Recently, I’ve been seeing two companion questions on email knit lists and at knitters’ forums. These are:
- How do I read knitting charts? Left to right, or right to left?
- How do I convert from knitting circular to knitting in the round?
Now, I know these two questions probably don’t seem related to people, but I think to convert knitting back and forth to knitting in rounds requires thinking in charts! Using the idea of charts, we can also begin to understand the answer to, “How do you decrease in pattern?” which recently appeared on a knit forum, but I’m not going to discuss that yet!
Today, and tomorrow, I’m going to discuss reading simple charts color changes, knit stitches and purl stitches but nothing else. I’m going start with a color chart. The pattern is very similar to the one I used for the underside of the mittens shown above, but the chart suggests knitting the pattern is red and blue yarn. If explained in words, you would knit it as follows:
- Cast on 10 stitches.
- Row 1: *Knit with red, knit with blue; repeat from *.
- Row 2: *Purl with blue, purl with red; repeat from *.
- Repeat rows 1 and 2.
Easy enough!
How would this information be provided in a chart? The chart, with its legend are provided below.
Just as text directions require a list of abbreviations, charts require legends to define each symbol. There are some standards for knit and purl symbols, but they aren’t as standard as the knitting police like to claim. What is standard is including a legend somewhere. In magazines, or books you might have to hunt this down in some sort of index, but it should be somewhere.
Let’s look at the legend: My legend describes red knit stitches, blue knit stitches, red purl stitches, blue purl stitches and a symbol that will indicate a stitch marker if knit in the round or the “beginning” of the row, if knit back and forth.
Now, I need to come clean right now: My chart contains more information than standard charts. Ordinarily, you won’t see symbols in a legend unless they are in the chart; you’ll also never see that stitch marker symbol. The extra information is here because this is a lesson. You’ll probably understand the extra information, and understand why it’s missing from other charts.
Now, let’s look at the chart. These things are obvious:
- The chart has 10 vertical columns: each column corresponds to a stitch.
- The chart has 10 horizontal rows: each rows corresponds to 1 row.
- The pattern looks like vertical stripes!
So, now for the less obvious questions, which, are the ones that get asked:
Do you read a chart left to right or from right to left.
The answer is: depends!
If you are knitting back and forth in rows, you work “right side facing” rows reading right to left, and “wrong side facing” rows reading left to right. If you are knitting circular, you knit all rows reading right to left.
So, assuming “row 1″ is a right side facing row (as is conventional), you would work row 1 reading right to left. That is:
Row 1: *knit red, knit blue; repeat from *;
Just the same as I told you before.
Ok. Now, stop! Don’t turn the work yet when finishing this row.
Look at the work: you will see the that row 1 looks like row 1 of the chart. The red knit stitch is on the right; the left knit stitch is on the left. Put a safety pin on the right hand edge — this is just for purposes of discussion. Pretend the pin is the “beginning of the row” marker. M’kay?
If you are knitting circular, before beginning to knit this round, join work and place a stitch marker at the join to mark the beginning of the round. Now, read the instructions for “row 1″, but call it “round 1″. When you get to the end of the round, you’ll hit the stitch marker I told you to place at the beginning of the round. Now, I’m going back to telling the people kniting back and forth what to do for “row 2″. (I promise to get back to you. However, what you do is so easy, you’ll probably figure it out before I finish explaining to the people knitting back and forth.)
Now: If you are knitting back and forth, you would turn your work when you finished row 1. You would now see the back side, right? This is called “wrong side facing”. That pin you placed on the right edge is now on the left hand edge. For this pattern, the blue stitch edge stitch is now on the right and the red stitch is on the left.
Now, for the purposes of explanation, I created a chart you will never see included in a pattern, but which the knitter is supposed to visualize in their head. Here is the chart as seen from the wrong side facing:
Notice, in most ways, it’s as though the chart were painted on a piece of glass and you looked from the other side. I even mirrored the numbers and letters to emphasize this idea. Ain’t computers cool?
