Toe Decrease Calculator
Enter your starting stitch count and get the full round-by-round wedge toe plan — every plain round, every decrease round, and exactly how many stitches you'll have left to graft.
Why the decrease rate changes partway through
A standard wedge toe decreases 4 stitches (1 at each of 4 shaping points, typically 2 per side of the foot) every other round while there's still plenty of fabric width to taper gradually, then switches to decreasing every round once the toe gets narrow enough that easing off would leave it looking blunt or square rather than coming to a natural point. Decreasing every round from the very start produces a toe that narrows too sharply and often looks pointy or pinched; decreasing every other round all the way to a small stitch count produces a toe that's noticeably longer than it needs to be. The switch partway through is what gives a wedge toe its characteristic gently tapered, rounded shape.
Picking a grafting target
8 stitches remaining (4 held on each of two needles) is a common default for kitchener-stitch grafting on an average adult sock — narrow enough to close cleanly without excess bulk, wide enough that the graft doesn't become fiddly. A finer-gauge sock can comfortably graft at a smaller remaining count for a neater point; a bulkier-gauge sock sometimes grafts easier with a slightly larger remaining count, since fewer, chunkier stitches are easier to manage with a blunt yarn needle than a great many fine ones squeezed into a small graft.
If your stitch count doesn't divide evenly
Real stitch counts don't always divide cleanly into a whole number of 4-stitch decrease rounds down to your exact target — when that happens, this calculator's final decrease round removes fewer than 4 stitches to land exactly on your chosen target rather than overshooting it. That's normal and doesn't affect the shape; it just means the very last decrease round is slightly smaller than the rest.