Questions about the pattern maker

A flat-panel drop-shoulder pullover: a front and a back that are rectangles, and two sleeves that are rectangles or straight tapers, sewn together. It writes every row, draws the schematic with your finished numbers and prints the pattern. That is the one construction today; more are planned.

Use a soft tape over a thin top. Chest goes all the way round at the fullest part. Body length runs from the top of the shoulder to where the hem should sit. Shoulder width runs across the back from one shoulder point to the other. Arm length runs from the shoulder point to the wrist bone with the arm straight. Upper arm and wrist go all the way round. Head goes round the widest part, over the ears.

Ease is how much bigger the sweater is than you. Chest ease is added to your chest, upper arm ease to the sleeve top and cuff ease to the cuff. The tool uses whatever you type; it does not choose a fit for you. A finished sweater you already like is a good guide: measure it flat and compare.

Make it in the yarn, hook and stitch you will use, wash or block it the way you will treat the sweater, and let it dry. Then count stitches across a measured width and rows over a measured height, away from the edges. Type exactly what you counted and the width and height you counted over. Half stitches are fine.

You choose. By default it does not count for single and half double crochet and does count for double crochet, and the switch changes it. When it counts, every row starts with the turning chain standing in for the first stitch and ends with a stitch in the top of the previous turning chain; when it does not, it is skipped. The foundation chain changes to match. Count your swatch the same way.

Some stitch patterns repeat over a set number of stitches, written as a multiple of 4 plus 1 and so on. Type the multiple of stitches in a row, not of the foundation chain. Every piece then starts with a count that fits it, so the repeat is whole across the row. The finished chest is then within one repeat of your target. Each finished measurement on the page shows the size you aimed at beside it, and the page warns when a repeat moves a size more than 5 percent from it. For plain single, half double or double crochet leave it at 1 plus 0.

The neck opening has to go over your head and then stay on your shoulders. The tool aims the whole neck edge at your head measurement plus 5 cm, and the neck count has the same odd or even as the panel so both shoulders are equal. Then it checks the opening against your shoulder width. It must leave at least 2 cm of your own shoulder each side of the opening, or the sweater would slide off, and the pattern is not written. Under 4 cm each side the page warns that it may slip off one shoulder. A square front neck narrows the opening: each centimetre of depth takes a centimetre off its width.

Mostly not for small children. A child's head is large for their shoulders, so a slit neck wide enough to pass the head is usually too wide to stay on. We tried 2,000 invented bodies in typical child proportions with a chest of 50 to 70 cm (about 20 to 27.5 in): the boat neck was refused for all but one of them. A square front neck about 10 cm (4 in) deep passed for nearly every child with a chest of 60 to 70 cm. With a chest under 60 cm, even that deep neck left under 4 cm of shoulder each side for nine children in ten, and the page says so plainly. A sweater with a buttoned shoulder opening suits small children better; this tool does not write one yet. For adults the sample starts with a square front neck 3 in (7.6 cm) deep, which stayed on every adult body we tried; the wider boat neck warned that it may slip off one shoulder for about one adult in three.

Stitches and rows are whole numbers, so a length can only land on a whole stitch or row. The tool picks the nearest whole count, then works the finished size back from that count and shows it, so you see the real result. Each panel is at most half a repeat off, and each length at most half a row.

It is an estimate. It divides the area of the four pieces by the area of your whole swatch, multiplies by the yarn your swatch used, adds 10 percent for seams and ends and rounds up. Running short is the costly mistake, so buy one extra ball.

Both. The switch renames every stitch (US single, half double and double crochet are UK double, half treble and treble) and never changes a count.

In this browser only. They are saved as you type, they never leave your device and there is no account. Save a backup file to keep a copy or to move to another browser.

Yes. Yokewright is a fixed set of arithmetic rules, written out on the how it works page. The pattern code printed on each pattern names the exact inputs and the version of the rules.

Yokewright is an independent tool. Yokewright is not affiliated with any yarn company, pattern publisher, crochet guild or standards body.