great Christmas gift for under $20.

Tags: basics, counting rows, free-knit, how to, learn to knit

abigail williams

amazing! I will never get lost again now that I have this to reference! thanks a bunch Kristin!
dee

I need help … is there a youtub video to show how to go back and do corrections on a Knit and or a Pearl. I am doing a seed pattern and 6 loops back I made a mistake… what do I do.
Suzanne

Finally, something I can use that shows how to count rows. Thank you. I have been knitting for years and still couldn’t count rows for the life of me until I found your site. Knitting will be more fun now that I won’t have to unravel as much when I loose count.
Wendy

This helps, a little, and I was able to do it when I first started. But I got ambitious finally and have a pattern that’s more than just simple purl/knit stitches. I have knit 2 together and YO and I keep getting lost in the pattern. And unfortunately I have to keep unraveling…this final third section of my pattern just doesn’t want to get done! (:

Any other advice? Thanks!
admin

Wendy, without drawing it out, it’s kind of hard to explain, so draw it out I will :) Give me a couple days and I’ll post about how to count rows when you have decreases and yarn overs in the mix. Also, check out the post about picking up dropped stitches (the life line is what you will want to read about) and that will help out – at least with the ripping back. http://www.craftleftovers.com/blog/archives/694
Deb

I am a beginner knitting a hat with 2 needles knit one row, purl the next. I lost count of the rows but when I count the knits on one side and then turn my work around and count the purls, I have twice as many purls as I do knits so which tells me what row I am on?
admin

If you look at the first big picture you can see on the right side there are knit stitches, they look like little “V”s. You can count the Vs and that will give you your row count. I always find it easier to count the knit side though, so try that out and go with that number. I hope this helps. I wish I could just sit down with you guys and say “ah, i see, this is what row you are on, and you count it like so”. Someday :)
Evelyn Margaret

I've been knitting about twenty-five (25) years and never knew how to count my rows. I usually put a different color threat in the middle of the rows every five or ten rows. This helps me not to slip up, but I loved your pictures. I can now count knit rows and count purl rows. You made it look so easy, even us old timers can get the hang of it. Many thanks!! EMB
Evelyn Margaret

I've been knitting about twenty-five (25) years and never knew how to count my rows. I usually put a different color threat in the middle of the rows every five or ten rows. This helps me not to slip up, but I loved your pictures. I can now count knit rows and count purl rows. You made it look so easy, even us old timers can get the hang of it. Many thanks!! EMB
Domesticathlete

thanks for the help!

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Stitching School :: Counting Rows

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