Crochet raglan sweater calculator

A top-down raglan has to fit four measurements at once: neck, yoke depth, chest and upper arm. Increasing the body and sleeves on every round rarely gets both the chest and the arms right. This calculator gives the body and the sleeves their own increase schedules, so both come out at the size you want when you separate them at the underarm.

How to use the calculator

1. Enter the neck opening, the finished chest and upper arm (with ease), the yoke depth from neck to underarm and the underarm chain width.
2. Enter your stitch and row gauge.
3. Choose how to split the neck stitches between back, front and sleeves: 30/30/20/20 for a pullover, thirds and sixths, or a cardigan split.
4. Follow the yoke table. Increase rounds add 1 stitch each side of the raglan markers.

How the calculator works

The neck stitches are split by the proportions you chose, and the yoke depth gives the rounds:

Neck stitches = neck × stitch gauge

Yoke rounds = yoke depth × row gauge

Each body increase round adds 4 stitches to the front and back together; each sleeve increase round adds 2 to each sleeve:

Body increase rounds = (chest stitches − 2 × underarm − front − back) ÷ 4

Sleeve increase rounds = (upper arm stitches − underarm − sleeve) ÷ 2

Whichever part needs more increase rounds has them spread evenly through the yoke; the other part's rounds are picked evenly from among those, so both finish together and neither gets extra rounds. You end up with rounds that increase both, the body only, the sleeves only, or neither.

If either part needs more increase rounds than the yoke has, the calculator says so instead of giving a plan: deepen the yoke, widen the underarm chain, or work some double increases.

Reading your results

• Starting split: back / front / sleeve / sleeve.
• Yoke rounds, chest at separation and each sleeve at separation: in stitches and measurements.
• Yoke table: each group of rounds, what to increase and the stitch count after.
• Start and separation: where to place the markers, and how to separate the body from the sleeves with the underarm chains.

Worked example

An 18 in neck for a 40 in chest and 14 in upper arm, with 2 in underarm chains and an 8.5 in yoke, at 16 stitches and 12 rows per 4 in:

• Neck: 72 stitches: back 22, front 22, sleeves 14 each. Yoke: 26 rounds. Underarm: 8 stitches.
• Body increase rounds: ((160 − 16) − 44) ÷ 4 = 25. Sleeve increase rounds: ((56 − 8) − 14) ÷ 2 = 17.
• That is 17 rounds increasing both, 8 increasing the body only and 1 even.
• At separation: chest 160 stitches (40 in) and each sleeve 56 stitches (14 in).

Where the sleeves need more rounds than the body, the schedule flips. For a 34 in chest and 16 in upper arm with the same neck, yoke and gauge, the body needs 19 increase rounds and the sleeves 21: 19 rounds increase both, 2 the sleeves only, and 5 are worked even. The yoke ends at 232 stitches, with a 136-stitch chest and 64-stitch sleeves.

Accuracy and limits

• The schedule is exact and covered by our automated tests, which check that the body and sleeves get exactly the increase rounds they need and that the yoke's final count matches the separation.
• It assumes the same row gauge all through the yoke; measure your gauge in the round if you work in the round.
• For a higher back neck, work a few short rows across the back before joining in the round.

Common mistakes

1. Increasing everything every round. The chest and arms rarely need the same number of increases; follow the separate schedules.
2. Using measurements without ease. Enter the finished chest and upper arm, with ease already added. The garment ease calculator works it out.
3. Skipping the underarm chain. It gives depth under the arm; without it the yoke rides up.

Tips for more accurate results

• Try the yoke on before separating; add a round or two of even if it is too shallow.
• Plan the sleeves from the upper arm down with the sleeve taper calculator.

Frequently asked questions