How to read size brackets in knitting and crochet patterns

Garment patterns are written once for every size. Instead of six patterns, you get one, with the numbers for each size packed into parentheses. It saves paper and makes for the most common mistake in knitting and crochet: reading the wrong number in the middle of a row.

How the brackets work

Take this line:

Cast on 88 (96, 104, 112, 120) sts.

The pattern lists its sizes at the top, for example:

Sizes: XS (S, M, L, XL)

Match them up in order. The number outside the brackets is the first size. Each number inside belongs to the next size along.

If you knit a Medium, your number is always the third one: 104 here, and the third in every bracket after this.

When there is only one number

Sometimes a line has no brackets at all:

Work 6 rows in k2, p2 rib.

That number applies to every size. Patterns only spell out a bracket when the sizes differ.

Zeros, dashes and “all sizes”

You will also meet lines like these:

Dec 1 st at each end of every RS row 2 (2, 0, 0, 0) times.

Work 4 (–, 6, –, 8) rows straight.

A 0 or a dash means the step does not happen for that size. Read your position in the bracket and skip the step if yours is empty.

Some designers group sizes, writing “sizes S and M only:” before a step. That step is for those sizes, and everyone else carries on to the next line.

Three habits that stop you reading the wrong number

Highlight your size. Before you cast on, go through the pattern with a highlighter and mark your number in every bracket. It takes ten minutes and saves rows of tinking. On a PDF, a highlighter tool does the same.

Write your numbers in a list. For long patterns, some knitters copy only their size’s numbers into a notebook: cast on 104, rib 6 rows, increase to 112, and so on. You stop reading brackets at all.

Check the stitch count at the end of each section. Patterns usually give a count like “(104 sts)” after shaping. If yours matches the count for your size, you read the right numbers.

In Yarnstep, you pick your size once when you open a guided pattern, and every bracket shows only your number from then on. The original line from the page stays next to each step, so you can still see all the sizes if you want to check.

Choosing your size in the first place

Most patterns give a finished measurements table. Pick the size whose finished chest (or hip, or head) measurement is your body measurement plus the ease the designer suggests. Positive ease makes a looser fit, negative ease a snug one. If you sit between two sizes, look at the photo and decide how you want it to fit.

Size brackets often sit inside repeats, which have their own punctuation: asterisks, parentheses and “rep from *”. Those are covered in reading pattern repeats. For the abbreviations around the numbers, see crochet abbreviations or knitting abbreviations.