CHART ATTACK
Q
I tend to avoid patterns that have a chart with them as I don’t really know how to read them. Can you help? Alexia Widcombe, via email
Charts are a great way to present the information in a knitting pattern and a basic chart really is nothing to be scared of! Let’s take a look… Every square in a chart represents a stitch, and these are read in the direction you are knitting if the work is viewed from the right side. You will normally start in the bottom right corner of a chart and work your way up to the top, reading from right to left on RS rows and from left to right on WS rows. When working in the round, all rounds are read from right to left.
Chart symbols are designed to remind you of the stitches they represent.
K on RS; P on WS. This is the most common stitch, and for this reason is displayed as a blank square to make the chart less cluttered and easier to read. Sometimes you will see a symbolising the same stitch.
P on RS; K on WS – this symbol is designed to remind you of a purl bump when looked at from the RS.
Yo – shows clearly a loop is to be made.
SSK – shows this decrease will lean towards the left.
Skpo – another left-leaning decrease.
K2tog – shows this decrease will lean towards the right.
M1 – sometimes you will see an L or R in a box, instructing to M1L or M1R.
No stitch – this stitch should be ignored and will be filled in on a later row by an increase.
Once you have learned the most common symbols, you will be well prepared to work your way through your first chart. And you’ll find these symbols are (almost) universal, with slight variations depending on the designer or publisher.
Fair Isle charts are the easiest form of chart, and a good place to start practising if you find symbols daunting. As you can see from the example above, the chart clearly shows what the pattern is going to look like, and is much tidier than the written version of instructions for this pattern would be. This chart is also worked in the round, which is why all the row numbers are on the righthand side. Rachael