. ) In the beginning, looking at a knitting pattern can be very confusing — is that a foreign language it is written in?

Well, no, but it is the special language of knitting, which uses many abbreviations and terms, which save space and make patterns easier to read. So the first thing you need to do is become familiar with the knitting abbreviations.

Some of them are easy to understand, like these:

Basic Stitch Abbreviations

K or k = knit stitch
P or p = purl stitch

A complete list of knitting abbreviations and terms and their meaning can be found at ( Full list Abbreviations, terms and their meanings for knitting can be found here ) : www.YarnStandards.com.

Getting Started

With the abbreviations and terms at hand, let’s look at a typical knitting pattern. Knitted items can be worked back and forth in rows to form a flat piece, or in rounds to form a tube with no seams, such as socks or hats. Special needles are used to work in rounds.

Let's start by working a flat piece.

First the instructions will tell you to cast on a certain number of stitches.
But wait - before you can start casting on, you must place a slip knot on one of the needles.
Patterns never tell you to do this - they just assume you know it. Here’s how you make a slip knot (See Figures 1 & 2).

There are many methods of casting on. Some give a nice stretchy edge;
others give a firm base. Unless the pattern tells you differently, use the method you were first taught.

Now let’s look at a typical pattern.

Many people believe that knitting is less difficult than crocheting and that finished goods look "simpler". I fundamentally disagree with this belief.

You can use knitting needles to make many beautiful openwork and original patterns!

But in order for the product to turn out beautiful, first of all you need to understand the diagram and its symbols.

Basic symbols and their description

I think that even those who have never picked up knitting needles know very well that knitting in this way is based on two types of loops - knit and purl. Let's start with them.

Face loop

When knitting a purl loop, the thread should be in front of the work. In order to knit a purl loop, you need to insert the right knitting needle into the loop in the direction from right to left and wrap the thread around the knitting needle, as shown in the figure. This new turn needs to be pulled into a loop from the left knitting needle, and the resulting new loop must be transferred to the right knitting needle.

Widely used in knitting yarn overs.

Yarn over

In order to make a yarn over, before knitting the next loop in the front row, you need to throw the working thread on the right knitting needle - you get an additional loop. After this, in the purl row you need to knit the yarn over with a purl loop.

By arranging the resulting holes in a certain order, you can get a beautiful openwork pattern.

To get a hole bigger size, perform a double or triple yarn over. You need to perform yarn overs carefully, because... If you get it wrong just once, the drawing will be ruined.

In addition to the classic knit and purl stitches, there are also crossed knit and purl stitches. They were given this name because the walls of these loops are crossed at the base. In this regard, they are more complex than classical ones.

Crossed knit loop

In order to knit a crossed knit stitch, you need to insert the right knitting needle into the loop on the left knitting needle in the direction from right to left. Grab the working thread, pull it through the loop, and transfer it to the right needle.

Thus, the crossed front loop is performed in the same way as the classic one, but behind the back wall, and not behind the front.

Crossed purl stitch

In order to knit a crossed purl stitch, you need to insert the right needle into the loop on the left needle in the direction from right to left. Thread in in this case should be in front of the loop.
Next, you need to grab the thread, pull it through the loop, and transfer it to the right knitting needle.

By changing the usual sequence of stitches in a row, patterns with displaced stitches are obtained. Happening loop shift, creating a pattern design.

Conventionally, this is indicated as follows:

Shift knit stitches to the right

Shift knit stitches to the left

Shift purl stitches to the right

Shift purl stitches to the left

To cut in loop pattern, knit several loops together at once.
If you knit two loops together, the pattern will be reduced by one loop, if you knit three loops together, then by two, etc.

Two loops together, knitted to the right

In order to knit two stitches together with a knit stitch slanted to the right, you need to pass the right knitting needle through two loops on the left knitting needle in the direction from left to right, grab the working thread and knit a loop in the direction away from you. The result was a tilt to the right. Slip stitches off left needle.

Two loops together knitted with a slant to the left

In order to knit two stitches together with a knit stitch slanting to the left, you need to remove the first of the two loops from the knitting needle, turn it over and return it to left knitting needle. Insert the right needle into two loops from right to left, grab the working thread away from you, and pull the loop through. The tilt was to the left. Slip stitches off left needle.

Purl two stitches together and slant to the right

In order to knit two purl loops with a slant to the right, you need to remove two loops from the left knitting needle to the right one (the thread in this case should be in front of the work), swap places, insert the right knitting needle into these loops from left to right. Grab the working thread away from you and knit a loop. The tilt will be to the right.

Purl two stitches together and slant to the left

In order to close the loops in this way, you need to knit the edge (first in the row) loop at the beginning of the front row and the next one behind it, together with the front one behind the back walls. Thus, one loop should form on the right needle.
You need to transfer it to the left knitting needle, knit it together with the next loop, and so on until all the loops of the last row are closed.

To secure, pull the end of the cut thread through the last loop.

So, these are the basic, basic designations and their description when knitting.
Many magazines use their own legends, which are usually placed either at the beginning or at the end of the magazine.

