Clicker, Paper or App? Row Counters Compared

Ask ten knitters what they count their rows with and you’ll hear ten answers, from a pencil stub to a smartwatch, each one given as the only thing that works. They’re all right, for their own knitting. Here are the common row counters compared on what matters when your hands are full of yarn: how you add a row, how you take one back, and what becomes of the count when life interrupts. None of them is the best for everyone, and by the end you’ll know which is the best for you.

What a row counter has to do

A counter has one job and five ways to fail at it. Before you pick one, ask:

1. Can you add a row without putting your knitting down? The more a counter interrupts you, the more often you’ll skip it “just this once”.
2. Can you tell whether this row is already counted? Every knitter asks that after the phone rings.
3. Can you take a count back? Sooner or later you’ll count a row twice, or rip three out.
4. Does the count survive your project bag? Buttons get pressed, dials get turned and paper gets left on the sofa.
5. Can it hold more than one number? Shaping and stitch patterns need the row and the repeat.

No counter gets full marks on all five, which is why so many knitters end up with two.

Pencil and paper

Tally marks are the oldest counter there is: one stroke for each row, and every fifth stroke drawn across the four before it. You can also tick the rows off on the pattern itself, or write the numbers 1 to 40 down the margin and cross each one out when its row is done.

The good. It costs nothing and never runs out of battery. It holds as many numbers as you like, so a second column for repeats, or a note such as “row 23: moved the marker”, is no trouble. And it’s the only counter that keeps a history. You can see what you did, and in which order.

The catch. You need both hands, a pencil nearby and something to write on, which is awkward on a bus. Paper gets lost, or stays at home while the knitting goes out. And nothing stops you from making the same mark twice.

Clickers

A hand tally counter is the chrome clicker used for counting people through a door. You press its lever with your thumb, and a four-digit number goes up by one. Yarn shops sell smaller plastic ones, some on a cord to wear round your neck, and digital ones that strap to a finger and show the count on a little screen.

The good. One press, made by feel, without looking and almost without letting go of the needle. It counts as high as any project needs.

The catch. Most clickers only count up. To take a single row back on a mechanical one, you turn the knob to zero and click your way up again. Loose in a project bag, a clicker without a lock counts every bump against your keys. And it can’t tell you whether you’ve pressed it for this row.

Counters that live on your needles

Barrel counters

A barrel counter is a small cylinder with two numbered dials, one for the tens and one for the ones. It slides onto a straight needle and sits against the knob at the end. For circular needles there’s a kind with a loop, which hangs on the needle the way a stitch marker does. At the end of a row, you turn the dial by hand.

The good. It’s on the needle, so it goes wherever the knitting goes. It’s cheap enough to keep one in every project bag. And to take a row back, you turn the dial the other way.

The catch. Turning it takes a free hand and a look. The dials get nudged in a bag. And two dials stop at 99: from row 100 on, you carry the hundreds in your head.

Counting chains, rings and bracelets

A counting chain is a string of small linked rings, each one stamped or beaded with a number. It rides on the needle between two stitches. Whenever you reach it, you slip into the following ring, and the number now hanging from your needle is your row. Slipping the chain is the counting, so there’s no second step to forget. Most chains have 10 rings, and then the count begins again unless the chain has a clip to keep the tens.

Row counter rings are worn on a finger. They have two numbered bands that turn, like a small combination lock, and they count to 99. An abacus bracelet has two strands of beads, usually 9 for the ones and 9 for the tens, and you slide one bead along for every row.

The good. They’re on the needle or on you, so they can’t be left behind, and they need no batteries.

The catch. The range is short, beads can slip along a slack cord, and a ring or a bracelet still takes a free hand.

Markers in the fabric

A locking stitch marker clipped into every 20th row isn’t a counter in the usual sense, since it shows no number. It’s the one record that can’t be bumped, forgotten or left behind, because it’s part of the knitting. Use it together with any counter on this page. When the counter is in doubt, you count up from the last marker, and not from the cast-on. The guide to stitch markers and lifelines shows how to place them.

Row counter apps

An app turns the phone that’s already beside you into a counter.

The good. A good app answers most of the five questions at once: a tap adds a row, an undo takes it back, the count is saved the moment it changes, and nothing in a bag can press a locked phone. An app can also hold two numbers side by side, the row and the repeat, which is what you need to keep track of increases and decreases.

The catch. A phone has to be within reach and awake, and a screen that has locked is slower than a pencil. It’s also the most distracting thing in the room. And apps differ in what they ask of you in return.

Of the 12 row counter apps we compared on the App Store in October 2026, 8 sell subscriptions, 6 have an Apple Watch app, and 3 carry the "Data Not Collected" privacy label. The biggest are broad pattern and stash apps with a counter inside.

So decide what you’re looking for before you choose: a counter and nothing else, or a home for your patterns and your yarn as well. See the row counter apps compared side by side for the phones and watches each one runs on, and what each one costs.

Rowpip, the one we make, is at the plain end: one project and one big number, with the whole screen as the button. It has −1 and Undo, it keeps the phone’s screen awake while the counter is showing, and it has no ads and no account.

On a watch

A counter app on a smartwatch moves the button to your wrist, the one place that a hand holding a needle can always reach. It answers the first question better than anything else here, at the price of owning the watch. There’s more about that on the page for a hands-free row counter.

Row counters compared, side by side

Counter	To add a row	To take one back	Its weak spot
Pencil and paper	put the knitting down and make a mark	cross the mark out	gets lost or left at home
Hand clicker	press it once	most can’t	gets pressed in the bag
Barrel counter	turn a dial	turn it back	stops at 99
Counting chain	slip into the next ring	slip back	begins again after 10
App on a phone	tap the screen	undo	the phone has to be near and awake
App on a watch	tap your wrist	undo	you need the watch

Which one suits your knitting

• One project, knitted at home. Pencil and paper, on the pattern itself. Nothing beats it for a sweater that comes with a page of notes.
• Knitting on the move. A barrel counter or a counting chain, because it can’t be left behind, or an app, because your phone comes along anyway.
• Long plain stretches. For 140 rows of stockinette, pick something that adds one with a single press: a clicker or an app. Add a marker every 20 rows, and a miscount never costs you more than 19 rows of recounting.
• Shaping and pattern repeats. Something that holds two numbers: a grid on paper, or an app with repeats.
• Hands that don’t like letting go. If putting the needles down is the real obstacle, look at a watch, or at an app whose whole screen is the button.
• Belt and braces. Any counter, plus markers in the fabric. Markers cost next to nothing, and they catch what every counter misses.

Two habits that matter more than the counter

Whatever you choose, it only works if you use it at the same moment every time: at the end of the row, before you turn the work. A count made halfway along is the one you won’t trust afterwards.

And never let the counter be your only record. Any number can be wrong, and a marker clipped into a stitch can’t be. With both, every counter above is good enough, and the guide to how to count rows in knitting shows how they fit together.