Knitting Chart Symbol Reader
A chart shows the fabric from the right side, so on a wrong-side row a knit square is purled. Three states, one of them inverts.
Practice
Same rules, asked at random. The questions are generated from a fixed sequence, so the same quiz comes back if you reload.
A chart shows the fabric from the right side
That one sentence generates everything else, and most people learn half of it. Two separate things follow, and they get taught as one:
- Direction. Worked flat, right-side rows read right to left and wrong-side rows left to right — you follow the chart the way the yarn actually travels.
- Inversion. On a wrong-side row you are looking at the back of the fabric, so a square meaning "knit" must be purled to make a knit stitch on the front.
| Worked | Row | Read | Symbols |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat | Right side | ← right to left | exactly as drawn |
| Flat | Wrong side | left to right → | inverted — a knit square is purled |
| In the round | Right side | ← right to left | exactly as drawn |
Three states in total, and exactly one of them inverts. Worked in the round there are no wrong-side rows at all, so every round reads right to left with the symbols as drawn — which is why the same chart behaves differently depending only on whether you seamed it.
Why this particular mistake is so hard to shake
Someone who has learned to alternate the reading direction but never learned to invert the symbol is correct on exactly half of all flat rows — every right-side row, where there is nothing to invert. Half your evidence agreeing with you does not feel like a coin flip, it feels like understanding. So the error survives, and shows up only as a band of wrong-side texture every second row, which is easy to blame on tension. If your stocking stitch has ridges in it, this is the first thing to check.
A chart's width is not its stitch count
The other thing charts are quietly bad at explaining. Each square is a column, but what a symbol consumes and what it produces are separate numbers and neither has to be one. A yarn-over consumes nothing and produces a stitch. A k2tog occupies one column and eats two stitches. A six-stitch cable is one symbol across six columns.
So a row five columns wide can consume six stitches, and counting the squares tells you neither number. What keeps balanced lace balanced is that a yarn-over nets +1 and a decrease nets −1, so one of each cancels exactly — the chart is full of symbols that individually change the count and collectively do not.
And the "no stitch" square is not a stitch. It is a hole in the grid so that a chart whose stitch count changes can still be drawn as a rectangle. Skip straight over it. Working it as anything at all is the single most common way to lose your place in a lace chart.
Symbol reference
| Symbol | Name | Columns | Eats | Makes | On a WS row |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| □ | Knit | 1 | 1 | 1 | Purl |
| • | Purl | 1 | 1 | 1 | Knit |
| / | Knit 2 together Leans right on the front. | 1 | 2 | 1 | Purl 2 together |
| \ | Slip slip knit Leans left on the front — the mirror of k2tog. | 1 | 2 | 1 | Purl 2 together through back loops |
| /• | Purl 2 together | 1 | 2 | 1 | Knit 2 together |
| \• | Purl 2 together through back loops | 1 | 2 | 1 | Slip slip knit |
| ⅄ | Centred double decrease Three stitches become one, centred. | 1 | 3 | 1 | unchanged |
| ○ | Yarn over Makes a stitch out of nothing, and a hole. Consumes none. | 1 | 0 | 1 | unchanged |
| M | Make one An increase without a hole, unlike a yarn over. | 1 | 0 | 1 | unchanged |
| V | Knit front and back | 1 | 1 | 2 | unchanged |
| ⤬4 | Cable 4 front Four columns wide. Crosses left on the front. | 4 | 4 | 4 | unchanged |
| ⤬6 | Cable 6 front | 6 | 6 | 6 | unchanged |
| ⤭6 | Cable 6 back | 6 | 6 | 6 | unchanged |
| ▨ | No stitch Not a stitch at all — a hole in the grid so a chart whose stitch count changes can still be a rectangle. Skip it. | 1 | 0 | 0 | unchanged |
| ᐯ | Slip stitch Moved, not worked. | 1 | 1 | 1 | unchanged |
Charts are not fully standardised. Publishers differ, particularly over cables and the less common decreases, so every chart carries its own key and the key wins over anything here. These are the common conventions, not a specification.
How to use
- Say whether you are working flat or in the round, and give the row number.
- Pick the symbol printed on the chart.
- Read what you actually work, and which way to read the row.
- Use the quiz to drill the wrong-side rows, which are the ones that catch people.
Frequently asked questions
Which way do you read a knitting chart?
Right to left on right-side rows, left to right on wrong-side rows, when you are working flat — you follow the chart the way the yarn actually travels across the fabric. Worked in the round there are no wrong-side rows, so every round reads right to left.
Do chart symbols change on a wrong-side row?
Yes, and this is the half people miss. The chart shows the fabric as seen from the right side, so on a wrong-side row you are looking at the back — a square meaning "knit" has to be purled to produce a knit stitch on the front. Symmetric symbols like a yarn-over or a centred double decrease are unchanged.
Why do I keep getting wrong-side rows wrong?
Because the half-learned version is right half the time. Someone who alternates the reading direction but never inverts the symbol is correct on exactly 50% of flat rows — every right-side row, where there is nothing to invert. Half your evidence agreeing feels like understanding rather than a coin flip, so the error survives and shows up only as a ridge every second row.
Is a chart different when worked in the round?
The chart is the same but the rules collapse: every round is a right-side round, so you read right to left throughout and work every symbol exactly as drawn. The same chart genuinely behaves differently depending only on whether the piece is seamed, which is why patterns say which they assume.
What does the "no stitch" square mean?
That there is no stitch there. It is a hole in the grid so a chart whose stitch count changes can still be drawn as a rectangle — skip straight over it. Working it as anything at all is the commonest way to lose your place in a lace chart.
Does the number of squares equal the number of stitches?
No. A square is a column, and what a symbol consumes and produces are separate numbers. A yarn-over consumes nothing and produces a stitch; a k2tog is one column and eats two stitches; a six-stitch cable is one symbol across six columns. A five-column row can consume six stitches.
Why does balanced lace keep its stitch count?
Because a yarn-over nets plus one and a decrease nets minus one, so one of each cancels exactly. The chart is full of symbols that individually change the stitch count and collectively do not — which is why counting stitches at the end of a repeat is the right check and counting squares is not.
Are knitting chart symbols standardised?
Only loosely. Publishers differ, particularly over cables and the less common decreases, so every chart carries its own key and that key always wins over any general reference including this one. Treat the table here as the common conventions rather than a specification.
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