At some point, you will come across a stitch chart or color chart on a knitting pattern, particu-
larly if the design employs color work, textured stitches, or cables. Don’t be intimidated by all
the symbols and hieroglyphics you see there; most patterns provide a key to all the symbols
used in each chart.
How to Read a Knitting Chart.
READING A CHART IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
A square of a knitting chart represents a stitch; a horizontal row of
squares represents a row. You read a chart as you work the knitting:
from bottom to top and starting at the lower-right corner. The first
horizontal row of squares represents a right side row (unless otherwise
specified) and is read from right to left. The second horizontal row, a
wrong side row, is read from left to right. (For circular knitting, all chart
rows are read from right to left.) Most charts represent only a partial
section of the knitting that is repeated to create the overall pattern. So,
after you work the last stitch in a chart row, you return to the beginning
of the same chart row and repeat. Working row-wise is the same: After
you work the last row of the chart, you repeat the chart from the bottom.READING A COLOR CHART
When a chart is used to represent a
color pattern, each square is filled with
a particular color or a symbol that
corresponds with the color of yarn in
which that stitch and/or row should
be worked. You read this type of chart
as described above: from bottom to
top and back and forth, starting with
the lower-right corner.120
A
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