The Knitting Studio

Stitch library

Eighteen patterns, all made of knits and purls

Every entry has three things: a picture of the fabric drawn stitch by stitch, the same pattern as a chart, and the written instructions. Read whichever of the three suits your brain — they all say the same thing.

How to read a chart

A chart is a picture of the fabric with one square per stitch. The great advantage over written instructions is that the chart looks like the thing you are knitting, so a mistake shows up as a shape that is wrong rather than a number that is wrong.

1 2 3 4 5 start at the bottom right the chart grows upward, like the knitting Odd rows are right-side rows numbered on the right, read right → left Even rows are wrong-side rows numbered on the left, read left → right Symbols show the RIGHT-SIDE look so an empty square means "knit" on a right-side row and "purl" on a wrong-side row Knitting in the round? every round is a right-side round — read every line right to left One square = one stitch. The chart is a map of the fabric, seen from the right side.
Charts are read the way the yarn travels: bottom to top, and turning at the end of each row.

The symbols used on this site

Standard symbols, with the squares tinted by what they do so that the shape of a pattern is visible before you have learned a single one.

The library

Showing 18 patterns. Every swatch below is drawn from the actual stitch pattern, so what you see is what you will get.

1 · Garter stitch

Knit only Reversible Lies flat
Ridges of purl bumps, two rows deep.

The first fabric anyone makes, and still the right answer surprisingly often. Squishy, thick, completely reversible, and it will not curl at any edge. It also uses about a third more yarn than stockinette for the same area, and is roughly twice as wide per stitch as it is tall per row.

Any number of stitches
Every row: knit

Good for scarves, blanket squares, dishcloths, borders on anything that curls. Counting rows: one ridge = two rows.

2 · Stockinette (stocking stitch)

Knit + purl Curls
Columns of smooth Vs — the classic knitted face.

The default fabric of almost every jumper ever made: smooth, drapey and economical with yarn. Its one quirk is that the side edges roll toward the back and the top and bottom roll toward the front, because the knit face is under more tension than the purl face.

Any number of stitches
Row 1 (RS): knit
Row 2 (WS): purl
Repeat rows 1–2

Good for garment bodies and sleeves, colourwork backgrounds. In the round it is simply "knit every round" — no purling at all.

3 · Reverse stockinette

Knit + purl
The same fabric, worn the other way round.

Exactly the back of stockinette, chosen deliberately. Its rough, pebbled surface is the traditional ground for cables — the flat rope stands out against it far better than it would against another smooth field.

Row 1 (RS): purl
Row 2 (WS): knit

Good for cable backgrounds, textured yokes, anywhere you want a matte rather than a shiny surface.

4 · 1×1 rib

Very stretchy Reversible Lies flat
Alternating columns of knit and purl.

The stretchiest of the standard ribs, and the one that pulls in hardest. The knit columns stand forward and the purl columns fall back, so the fabric concertinas — which is why it is on the bottom of every jumper and the top of every sock.

Multiple of 2 stitches
Every row: *k1, p1; repeat from * to end
The move that trips everyone up

The yarn must travel between the needle tips every time you switch between knit and purl — never over the top. Over the top makes a yarn-over, and your rib grows a hole and an extra stitch.

5 · 2×2 rib

Stretchy Reversible
Two knits, two purls, repeated.

Slightly less elastic than 1×1 but much faster to work, because you swap the yarn position half as often. It also looks bolder, which suits chunky yarn and big hems.

Multiple of 4 stitches
Every row: *k2, p2; repeat from * to end

Good for hat brims, cuffs, whole hats. Tip: a rib hem is usually worked on needles one or two sizes smaller than the body so it grips.

6 · Seed stitch (UK: moss stitch)

Knit + purl Reversible Lies flat
Every stitch is the opposite of its neighbours.

Take 1×1 rib and offset it by one stitch every row, and the columns stop lining up. The result is a dense, bumpy, completely flat fabric that reads as expensive. Slower than stockinette because every single stitch involves moving the yarn, but worth it.

Odd number of stitches
Every row: k1, *p1, k1; repeat from * to end

Good for scarves, blanket borders, whole cardigans if you have the patience. Naming: what Americans call seed stitch, the British call moss.

7 · Double moss (double seed)

Four-row repeat Reversible
Seed stitch enlarged to blocks of two by two.

