Seasons of Country Sophistication – Spring

Each month through my weekly newsletter I share special stitches and techniques that go with the monthly pattern release, then I collect them all here in case someone missed something.

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Chart Reading – below
Magic Ring Start in knitting – Photo Tutorial and TikTok video
Centered Eyelet Stitch – Photo Tutorial and TikTok video
Cheater Seam – YouTube video

Chart Reading Tips

First, do you knit left handed or right handed? Not sure? Right handed knitters take their stitches off the left needle and place new stitches onto the right hand needle. Lefties take their stitches off the right hand needle and place new stitches onto the left hand needle. This has nothing to with picking verses throwing, only which way the stitches move from needle to needle.

Now that that has been settled, if you are a right handed knitter you will read the charts starting at the row or round number and work towards the other end. For right side rows and all rounds you will work the chart from right to left. For wrong side rows, you will work left to right. Lefties you will begin at the opposite end of the row or round number and work towards the number. For right side rows and all rounds you will work from left to right. For wrong side rows you will work right to left.

Next thing to know is that not every row or round is always charted. The pattern or chart should clearly state if all rows or rounds are charted and should be numbered accordingly. Some charts have set up rows, others start with a number other than one and many charts have only the right side charted.

All patterns with charts should have a legend or key for each symbol’s meaning. Not all symbols are universal and even within a pattern the same stitch many have more than one symbol. It is very important to watch these details. Some symbols have different meanings depending on if they are on the right or wrong side. Again that will be indicated by the pattern and the legend.

Charts are read from the bottom up. Most knitters cover up the rows or rounds above where they are working with magnets or sticky notes. This way if you can read your knitting you can see if what you are doing looks right. I prefer to cover up the rows and rounds I have completed, because I like to see where I’m going and not get confused by something I have already done. The choice is yours. If you are not to a point where you can read your knitting then seeing what you have done may not be much help.

Most patterns do not start with the chart on row or round one, some do. So you will have to follow some written instructions until the chart begins. Reading the symbols is fairly easy. They just stand for stitches that many knitters already know; knit, purl, yarn over and different types of decreases. It will be slow at first but just take each row or round one box at a time. Each box represents one stitch on the needle. Look at the stitch on the chart, look at the legend, then work the stitch. If there are a series of knit stitches, count them, work them. Go one step at a time. Right handed knitters do not need to change any of the directions from the legend, just work everything the way it is written. Lefties, here we go. If the legend says that this symbol \ is a slip, slip, knit, they lied to you. No really, for lefties the decreases are opposite of what is written. So lefties, when you get to a \ knit two together and for / slip, slip, knit.

On many charts, there will be long areas of plain knit stitches in a row or round. One of the things I like to do before I begin knitting is to find these areas and write a tiny number in one of the boxes in that area. The number is how many knit stitches there are between other stitches. This saves counting later while working the pattern.

You can buy the pattern in my Ravelry or Payhip store.

Photo Tutorial of Magic Ring Start