Oh, but it’s not quite like a piece of glass: I turned the knit stitches symbols into purl symbols! That’s right. If you turn the work, stitches you knit when working row 1 look as though they were purled from the back side!
So, if you were knitting back and forth, you turn the work. When turned, you read it just as for the previous chart, from right to left which is now from stitch 10 stitch 1. That is, do this:
Row 2: *Purl blue, purl red; repeat from *.
M’kay?
Oh, guess what? For this particular pattern, some knitting editors would have written the directions for Row 2 this way:
Row 2: Knit stitches as they present themselves.
Yes, you are permitted to curse these editors. “Knitting as they present themselves” means, “Do whatever is necessary to make this row look like the row below when looked at from the front side.”
Now, getting back to the chart, I warned you that you will never see a flipped “wrong side facing” chart with a pattern. You only be given an unflipped “right side facing” chart. My flipped chart is to help visual learners understand the principle. By now, you are probably getting it, and you understand the three rules. When knitting a “wrong side facing” row from a standard “right side facing” chart you:
- work the chart left to right (which is from stitch 10 to stitch 1)
- purl all stitches that shown as knit stitches on the chart.
- knit all stitches shown as purl stitches on the chart.
Now, after working row 2, turn the work so the right side is facing you. The pin will now be on the right hand side, and you’ll see the colors are aligned as in the right side facing chart. Plus, all the stitches look like “knit” stitches as seen from the right side!
Now, repeat rows 1 and 2 for a while. Then, look at the work from the right side facing. You’ll see the knitting “looks” like the chart. This is the main reason some people use charts. If you fall in love with fair-isle, or intarsia, you’ll definitely end up loving charts.
Needless to say, I used a chart to knit the front side of mitten shown just to the left. I bet you can now figure out the chart for the front side of my mitten!
Ok. I’ve forgotten people knitting circular!
Well, they probably all said “Oh, I get it,” a while ago. If you knit ciruclar, you don’t turn the work. So, the right side is always facing you. That makes working charts easier. You read round 2 exactly as you read round 1. That is read right to left; knit stitches shown as knit!
For this particular pattern, when knit circular, the instructions for round 1 and 2 are identical . That’s also “knit as they present themselves.” Pretty slick, huh?
I hope this helps some people. I suspect this color discussion will actually help people who are planning to knit knit-purl combinatins, like ribbing. Still, I’ll probably discuss ribbing tomorrow, or if not then, soon. I’m not planning to discuss lace — unless someone at some point asks for that in comments.
Now, it’s a beautiful day, and I’m going to sit outside and knit Jim’s cardigan! (I finished the sleeves, and I’m working on the body.)
Related articles:
How to read charts. Part 2, 1 x 1 rib.
How to read charts. Part 3, seed stitch.
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Lucia Liljegren: Copyright 2005-2007 Rights to all site content including knitting patterns, generators and haikus reserved.
[…] ng — lucia @ 7:06 am Since writing my ridiculously detailed three part series 1, 2 & 3on “How to read knitting charts?”, I have noticed google sends t […]
Pingback by The Knitting Fiend » Increase or Decrease in Pattern (291 comments.) — 6/6/2005 @ 7:07 am
This is first in a four part series! Read the “related articles” to see the later articles.
Part II: Ribbing, charted.
Part III: Seed Stitch, charted.
Part IV: Increase or decrease in pattern.
Comment by lucia — 6/6/2005 @ 7:12 am
Thanks so much for this info. I really appreciate it.
Comment by Alexandra Wright-Cross (0 comments.) — 10/14/2005 @ 7:56 pm
when knitting and it will say add marker do i put it on the stitch or do i just put it on the neddle before the stitch as you can see i am a beginner but i do love knitting it is so relaxing also if i may ask do you have a very simple pattern fo a child’s size 4 sweater thank you very much happy knitting
Comment by shirley flanagan (0 comments.) — 10/30/2005 @ 11:19 am
There are stitch markers, and row markers. I try to be clear which I mean, but sometimes I’m not. Depending on whose pattern you use, they may or may not be clear either.
