Tip Tuesday: Charts Demystified

August 28, 2018

Tip Tuesday Charts Demystified-Crafty Flutterby Creations

With a few basics and tips, chart reading is easy and intuitive. Charted stitch patterns make it very easy to read your stitches on the needles and compare them to a row on a chart. They also help you to visualize the stitch pattern and more easily figure out which row you are on if you loose track. In this Tip Tuesday blog post I will share with you my favorite tricks for making charts easier as well as the basics. Confession time. When knitting from my first charted pattern I didn't pay attention to the right/wrong side row and knit garter when it should have been stockinette. (click here to see said shawl) Luckily it was a top down triangle shawl and I figured it out in the first repeat. Hopefully with these tips you will be able to avoid frogging your first charted project.  

 

 

Helpful Tips

-Highlighter tape is perfect for placing below the row you are working on. It guides the eye to the correct row each time you look up or down with much less effort.

-Highlighters in a variety of colors come in handy for marking stitch symbols in the key and chart to color coordinate. They can also highlight the stitch marker placement and repeat between lines if you print a color chart in black and white. This makes it quicker to identify ssk vs k2tog or front vs back cross cables. 

-Pattern Keeper to keep your chart flat, wrinkle free, and propped for easier reading. This particular one has an anti-glare clear fabric that fits a full size sheet of paper. It has an extra snap to create a triangle shape making it stand independently while you knit. The pattern keeper featured in the photo and video is from Erin Lane Bags - Click Here to treat yourself to this amazing pattern keeper. 

Materials

 

pattern keeper 1Pattern Keeper 2

Basics

- For charts written to be worked flat there is a right and wrong side. Start reading and knitting from the stitch next to the row number. In the sample chart odd rows are right side and read from right to left. Even rows are wrong side and read from left to right. 

-Pay attention to the key for your chart. It lets you know which stitch is represented by which symbol.

- Stitches may change depending on whether they are on a right or wrong side row. For instance, the symbol for knit on the right side is purled on the wrong side.

 

practice chart swatch

For the FREE chart used in this tutorial Click Here this chart has written instructions that match it precisely. This is deliberate so that if you are unsure about something in the chart you can refer to the written rows. 

 

Patterns mentioned in the video which are stunning and have charts



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