As we talked about on our post about taking a bike tour through France, knitting patterns can be written in two ways. One is “longhand,” in which the instructions are written as a “sentence” of abbreviations such as, “K4, p2, k8,” etc.
As you can see, the eye tends to “swim” when confronted with a sea of abbreviations. It’s hard to visualize what the final project will look like and, if you get lost, it’s very tedious to scan the lines trying to find what you missed.
That’s why patterns are also written in chart form – a visual representation of the stitches.
In a chart, you can tell at a glance what stitches are involved, how they are put together, and what the overall design will look like.
Because charts are a concise and useful way to represent knitted designs, many beautiful projects are written using them. When you don’t know how to read charts, you miss out on being able to knit those great projects.
The Problem With Charts
There are a variety of standard symbols for the same stitch, which can make them hard to remember.
Added to that is the fact that they mean one thing on the right side and another on the wrong side.
Plus there is the challenge of knowing how to read the charts when they are flat vs. in-the-round.
Lastly, beginners can also find it hard to keep track of where they are and go back and fix mistakes, like missed yarnovers.
The good news: understanding and conquering these details is just part of the process of learning to read charts.
In our upcoming Charts Demystified class, you will learn everything you need to know to approach any charted project with confidence, and the challenges of charts will disappear into pure joy of knitting.
And just look at the kinds of beautiful projects that will be awaiting you as your reward!
Excited to learn to knit all these beautiful projects and more? I’m excited too! Join me in our new Charts Demystified class that launches September 15th, 2021. More details (and pre-order discount) below.
Charts are full of symbols that can be confusing and hard to remember.
But they also allow you to knit complex patterns easily.
Our Charts Demystified class teaches you everything you need to know about knitting from charts so that you can approach any charted pattern with confidence.
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What are your biggest fears and challenges when it comes to knitting from charts? Please let me know in the comments!
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