Stitch markers are used more often than row markers. When *I* say add a stitch marker, I mean add a slippable ring marker just before working the next stitch. (I might also just make a little loop of yarn etc.)
If it’s a row marker, it doesn’t matter where you place it, provided it’s in a particular row. These are sometimes used to help knitter measure lengths when following directions. (Many people use safety pins, or just run a strand of yarn through a stitch in the row. Both can be removed later.)
I hope that helps!
Comment by lucia — 10/30/2005 @ 12:50 pm
thank you very very much lucia for answering my question and yes it helps me understand thanks again and have a wonderful day Happy knitting!!
Comment by shirley flanagan (0 comments.) — 10/30/2005 @ 1:20 pm
Thanks for your wonderful, wonderful site. I understand what you’re saying, but my chart starts with row 0 and row 1 on the chart definitely is the right side. How do I manage this and still have my cast on stitches facing on the correct side? Hope you can help me. Thanks!
Comment by Norma (0 comments.) — 11/9/2005 @ 10:22 pm
Hi Norma,
There is no particular convention about whether the even or odd rows are “right” side.
If it’s a two color chart, and they say row 0 is a wrong side row, I’d just purl the first row, changing colors as specified.
It’s unusual for a pattern writer to do this — because most knitters like to start fairisle color patterns on an even side row– but some designers do it. (Sometimes they even have a good reason to make you start color work on a wrong side row.)
As to having the cast on row facing correctly, that sort of depends on which type of cast on you used. Because I like the cable cast on, I usually like to organize my patterns to knit the first row. But, there are other cast ons that look good when you purl the first row, so it all depends.
Also, maybe the designer likesthe look of a cable cast one with a purled first row. it doesn’t actually look bad– I just like it better the other way around.
Comment by lucia — 11/9/2005 @ 11:03 pm
Hello there, and Happy Thanksgiving! I am a beginning/intermediate knitter, making a pair of socks with charted design on the leg after 2″ k1, p1 ribbing on circular needles. So, if I am understanding you, this means I am knitting in the round, and the chart will stay right to left…right?
I’ve never used a chart before..
Thank you so much for your helpful information, I printed it and filed it with my knitting books! (which, by the way, do NOT tell me how to read charts!!)
Comment by Terre (0 comments.) — 11/24/2005 @ 8:15 am
Yes. Always right to left if knitting circular.
I’m glad this helped. I wrote it because so many people ask this question on email discussion lists. So, I figured a “beginning chart reading” lesson would get found by knitters who use google!
Comment by lucia — 11/24/2005 @ 8:24 am
I am working a pattern that calls for you to reverse the chart on the right armwarmer. I am knitting in the round. What does that mean? I thought that it meant knit from the left instead of the right but I see that is not it. Also this pattern is not just knit and purls, it is a lot of cables and M1 and decreases so I am afraid of what it would mean to try to convert each of those to an “opposite.” This is from the Stitch N Bitch Nation book on page 197. Thanks for your great information.
Comment by Joy (0 comments.) — 12/24/2005 @ 9:02 pm
Oh boy! Ok:
You do go from left to right, but since it’s cables, you also need all left over right cables to become right over left cables and vice versa. All right slanting decreases need to be left slanting decreases etc.
Does that help you figure it out, or do you need illustrations? I actually might be showing this in January, because I need to chart up the cables for the sweater I designed for my husband, and the one on the left of the centerpanel is the mirror image of the one on the right!
Comment by lucia — 12/24/2005 @ 10:11 pm
I would like to say that reading knitting charts is not that difficult, however, on Lion Brand’s website, they show the numbering on the bottom row from left to right and that numbering SHOULD BE RIGHT TO LEFT… just think of looking at the chart as the way you knit…right to left.