Seed stitch scaled up: a checkerboard of two-by-two blocks. Softer and more open than seed, and considerably faster, since you change yarn position every second stitch rather than every stitch.

Multiple of 4 stitches
Rows 1–2: *k2, p2; repeat from * to end
Rows 3–4: *p2, k2; repeat from * to end

Good for baby blankets, cushion fronts, textured panels beside cables.

8 · Basketweave

Eight-row repeat Lies flat
Blocks of four by four, alternating.

The same idea again, scaled up until it reads as woven rather than textured. Because knit and purl blocks pull in opposite directions, the surface genuinely looks plaited.

Multiple of 8 stitches
Rows 1–4: *k4, p4; repeat from * to end
Rows 5–8: *p4, k4; repeat from * to end

Good for blankets, bags, cushion covers — anything you want to look substantial.

9 · Garter ridge

Eight-row repeat
Bands of stockinette separated by garter ridges.

Stockinette with a purl ridge every few rows. Costs nothing in difficulty, adds a lot in interest, and the ridges help tame stockinette's rolling habit.

Any number of stitches
Rows 1–6: work in stockinette (k on RS, p on WS)
Row 7 (RS): purl
Row 8 (WS): knit

Good for a first project after the garter scarf; also the quickest way to make a plain hat look designed.

10 · Welted stripe

Six-row repeat Reversible
Deep horizontal welts that pop forward.

Thick horizontal bands of knit and purl. The fabric folds along each boundary, which gives it real physical depth and a lot of vertical stretch.

Any number of stitches
Rows 1–3: stockinette
Rows 4–6: reverse stockinette

Good for cowls and cushion fronts. Uses a lot of yarn — the welts eat length.

11 · Broken rib

Two-row repeat Lies flat
Narrow purl channels in a knit field.

Rib that has been interrupted, so it holds its shape without pulling in hard the way a true rib does. A good compromise when you want texture and structure but a garment that still hangs.

Multiple of 4 stitches
Row 1 (RS): *k3, p1; repeat from * to end
Row 2 (WS): purl

Good for scarves that need to look the same from a distance and interesting up close.

12 · Four-stitch cable (C4B / C4F)

Needs a cable needle
A four-stitch rope crossing every six rows.

A cable is nothing more than knitting stitches out of order. You slip a few stitches onto a spare needle, hold them at the front or the back, knit the next few, then knit the held ones. Held at the back, the cable leans right; held at the front, it leans left.

Panel of 8 sts (2 purl, 4 knit, 2 purl)
Rows 1, 3, 5 (RS): p2, k4, p2
Rows 2, 4, 6 (WS): k2, p4, k2
Row 7 (RS): p2, C4B, p2
C4B = slip 2 sts to cable needle, hold at BACK,
k2, then k2 from the cable needle
Cables eat width

A cabled fabric is noticeably narrower than the same number of stitches worked plain — often 10–20% narrower. Always swatch the actual cable pattern, never plain stockinette, before you trust your stitch count.

How to Knit the Cable Stitch for Beginners

Step by step, with the cable needle held both ways so the difference is obvious.

Open on YouTube ↗

Cables: Simple to Advanced, With and Without a Cable Needle

Two-, four- and eight-stitch cables, double crossings, and the cable-needle-free method.

Later Open on YouTube ↗

13 · Eyelet

First taste of lace
Small holes on a stockinette ground.

The gateway to lace. A yarn-over makes a deliberate hole and adds a stitch; a decrease worked next to it removes one again, so the stitch count never changes. Master this pairing and every lace pattern in the world is available to you.

Multiple of 3 stitches
Rows 1, 2, 4: stockinette
Row 3 (RS): *k1, k2tog, yo; repeat from * to end

Good for a first lace project, baby garments, drawstring channels. Watch out: count your stitches every few rows — a missed yarn-over is easy to make and annoying to fix.

14 · Faggoting lace panel

Paired increases and decreases
Eyelets flanked by decreases leaning toward each other.

Proper lace: yarn-overs paired with decreases that lean in matching directions, so the holes line up into columns and the fabric opens out. The two decreases are not interchangeable — k2tog leans right, ssk leans left, and using the wrong one is what makes homemade lace look homemade.

