Count what you have and what you want
Enter the starting and target stitch counts. Their difference is the number of single increases or decreases needed in one row or round. For a flat row, you can protect the same number of stitches at each edge. Those stitches stay in the final total and are worked without shaping.
For example, 80 to 88 stitches requires eight increases. With knitting kfb selected and no protected edges, the plan uses eight old stitches for the increases and distributes the other 72 over nine gaps: work 8 stitches, kfb, eight times in total, then work the last 8. Finish with 88 stitches.
The kind of increase changes the spacing
- Knitting kfb: work into the front and back of one existing stitch. It uses one old stitch and produces two.
- Knitting make one: add a stitch between existing stitches. It uses no old stitch. Flat rows place these inside the shaping area, away from its ends.
- Crochet increase: work two of your pattern’s stitch into one old stitch. US terminology is used.
- Decrease: knitting uses k2tog; crochet uses your pattern’s two-together decrease. Both use two old stitches and produce one.
Follow your pattern for the stitch technique. This tool plans locations; it does not choose left/right increase or decrease lean. Do not replace kfb with make one while keeping the same written spacing.
How the spacing is distributed
After accounting for stitches used by the changes, the remaining ordinary stitches are distributed over the gaps with counts differing by at most one. A flat row has a gap before, between and after the changes. A round has one gap per change, starting at your marker. The displayed original-stitch numbers help check positions without counting newly made stitches.
Starting chains and joining slip stitches are outside the crochet round count. Follow the pattern to join or continue in a spiral. More changes than can fit in the available stitches are rejected; split that shaping over several rows instead.
Keep your pattern’s structure
This plan does not preserve lace, ribbing, cables or colorwork repeats, and does not stagger changes over later rows. For shaped mosaic charts, use the mosaic maker’s own count-changing rounds so its anchor checks and written instructions stay consistent.
Print the instructions or choose Save as PDF. Large plans can use multiple pages. Optional My projects saving preserves counts, construction, craft, protected edges and the increase method.