The most common designations in magazines

Legend in Japaneseknitting patterns

Probably every knitter has found herself in such a situation that she found a wonderful pattern, but it had Japanese symbols.

This is not surprising, because most often Japanese magazines are famous for good models And detailed diagrams. And it’s a shame not to use these wonderful models just because you couldn’t understand the description.

First in Japanese magazines given yarn description.

This symbol means yarn. In Japan, the most common skeins of yarn are 25 or 40 g.

This table shows the exact sizes of Japanese knitting needles that you need to focus on when choosing suitable knitting needles.

Then indicated knitting density.

To escape from everyday problems, each person chooses an activity to his liking. Today, knitting is especially popular among lovers of needlework. The designation of loops for this type of needlework is considered almost generally accepted, with some only minor clarifications. However, if you master the basic options for graphically depicting loops, reading diagrams will no longer be difficult. All that remains is to keep the number of working loops under control and periodically check the pattern.

Finding a pattern - starting to knit

They are of decisive importance for the pattern, as well as for other types of knitting. They ensure accurate repetition of a specific pattern. Few people will be able to accurately reproduce without a graphic design. To do this you need to have sufficient experience and a good imagination. And besides, for this purpose, it will almost certainly be necessary to disband the existing sample. But this eliminates the possibility of making a mistake. Because if something goes wrong, it will be quite difficult to correct the situation. That is why using knitting patterns is the simplest and most preferable option.

It can be argued that, regardless of what source the pattern was found in, anyone who knows the symbols of the loops will be able to complete the pattern. Even if a foreign resource was used, it is not possible to read the comments on the knitting task (due to the language barrier).

Main types of loops

In order to understand the basics of knitting, you need to master only three types of basic loops: knit, purl and yarn over. All the variety of patterns is made from them in different combinations and designs. Let's look at the generally accepted notation using the table below as an example.

Each type of loop, despite the fact that there are only three of them, has its own main purpose. If purl is used mainly to perform reverse side products, or highlighting certain elements, the front loop is for knitting. Variations of this loop are considered to be crossed, two or three loops knitted simultaneously, lowered, extended. They can be inclined to the right or left, it all depends on the complexity and symmetry of the pattern. And finally, the yarn over - it is used when you need to add a certain number of loops, as well as for making openwork patterns.

Face loop

Let's start by looking at the simplest and most popular type of loops - facial ones. This type is considered the most common, because it is with facial loops that a huge number of options are made, which make it possible to obtain such a variety of patterns. They are used when performing the most simple options: for stocking or garter knitting, as well as for creating particularly complex patterns.

No matter how complex the pattern may seem at first glance, by repeating it several times in a row, further work can be carried out literally on an intuitive level. Although almost everywhere the designation of loops is similar, some nuances are still worth remembering.

When starting to knit a new, unfamiliar pattern, the knitter performs a small sample. It will help you calculate required amount loops for the product, and will also allow you to understand the technique of making the pattern. The front loop is usually indicated by a vertical dash or an empty cell.

Features of the designation

Schemes, as a rule, are drawn up taking into account the visual perception of the drawing. Therefore, to visually represent it, it is often necessary to highlight areas in the diagram that are of no practical importance for the drawing. And then empty cells indicate precisely such places. This should be remembered, since failure to comply with this nuance will make it impossible to knit correctly. The pattern will not work because the loops will not fall into their proper place.

Purl loop

The other most common type of loop is the purl stitch. In the diagrams it is represented by a horizontal line. This designation of loops in the diagram resembles their actual appearance when knitting. As mentioned above, both the front and purl loops are equally important when knitting because the use various options their combinations and allows you to achieve all kinds of quite diverse patterns.

Yarn over

And the third type of loops in knitting is considered to be a yarn over. Actually, it can be called a loop quite conditionally. This is just a thread thrown onto a knitting needle for the purpose of further knitting a loop from it. On the diagrams it is simply indicated by a circle. When making a complex product, techniques of both narrowing and expanding the product are often used. And in this case, the yarn over comes to the rescue.

Yarn over is also used for knitting openwork patterns. Due to the fact that it appears where there was no loop before, it gives a certain airiness and looseness to the pattern. And if the correct combination of thread thickness and knitting needle diameter is observed, you can achieve incredibly beautiful, literally weightless products.

Options for knitting facial loops

As noted above, there are various options for combining basic stitches when knitting. Pattern diagrams sometimes contain symbols different from those listed above.

For example, if the pattern involves tilting the loops to the right or left, then the main loops are knitted according to certain rules. The technique of knitting them will vary slightly.

To tilt the knit stitch to the left, you must first remove one unknitted needle onto a working needle, and then, having knitted the next one, pull it through the removed one. And in order to achieve the inclination of the loops to the right, you need to insert the knitting needle under the second loop, and, grabbing it and the previous one, knit them at the same time. It should be noted that performing such a combination of bends, especially for an insufficiently experienced master, is not at all easy. You have to constantly check the pattern diagram. And the fact that the designation of loops when knitting is universal greatly simplifies the process of perceiving the pattern.

The same techniques can be used not with one, but for knitting pairs of loops.

