Knitting increase and decrease calculator
Enter your current and target stitch counts to spread kfb increases or k2tog decreases across one row. The calculator accounts for every old stitch and shows the instructions in order.
Distribute changes across one row
Use plain knitting with kfb increases or k2tog decreases. Counts include the whole row; shaped edges, cables and other pattern repeats need their own placement.
Example measurements are filled in. Replace them with your own, then calculate.
Choose the operation your fabric needs
kfb increases inside a stitch; it is not the same placement as a make-one increase between stitches. k2tog makes a right-leaning decrease. This plain-row distribution does not choose paired shaping for a garment or preserve lace and cable repeats.
To go from ten stitches to eight, work k2, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k2. The six plain stitches and four stitches used in decreases consume all ten; six plain stitches plus two decrease results leave eight.
Keep the edges or repeats separately
If two edge stitches at each side must remain unchanged, subtract four from both input counts, calculate the middle, then add those edges back to the instructions. More than doubling the count or more than halving it needs a different operation or several rows.
Check the knitting abbreviations or follow the pattern’s own shaping instructions.