Stitch Keeper — Free Row Counter for Crochet and Knitting

Screenshots

A blanket with a note, the time worked, rows in a 12-row repeat and squares joined counting down to 48

The project list, with a finished project under its own heading

A beanie: rounds counting down to 60, and a decrease every 8th round counting along with them

About Stitch Keeper: Row Counter

Stitch Keeper is a row counter. You tap to count, and every tap is saved the moment you make it, so a phone that locks in your project bag mid-row loses nothing. The whole counter is the button, because you use it with a hook or a needle in the other hand. A project with up to three counters gives them the whole screen, so the number is big enough to read from your lap.

Stitch Keeper pays you nothing. There are no coins in it, no balance and no cash-out. It sits with the tools, like Apps That Pay and Community Stress First Aid, away from the reward apps.

Each project holds as many counters as it needs — rows on one, rounds or increases or squares joined on another — each with a name you choose. Give a counter a repeat length and it shows where you are inside the repeat and how many full repeats you have finished. You stop doing that arithmetic in your head. There is an undo for the tap you didn’t mean, and edit and reset sit behind a menu where a stray thumb won’t find them.

On a phone, each tap gives a light buzz and the tap that finishes a repeat gives a stronger one, so you can follow the count without looking. The screen stays awake while you count. After half an hour without a touch it lets go, so a phone left in a bag goes dark instead of counting the bag's contents.

A counter can also have a target and count down to it, “20 to go” and then “Target reached”, with a full buzz on the tap that gets there. A counter can count along with another, so “Decrease every 8th” moves with every tap on Rounds and says when the decrease round comes. Each project keeps a note, the time you have worked on it and a Finished label, which moves it down the list without locking its counters.

If you use the same counters on every sock or every square, save them as a setup and start the next project from it. A setup keeps the counters, their repeats and their targets, and never copies a count.

It is coming to Google Play as a free app with one banner ad, on the project list only. There is no ad on the counter screen, and there won’t be. That screen is held open for hours while both hands are busy. Your projects are stored on your device, there is no account, and it has its own privacy policy saying exactly what the app sends.

How to use it in the moment

Start a project: give it a name and mark it as crochet or knitting. It opens straight onto a row counter.
Tap anywhere on the counter to count a row. Tap Undo one if you miscounted.
Add a second counter with the + button for rounds, increases or squares joined, and give either one a repeat length or a target.
Watch the repeat line under the number: it tells you where you are inside the pattern repeat.
Save the project's counters as a setup from the ⋯ menu, and pick it under Start from next time.

Features

The whole counter is the button, sized to the screen when a project has up to three counters
As many named counters per project as you need
Pattern repeats: where you are in the repeat, and how many you have finished
A target per counter, counted down as “20 to go”
Counters that count along with another, like a decrease every 8th round
A note per project, the time worked on it, and a Finished label
Undo, and edit and reset behind a menu
Every tap saved the moment you make it
Saved setups to start the next project from, without the counts
Rename or delete a project from inside it
A photo for each project, on Android
A light buzz per tap and a stronger one at the end of a repeat, on Android
A home screen widget with a +1 button, and a +1 row Quick Settings tile, on Android
Works with large text and screen readers, on phones and tablets
No account, no sign-up, and no ad on the counter screen

Frequently asked questions

When is it coming out?

It is coming soon to Google Play, for Android phones and tablets. This page will carry the download button the day the listing goes live, and not before. Until then, the browser version is the same app, built from the same code.

Does this app pay me anything?

No. It counts rows and pays nothing: no coins, no balance, no cash-out. The apps we publish that pay are on our apps page.

Is it free?

Yes. The Android app will carry one banner ad on the project list and none on the counter screen, and there is nothing to buy. The browser version has no ads at all, because the ad network has no browser version.

Where are my projects kept?

On your device. There is no account and no sync. The browser version keeps them in that browser's storage, so they won't follow you to another browser or to your phone. Clearing your site data loses them. More in the privacy policy.

Is there a gauge or yarn calculator?

No. It is a counter and a project log. That is what people who knit and crochet ask a phone for mid-row, so that is what it does.

Is there an iPhone version?

Not yet. It is coming to Google Play first. The browser version runs in Safari on an iPhone in the meantime.

How does it compare to knitCompanion?

knitCompanion works on the pattern itself, with markers and charts, and its marking-up tools are a yearly subscription. Stitch Keeper only counts. We set out what knitCompanion costs, and what it does better, in is knitCompanion free.

How does it compare to Loopsy?

Loopsy keeps patterns, yarn stash and counters together on Apple devices, with a weekly import cap on the free plan and a yearly or monthly Pro. Stitch Keeper only counts, and it is not on the App Store. We read what Loopsy charges in is Loopsy free.