In the diagram, such options are indicated according to where they should be performed. Much less commonly, such tilts are indicated by a triangle indicating the direction of the tilt.

Using auxiliary needles

There are still very important point to understand how loops are designated when knitting. Not all types of loops can be made with knitting needles. Sometimes additional working knitting needles, a hook or pins are used for this purpose. They help not to lose the loops that should be knitted after those that are further on the auxiliary needle.

Three lines that have a common vertex indicate that the three loops are also knitted in a special way. Similar to the bends, one loop is removed unknitted. Then, two loops are knitted together and pulled through the removed one. Thus, we get a pyramid with a single vertex, which is similar to the symbol in the diagram.

Schema meaning

Thus, we came to the conclusion that each loop plays a certain role in the knitting process. Therefore, the designation of loops when knitting is of particular importance. After all, only strict adherence to the diagram can ensure that a certain pattern is obtained on the finished product.

Knitting is not just about making various things with my own hands, it is also a creative process. It is difficult to imagine that obtaining such a huge number of different patterns is possible by using different options for making just three main loops. Every knitter can come up with her own special version of the pattern (after practicing on existing ones). And then, perhaps, it is your execution scheme that handicraft lovers will recommend to each other.

Evgenia Smirnova

To send light into the depths of the human heart - this is the purpose of the artist

Content

Knitting is a fun activity. To create exclusive products yourself, you need to learn how to knit basic types of loops and master reading patterns. Knitting conventions and their decoding are the key to understanding what to do and in what order.

How to Read Knitting Patterns

A knitting pattern is a picture drawn on a sheet of paper in a checkered pattern with symbols. It allows you not to describe each element in words and abbreviations. Each cell is a loop. Each type has its own symbol. The symbols of loops when knitting need to be read in the front rows from right to left, in the purl rows - from left to right. The number of rows is indicated by numbers on the right. The number of loops in width is indicated in numbers below. Each row of cells is a row in knitting. The number of cells in a row is the width of the knitting; how many loops need to be cast on.

The diagrams indicate the number of rows required to form a pattern that should be repeated. All other instructions will be in the description.

Rapport is a repeating element of a pattern. Marked with square brackets, arrows, and the letters MS. Marked with asterisks in the description. The diagrams indicate the facial rows.

Conventions in knitting

To understand the pattern, you need to remember the symbols for knitting. There are not many basic icons: an empty square, triangles to the right and left, filled or not, a circle, vertical and horizontal lines, diamonds, filled or not, slanted lines to the right or left with an additional line to the right or left.

List of types of loops:

• facial;
• purl;
• yarn over;
• two together face left;
• two together facing right;
• two together purl to the left;
• two together purl to the right;
• facial crossed;
• purl crossed;
• edge;
• three together facial;
• purl three together;
• cross to the right;
• cross to the left;
• remove on an auxiliary knitting needle before work;
• remove on an auxiliary knitting needle at work.

Facial

The simplest loop is the front one. The symbol is an empty square or a vertical line. To knit, you need to insert the right knitting needle into the loop on the left knitting needle from left to right, hook the working thread, which should be behind the work on index finger. Next, pull the thread through the loop and throw it onto the right knitting needle.

Two together with an inclination. Knit in the same way as a single one, only the right knitting needle is inserted into two loops on the left knitting needle at once. The symbol is a black triangle or an inclined line to the left/right and a dash perpendicular to it to the right or left.

The tilt can be to the right or left, this is done to decrease it in the desired direction. To tilt to the right, the right needle is inserted into the loops from left to right.

With a tilt to the left - the first loop is removed on the needle on the right, the next one is knitted with the front one, and the removed one is thrown onto the knitted one.

Crossed - indicated by the image of a loop. To perform this, the right knitting needle is inserted into the loop on the left needle from right to left, the working thread is hooked, and pulled through. The symbol is a black diamond.

Shifted - formed after knitting a decrease or two loops together. Their location is moved compared to the original one. The icon is an inclined line to the right or left.

Purl

When knitting this type of element, the working thread should be in front of the work. The right knitting needle must be inserted into the loop on the left knitting needle from right to left, wrapped with a working thread and pulled through. The symbol is a horizontal line.

To knit two together, you need to transfer first one loop from the left knitting needle to the right one, then the other. Then remove them again with the left knitting needle so that they change places, knit by inserting the right knitting needle into both at once from right to left. Designation – an open triangle with the lower corner to the left. This is a left-leaning option.

Two together with a tilt to the right - we knit two elements in one step with a purl stitch, insert the right knitting needle from right to left. Designation – an open triangle with the lower corner to the right.

Crossed ones are obtained by inserting the right knitting needle from left to right from the back side of the loop, then we hook the working thread and pull it through. Designation is an open diamond.

Shifted ones are formed when two or three loops are knitted together; there are fewer of them on the knitting needle, so the remaining ones are shifted to the left or right. There is no specific symbol because they are formed by knitting two or three together, knit or purl.

Yarn over

The yarn over symbol is a circle. There are capes for yourself and for yourself. We are talking about moving a knitting needle. Which type should be knitted is indicated in the description. With the help of this element, increases are made, creating openwork knitting. There are double and triple yarn overs.