Multiple of 8 stitches
Rows 1, 2, 4: stockinette
Row 3 (RS): *ssk, yo, k4, yo, k2tog; rep from *
Lace looks wrong until it is blocked

Unblocked lace is a crumpled, unconvincing rag. Wet it, pin it out under firm tension and let it dry — the holes open, the pattern appears, and it becomes the thing on the pattern photograph. This is not optional finishing; it is part of the technique.

15 · Brioche

Advanced Reversible
Deep, lofty columns — double-thick rib.

A fabric made by working stitches together with the yarn-over that was slipped over them on the previous row. The result is squashy, double-sided and about twice as thick as it looks; in two colours each face shows a different colour, which is the whole reason people fall for it.

Even number of stitches
Set-up: *sl1yo, k1; repeat from * to end
Every row: *sl1yo, brk1; repeat from * to end
sl1yo = yarn forward, slip 1 purlwise, yarn over needle
brk1 = knit the slipped stitch together with its yarn-over

Good for scarves, cowls, hats, anything that wants to be warm. Warning: brioche is genuinely hard to un-knit; a lifeline every few rows will save your evening.

Brioche Knitting for Beginners — Two-Colour Brioche

The single-colour version first, then how the second colour is added.

Open on YouTube ↗

16 · Stripes

Easiest colourwork
Two rows per colour, straight through the spectrum.

You already know how. Drop one colour, pick up the next, keep knitting. Everything interesting about stripes is in the management of the edges and the ends.

Any number of stitches
Work 2 rows in each colour, in stockinette
Carry the unused yarn loosely up the side edge

Even-numbered stripes let you carry the yarn up the side instead of cutting it, so you finish with two ends rather than forty. Odd-numbered stripes in flat knitting leave the yarn at the wrong end — either cut it or use a circular needle and slide the work back.

Jogless stripes in the round: at the start of the second round of each new colour, lift the stitch below the first stitch onto the left needle and knit the two together. The step where the colours change vanishes.

17 · Stranded colourwork (Fair Isle)

Two colours per round
A peerie band worked in two colours.

Two colours in one round, each carried behind the fabric while the other is being used. Traditional Fair Isle uses only two colours in any single round and never carries a colour more than about five stitches — both rules exist to keep the floats on the back short and the fabric elastic.

The same motif as a colour chart — one square per stitch, read bottom to top, every round right to left.

Keep the floats loose. Spread the stitches on the right needle out before you carry the second colour across; if the float is shorter than the fabric it crosses, the whole garment puckers. Work in the round if you can — the right side always faces you and you never have to strand on a purl row.

How to Knit Fair Isle for Beginners

Includes the float-tension problem and how to actually solve it.

Open on YouTube ↗

Fair Isle or Stranded Colourwork — Easy Tutorial

A shorter overview of the basics if you just want to see how the two yarns are held.

Open on YouTube ↗

18 · Houndstooth

Four-stitch repeat
A four-by-four colour repeat that reads as a woven check.

Stranded colourwork with a very short repeat, which makes it forgiving: no float is ever longer than two stitches, so tension problems have nowhere to hide. It is also the fastest way to make hand-knitting look like tailoring.

Good for hat bands, mitten backs, cushion panels. Works best with one light and one dark colour — two mid-tones muddy into grey at any distance.

Abbreviations you will meet

Knitting patterns are written in a compressed shorthand that is entirely standard and never explained. Here it is.

BasicMeaning
kknit
ppurl
st / stsstitch / stitches
RS / WSright side / wrong side of the fabric
reprepeat
* … *repeat everything between the asterisks
[ … ] ×3work the bracketed instructions three times
sl1slip one stitch without working it
tblthrough the back loop (twists the stitch)
pm / smplace marker / slip marker
wyif / wyibwith yarn in front / in back
Shaping & cablesMeaning
k2togknit two together — decrease, leans right
sskslip, slip, knit — decrease, leans left
p2togpurl two together — decrease on the wrong side
cddcentred double decrease — three become one
yoyarn over — increase, leaves a hole
m1L / m1Rmake one left / right — invisible increase
kfbknit into front and back — increase, leaves a bump
C4B / C4Fcable four back / front
T3B / T3Ftwist three back / front (cable with a purl)
brk1brioche knit
pssopass the slipped stitch over