Comment by Donna D. (0 comments.) — 1/11/2006 @ 9:17 am
one other comment… usually charts are read bottom to top… unless a garment is being made top to bottom
Comment by Donna D. (0 comments.) — 1/11/2006 @ 9:18 am
Donna, I agree.
Unfortunately for beginning knitters, knitting conventions are , shall we say, “flexible”. Most people creating charts who actually number then number then as you say (and I did.) But, some don’t.
And, I admit, I have oversimplified in a sense. Soon, I plan to write up something on charting complicated things– like patterns where the number of stitches per row are not constant. Then, things get more complicated, and the “rules” become more like “guidelines”.
Comment by lucia — 1/11/2006 @ 9:25 am
Hello, You are the answer to an old knitter’s prayer. Used to knit from a graph years and years ago, but for the life of me could not remember how lol. I will check our blog everyday from now on. I am working on an Aran sweater, and your idea of coloring each k, p, whatever a different color is marvellous.
Thank you for your clear and simplified instructions.
Sally
Comment by Sarah Wiley (0 comments.) — 2/11/2006 @ 9:41 am
What does the * stand for?
Thank you
Comment by Abby Nunez (0 comments.) — 3/24/2006 @ 12:13 pm
The * marks the beginning of text you should repeat.
So, for example:
*k1,p1; repeat from *
means
k1,p1,k1,p1,k1,p1 until you can’t do it anymore.
Comment by lucia — 3/24/2006 @ 1:22 pm
Please can you clarify Where to start and end charts according to size the chart I am using has several sizes and on the left xl l m s and on the right xl l m s how do I still work from S(small) to S? I would appreciate your assistance if possible and want to thank you for a wonderful site full of great information… Thank You
Jean Trocoli
Comment by Jean Trocoli (0 comments.) — 3/31/2006 @ 10:55 am
Hi Jean,
Let’s say there are 4 sizes shown on a chart and these sizes are called “XS, S, M and L”. You know “XS” is the smallest, L is the largest. On the chart, you will generally see 4 ” | ” type marks on the right and 4 on the left indicating the chart of a particular size. If you are knitting the “XS” pay attention to the set that is closer to the center. If you are knitting the “S” pay attention to the second set and so on. (Sometimes they use upward pointing arrows at the bottom.)
Most often, these “|” marks will fall *between* to filled boxes on the grid. When knitting a right side facing row, you will read the chart from left to right, start by working the instruction n the firsts box to the left of the “|” for your size. Finish with the last box to the right of the “|” for your size.
Hope this helps!
Comment by lucia — 3/31/2006 @ 11:06 am
Thank you so much, Just to clarify when I go from Small to Small if xl and med are in the range on the right side just ignore them? and work the # of stitch boxes from one s to the other?
Sorry I hope I am not too hopeless…
very appreciative
Jean
Comment by Jean Trocoli (0 comments.) — 3/31/2006 @ 11:39 am
if we required 200 GSM OF RIB 1/1 .
WRITE USE THAT HOW TO CALCULATE THE STITCH AND KNITS IT MEANS WALES & COURESES OF THE RIB FABRIC NAD YARN COUNT?
Comment by shakeel (0 comments.) — 8/5/2006 @ 12:57 pm
[…] Pattern”, it’s shown below the right. (If you have trouble reading charts, refer to How to read knitting charts. If you scroll to the bottom, you can find all 7 articles in that […]
Pingback by matchedThe Knitting Fiend » Blog Archive » Welted Leaf Pattern: Charted ( comments.) — 9/8/2007 @ 1:10 pm
I am knitting a lace pattern–that I can see from the photo provided it is “st st” on the right side. I understand (I think) how to chart read. When I go to reverse rt and left slants that are done as “k2 tog” and “SSK” what/how do I change the slants as reading it backwards—knowing/thinking I have to do these in a purl stitch method? I’m thinking if I slip a stitch will it need to be slipped as if to P or K, too?
Comment by Georgia — 2/26/2008 @ 7:06 pm