I am making a sweater for my boyfriend, but he does not own a measuring tape. I’m not sure how long I should make it. He is a size mens XL if that helps at all. thank you!
Welcome to the forum!
What is the name of your pattern?
If you aren’t using one then you could measure the sweater against a sweater that your boyfriend likes. It all depends on his preference and yours.
It’s just a basic raglan sweater! He doesn’t have a measuring tape so I can’t ask him to measure anything and he doesn’t live nearby so I don’t see him often 
You do not need a measurement in cm or inches, any unit is good enough. For example paper sheets.
Have him to lay out paper sheets in landscape (better accuracy than portrait) over a sweater of suitable size. Have him to count how many whole sheets it takes to cover the length. Then mark the border with a pen on the sheet that is partly covering the sweater. That last paper he then folds over a few times. First fold creates 1/2 marks, second fold 1/4 marks, third fold 1/8 marks. Now compare the mark you did with a pen to the folded marks and you have a readable measurement. A measurement might then look something like 3 6/8 sheets.
As long as you both got the same sized paper sheets you will be able to knit it.
Paper sheets was the first thing coming to my mind when I thought about things existing in every home. Of course any other common item can be used, for example if both of you got matchboxes, you can use matchboxes as a unit.
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Thank you! This was very helpful
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