Knitting Decrease Calculator

The arithmetic is two divisions. Total shaping = start stitches − end stitches (96 to 72 is 24 decreases). Spacing = rows ÷ total: 36 rows ÷ 24 decreases = a decrease every 1.5 rows — which in practice means alternating “decrease every row” and “decrease every other row”, or clustering the decreases where the pattern reads best. When the spacing is a clean whole number — 48 rows ÷ 24 = every 2nd row — the shaping is perfectly even.

Where the decreases go is a style choice the calculator lets you pick. Evenly across the row suits circular yokes and hat crowns: the instruction “(k N, k2tog) × M” spaces M decreases uniformly. At each end suits flat pieces with visible edges — raglans, sleeve caps, neck shaping — where “k1, ssk, work to last 3, k2tog, k1” keeps a one-stitch selvedge and a clean decrease line you can seam against.

A sleeve needs to go from 96 stitches at the underarm to 72 at the cuff over 36 rows. Total: 24 decreases. Spacing: 36 ÷ 24 = 1.5 rows between decreases, so the calculator floors the interval to every row and banks the 12 leftover plain rows at the start of the piece, where they read as a straight section: rows 1–12 work even, then one decrease every row from row 13 through row 36 — 24 single decreases that land on exactly 72 stitches at the cuff. The row-by-row table shows each shaping row’s instruction and the running stitch count, so you can mark the pattern before you start.

For a gentler example — a hat crown decreasing 8 stitches every other round — enter start 96, end 8, rows 22 with even placement and the table lays out the classic “(k10, k2tog)” rounds. When the total exceeds the rows (rapid shaping), the calculator spreads multiple decreases across each shaping row instead.