reading a chart | On the Needles

Now we all are experts in reading a chart while knitting back and forth, and we’re experts in using charts in the round. But charts aren’t always that simple. Sometimes your project has more stitches in a row than there are on your chart. You can imagine that this could happen with projects that have a wide, repeating pattern (like a dish cloth, a blanket, or sweater).

If you have to repeat the whole chart, that’s easy enough- knit across the chart row, then work it again (and again), until you get to the end of your row of your knitting. Simple.

But sometimes you have to repeat only some of the stitches in a row. When you need to do that, your chart will look like this:Do you see the change? (It’s subtle, so I’ll help you.)See those highlighted vertical lines? Those are your repeat marks. OK, honestly, I’m not sure what they’re technically called, but they mark out the stitches that you have to repeat.

So, let’s make an imaginary project- a scarf maybe? We’ll cast on 18 sts, and use this chart, repeating the 4 sts in-between the repeat marks 3 times.

Start at row 1 st 1, and knit straight through to st 6 (just before the second repeat mark). (You’ve worked 6 sts)

Then, go back to st 3 (just after the first repeat mark), and work back through st 6. (10 sts total)Then, you’ll repeat sts 3-6 once more, and continue on to the end of the row. (18 sts total)On the next row you do the same thing, but reverse the way you read the chart (because we’re pretending to knit back and forth).

So, start at row 2, st 10, and work across to st 3 (just before the second repeat mark). (8 sts)Then repeat the middle 4 sts. (12 sts)And finish by working sts 6-1 once more. (18 sts)

Make sense? Of course, for a wider project, you might be required to repeat the middle section more times, but the concept is the same. Just keep going across the row, looping back as needed when you get to a repeat mark. Simple!

Any more questions? Let me know if anything else is confusing to you, I’m happy to help!

Last week, I talked about the basics of reading a chart. Today, I’m going to talk about reading a chart while knitting in the round.

*Gasp* What?! Charts!? And circular needles?! That’s just too much! I can’t even! (Sorry… I’m feeling a little dramatic this morning)

No, it’s not difficult! It’s actually pretty simple.

So remember this chart from last week? This is a chart that’s been written so that you can work it flat (ie, back and forth).I’ve modified it to now be read in the round. Can you spot the differences (It’s like a sad, grown-up version of the puzzles in the back of Highlights magazine)?The first big difference (that I’m sure you spotted), is that all the row numbers are lined up along the right side of the chart. That’s because when you knit in the round, you’re always traveling in the same direction (from right to left). When you knit flat, you knit back and forth, so the row numbers are arranged on alternate sides. But, the same rule applies no matter how you’re knitting- you start knitting from the side of the row with the number, and work away.The second big difference is in they key:It looks like there’s a whole bunch of information missing, when you compare this chart to the “knit flat” chart. But, in fact, you’re not missing any information! This is because when you knit in the round, every row is a RS row! So, it’s just implied that (in this case) a white square is a knit stitch on the RS and a gray square is a purl.