How to increase or decrease evenly

“Increase 8 stitches evenly across the row” is one of the most common lines in a pattern, and one of the most annoying to work out on the spot. Here's the method, with examples you can follow.

Increasing evenly across a row

1. Divide the stitches on the needle by the number of increases.
2. If it divides evenly, knit that many stitches, then increase, and repeat.
3. If there's a remainder, some sections get one stitch more: as many as the remainder.

Example: 100 stitches, increase 8. 100 ÷ 8 = 12 remainder 4, so 4 sections of 13 stitches and 4 of 12 (4 × 13 + 4 × 12 = 100). Work *knit 13, make 1* four times, then *knit 12, make 1* four times; mixing the long and short sections spreads them even better. You end with 108 stitches.

Knitting flat? Start and end with half a section, so there's no increase right at the edge: knit 6 or 7, then the repeats, and the leftover stitches at the end.

Decreasing evenly across a row

A decrease such as knit two together uses two stitches, so count it inside the section.

Example: 100 stitches, decrease 8. Sections of 12 or 13 stitches again (4 of each). Each one ends with the two stitches you knit together: *knit 11, knit 2 together* four times and *knit 10, knit 2 together* four times. You end with 92 stitches.

Over many rows, for sleeves and waists

Here the question is how often to work an increase row. For a sleeve that increases at both edges, every increase row adds 2 stitches.

Example: add 14 stitches over 60 rows. That's 7 increase rows. 60 ÷ 7 = 8 remainder 4, so 4 increases every 9th row and 3 every 8th row (4 × 9 + 3 × 8 = 60). Start with the longer gaps at the cuff and the shorter ones toward the top, or alternate them.

Crochet works the same

Increasing is working two stitches into one; decreasing is working two together. The arithmetic, sections of the stitch count divided by the number of changes, is exactly the same.

Let YarnSpace work it out

The Increase & Decrease calculator in YarnSpace does this for you: enter your stitches and how many to add or take away, across a row or over many rows, and it writes out the instructions step by step.

Increases and decreases, written out for you

YarnSpace is the knitting and crochet app for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.

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