Before you buy anything small and plastic...

Download the knitting counter here!

There's a standing request in our home: Let me know before you buy anything small and plastic.

In this case, my partner needed a way to count rows while knitting. This is definitely a solved problem. For a few dollars you can get a plastic thing that slips over your knitting needle and has a couple of number wheels for counting rows. But we have plastic at home. And so I fired up Fusion 360 and spent hours optimizing a tiny clicking mechanism.

I wanted the mechanism to do 3 things:

1. Securely hold the selected number
2. Click satisfyingly into place without too much force
3. Print in place

After many failed attempts with a sort of lever mechanism, I ended up using a floating spring with custom breakaway supports. The spring made it easy to tune the clickiness and the force required to turn the wheel.

The case also had a few requirements:

1. Compatible with most knitting needles (up to 10mm)
2. As small and lightweight as possible
3. Easy to assemble without glue

I went with a snap-together design that securely holds the number wheels in place. This was my first time designing a snap-together case and it was quite satisfying when it came together. Assembly is basically permanent as the snaps will usually break before the case comes apart.

Put it all together, and ignore all the design time, and you have a neat little knitting counter that costs around 25 cents.