How to Count Crochet Stitches
Learning how to count crochet stitches is easier than you think. This video tutorial will show you how.
Learn how to count your crochet stitches in your work. Plus, learn how to find crochet stitches in any crochet work. Heidi uses a crochet swatch she created and explains visually how to search for the stitches, count them, and compare the beginning to the end to see if it is aligned and even all the way through.
Counting crochet stitches while you are crocheting or after you have worked a row, or larger part, assures that the end product will be the correct measurement. Not only that, but counting keeps your crochet straight and perfectly angled. As you'll see and learn in this video tutorial, the swatch doesn't have the correct number of stitches in the last row, which makes the swatch look uneven.
Learning how to count crochet stitches is vitally important when it comes to crochet basics. If you have yet to learn how to count the rows, be sure to check out the sister page to this one, How to Count Crochet Rows. Once you learn both of these techniques, you will have perfect crochet pieces every time!
How to Count Crochet Stitches
How to Find a Stitch:
Learn how to count stitches in crochet with this technique. This example is single crochet but if you know what other stitches look like, you can use this guide to find them as well. Click on any image to enlarge.
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Look at your crochet swatch or piece of work. Look for the "V" shape and the horizontal bar below it. Or, if the swatch is turned the other way, it will be a horizontal bar with an "arrow" pointing to it.
If you look at the image of the swatch below, you can see the stitches marked. There is a "V" with a horizontal bar below each.
How to Count Stitches in a Row:
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As you saw in the image above, there are 7 visible stitches in that row. However, it's very important that when you're counting stitches, you also add one on either side of the visual stitches. So, in this case, there are 9 stitches total. This is marked in the image below.
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Instead of marking over the stitches, this image shown below has arrows pointing to all the stitches in a row. Again, there are 9 total.
Can you find the stitches now?
Why is it Important to Count Stitches?
Counting stitches, like counting rows, helps you to keep track of the pattern you are working with. If you keep count while you work, it will help you manage your progress.
Counting after you are finished will help you to see if you have completed all the stitches and rows as set by the pattern or tutorial. By counting stitches, you can see if your first row is equal to your last.
As Heidi mentions in the video, her swatch is one stitch narrower at the end than at the beginning and she can tell this by counting the stitches throughout the piece.
The last thing we want to do is have to redo our crochet project, so count, count, count!
How often do you count stitches when crocheting?
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JaneEK
Nov 17, 2018
When I was a beginning crocheter I really struggled with this, especially with some of the more complex patterns where you need to skip a stitch or two or add additional stitches (like when youre creating a Fan). I still have to mind what Im doing or Ill find myself frogging a row or two. Yet one more reason why I appreciate designers who include stitch counts at the end of each row. Leave a comment...
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