Knitting Chart Symbols Explained

First, identify what the key describes

A stitch-symbol key names actions such as knit, purl, yarn over, decrease, or cable cross. A color key assigns marks or swatches to yarns. In a plain stockinette colourwork chart, the stitch structure comes from the pattern instructions while the grid supplies the color sequence.

A printed mark is not necessarily a stitch operation. If the key assigns a dot to navy yarn, work that position in navy using the specified stitch. If the key defines the dot as purl, it changes the stitch action. Keep the legend beside the chart rather than borrowing a meaning from another pattern.

Recognize common symbols without guessing

The Craft Yarn Council’s reference uses an empty square for knit on the right side and purl on the wrong side. A dot or horizontal dash reverses those instructions: purl on the right side, knit on the wrong side. RS means right side; WS means wrong side. These are common conventions, and the pattern’s key takes priority.

In that reference, an open circle means yarn over. A simple slash rising toward the right means k2tog on the RS, or p2tog on the WS. A slash falling toward the right means SSK on the RS, or SSP on the WS. On a right-side row, k2tog knits two stitches together into a right-leaning decrease; ssk makes a left-leaning decrease. Look up the full technique before working an unfamiliar abbreviation.

Cable symbols may span several cells because the operation involves a group of stitches. Read the complete cable definition, including which stitches are held in front or behind. The drawing alone is not enough to choose the crossing.

Separate background, no-stitch cells, and repeats

A pale cell in a color grid can be an ordinary stitch worked in the background yarn. A cell labeled no stitch in a shaping chart represents no stitch at that position: pass over the chart cell without knitting, purling, or slipping a stitch for it. Its shading is a layout aid, not a yarn choice.

Likewise, a heavy outline may mark a repeat rather than a stitch operation. Check the notes for how often to repeat it and which stitches sit outside it. Do not count every box in a lace chart as an existing stitch; increases, decreases, and no-stitch spaces can change what the grid represents.

Use Purlgrid for a color design

On the Knitting chart maker page, select Open the chart maker. In the editor, use New blank design from My designs for a fresh grid. Open Size, whose panel is headed Size and gauge, and set Stitches and Rows. Choose yarns for your palette, then use Paint to assign colors to cells. The knitted preview shows the color design in yarn textures.

For a calculated example, make a chart 8 stitches wide and 4 rows high. Leave the background cream and paint the middle 2 cells navy in every row. That gives 32 stitch positions: 8 navy and 24 cream. Each round still contains 8 stitches. The color changes do not create decreases, yarn overs, or cable crossings.

Use Download another format for Chart table (CSV) or Written instructions (TXT). The CSV records color numbers for stitch positions; the TXT groups consecutive positions by color for each row. These exports describe the color grid. They do not turn painted cells into lace instructions or supply a garment’s shaping and construction.

Know what the checker can verify

For an existing color grid, open Purlgrid’s Knitting chart checker and select the matching Technique and Worked settings. Its knitting choices are Fair Isle and Intarsia. It checks supported colourwork rules, including floats and colors per row; an optional stitch count in the round lets it check repeat fit.

Paste a chart as text accepts color data: a dot for background, # for the second color, or digits 0–3 for up to four colors. Select Check this chart to load it. Those characters are input codes for colors, not knitting stitch symbols; pasting a lace legend will not translate its operations.

Purlgrid has no stitch-symbol or lace editor, and this checker does not validate lace stitch counts or cable instructions. If your task is to chart yarn overs, decreases, or crossings, use a tool that explicitly supports those operations. Keep the pattern’s key and written instructions with it.

Before you continue

1. Find the chart’s own stitch key, color key, and notes before starting.
2. Identify whether each mark names an operation or a yarn color.
3. Distinguish background stitches from cells explicitly labeled no stitch.
4. Check cable spans and repeat boundaries against the written instructions.
5. Use Purlgrid for color placement; choose a symbol editor for lace or cables.