Why your stitch count is off — and how to find the mistake

Updated 13 November 2026 · 7 min read · by FamCraftsShop

The eight most common reasons an amigurumi round ends with one stitch too many or too few, how to spot each one, and when it's safe to fudge it.

You reach the end of round 9, count, and get 29 instead of 30. It happens to everyone, beginners and experienced makers alike. The good news is that there are only a handful of causes, and once you know them you can usually find the problem in a minute or two.

First: is the pattern right?

Before you pull anything out, check the line itself. Designers make mistakes too, especially in self-published patterns that haven't been tested. For a round with a repeat, work out:

• how many stitches one repeat uses (sc uses 1, inc uses 1, dec uses 2),
• how many it makes (sc makes 1, inc makes 2, dec makes 1),
• multiply both by the number of repeats.

The stitches used must equal the previous round's count, and the stitches made must equal this round's count. For example (3 sc, inc) x6 uses 4 × 6 = 24 and makes 5 × 6 = 30. If the round before had 24, the line is right. If it had 30, the line is wrong — the designer probably meant (4 sc, inc) x6 (36).

This is exactly the arithmetic StitchCheck does for every round when you paste a pattern in. A typo like a wrong repeat count or a missing stitch shows up as a red line, so you know whether to blame the pattern or your work.

The eight usual suspects

1. A lost stitch marker

In a spiral there's no visible seam, so if your marker slips out or you forget to move it, you can easily work a few stitches past the true end of the round — or stop a few short. Use a locking marker, move it at the end of every round, and when counting, start from the stitch just after the marker.

2. Missing the last stitch

The last stitch of a round sits right next to the marker and can be hard to see. Many people miss it and go straight into the next round, losing one stitch each time. If your count is one short on every round, this is almost always why.

3. Working into the first stitch twice

The opposite mistake: at the start of a new round, the stitch with the marker in it gets worked, then the hook goes back into it. One extra stitch per round.

4. Counting the join

If you work joined rounds, the slip stitch that joins and the chain that starts the next round are not stitches. Working into the slip stitch adds one. Working into the chain adds another.

5. An increase that became a single stitch (or the reverse)

When you're chatting or watching something, (sc, inc) turns into (sc, sc) or (inc, inc) without you noticing. These errors are usually off by exactly one or two.

6. A decrease worked into one stitch

An invisible decrease goes through the front loops of two stitches. If the hook only catches one stitch, you've made a normal single crochet and the count is one too high.

7. Losing your place in a long repeat

In (5 sc, inc) x6 it's easy to do four sc or six sc in one of the repeats. Counting out loud, or saying "one, two, three, four, five, inc" as you go, fixes most of these.

8. Miscounting the finished round

Counting stitches in tight amigurumi fabric is genuinely hard. Count the V shapes on top of the round, not the posts, and count twice. If you get two different numbers, count a third time in groups of the repeat (for 30 stitches in a six-repeat round, count six groups of five).

Finding where it went wrong

• Look at the pattern of increases. In a round like (3 sc, inc) x6 the increases should form six evenly spaced points. A gap with five plain stitches, or two increases close together, shows you exactly where the error is.
• Count the round below. If the previous round was already off, the mistake is earlier.
• Frog back to the problem. Pull the yarn to undo stitches back to the error, then pick up the live loop. Undoing one round takes a few minutes; carrying a mistake through ten rounds can change the shape of the whole piece.

When it's fine to fudge it

Being one stitch out in a long run of plain rounds usually doesn't matter. You can quietly make one extra increase (or decrease) in the next round to get back to the right number, and nobody will ever see it.

Being off during the increase or decrease rounds matters more, because those rounds create the shape. A head that should be a smooth sphere can end up lumpy or with a point. A count that's wrong by more than two, or wrong in the same direction several rounds in a row, is worth undoing.

Try it

This pattern has two mistakes in it. Open it and see which rounds StitchCheck flags, then read the messages to see why.

R1: MR 6 (6)
R2: 6 inc (12)
R3: (sc, inc) x6 (18)
R4: (2 sc, inc) x6 (24)
R5: (3 sc, inc) x5 (30)
R6-9: sc around (30)
R10: (3 sc, dec) x6 (24)
R11: (2 sc, dec) x6 (16)
R12: (sc, dec) x6 (12)

Round 5 has one repeat too few (it uses 20 of 24 stitches and makes 25), and round 11 has the right instructions but the wrong count at the end (six repeats of three stitches make 18, not 16). Round 12 gets flagged too: it is written for 18 stitches, but the count above it says 16. Fix round 11's count and both warnings go away — a good example of why it pays to start with the first red line.