FAQ: What does “Work Stitch Pattern A” mean?

Hetty

Whenever it’s possible, I like to write my patterns so you can choose between following written instructions or charts for the stitch patterns. That means that the stitch patterns end up separate from the rest of the pattern, and the pattern will say “work stitch pattern A” or “work stitch pattern B” in the appropriate spot, and the knitter has to pop in the stitch pattern there and keep track of the stitch patterns themselves. It’s pretty easy once you get going and understand what is going on.

Agatha

When you first run across the instructions “work stitch pattern __,” you always want to start with the first row of the stitch pattern unless the main pattern tells you otherwise. Sometimes the first row of the stitch pattern might be a plain row, like all knits or all purls, but the first row is the first row, so that’s the one you should knit, even if it’s not exciting. From there, every time you see the instructions “work stitch pattern __,” you work the next row in the stitch pattern so you progress all the way through it. Once you’ve knit all the rows in the stitch pattern, you start over with the first row again and continue like that. It will be up to you to keep track of what row of the stitch pattern you’re on because the stitch pattern’s row numbers won’t correspond with the main pattern’s row numbers once you get going.

Let’s imagine we’re working with some panels here so I can illustrate what is going on. Although it doesn’t really matter and this applies to lace, cables, and colorwork alike, this will be our stitch pattern for my examples:

Example_Stitchpatterns

Here is the example main pattern instructions:

Row 1: K4, work stitch pattern A, k9, work stitch pattern A, k3.
Row 2: P3, work stitch pattern A, p9, work stitch pattern A, p4.
Repeat the previous 2 rows 5 more times.

Note that what you’re repeating is the instructions for these rows, not the identical rows themselves, so you would continue to progress through the different rows of the stitch pattern like you would normally. For the first two rows of the pattern, you’d work rows 1-2 of the stitch pattern because you always start with the first row of the stitch pattern and progress through unless otherwise instructed. When you repeat the two rows of the pattern, you’d repeat the instructions and therefore continue to progress through the stitch pattern with stitch pattern rows 3 and 4.

If you find that a little confusing, think about instructions that have you work until a marker and increase. When you repeat those rows you repeat the instructions, not the exact version of the rows you knit the first time. It works the same way here, and this is how those instructions would look if we follow them correctly:

Example_Panels

Easy enough, right? Now let’s look at an all over stitch pattern. It’s worked just like the panel version, but the chart is also repeated horizontally. I think the horizontal repeats might be what causes confusion with this style because where people see instructions to work the stitch pattern multiple times, they might jump to the conclusion that they’re supposed to work full vertical repeats multiple times, even when the instructions are for just one row. If you ever find yourself confused, look for context clues. How is the rest of the pattern written? Is there any indication of how many rows this set of instructions applies to? Are there neighboring stitches to knit in this set of instructions? Taking the time to read the pattern closely will spare you a lot of ripping back.

Here are our sample instructions with the stitch pattern repeated horizontally:

Row 1: K4, work stitch pattern A 3 times, k3.
Row 2: P3, work stitch pattern A 3 times, p4.
Repeat the previous 2 rows 5 more times.

And this is what it should look like:

Example_AllOver

Last but not least, I sometimes get questions from people who want to know how many vertical repeats are in a section or what row of the stitch pattern they should be on at the end of the section. Full vertical stitch pattern repeats aren’t always going to fit nicely into the section you’re working on, and that’s not accidental. You want your armhole to be the depth your armhole needs to be, not the depth that full repeats fit nicely into, and you’ll just pick up the stitch pattern where you left off when you continue knitting so it’s okay if it’s not a full repeat. But sometimes you just want to know so you can check your work. To find out what stitch pattern row you should be on, you can add up all the main pattern rows for your size that include the stitch pattern instructions and then divide by the number of rows in the stitch pattern. That will give you the number of full vertical repeats you should have and a fraction that indicates how far into the next repeat you are. Take the fraction and multiply it by the number of rows in the stitch pattern to get the exact row you’re on.


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10 responses to “FAQ: What does “Work Stitch Pattern A” mean?”

  1. threeoutside

    Wow, thanks for posting this! I have saved it to my hard drive in the Knitting / How Tos folder – just in case you take this page down, ever, for any reason LOL. Knitting using a graph pattern is something I just haven’t had enough courage to try, yet, but you’ve given me hope I will be able to learn. And the sweater is *adorable*!

  2. Sharon

    Thanks for this. It so much more easier to understand. Im a new knitter and would have had to have read this a hundred times on the pattern before it would have sunk in 🙂

  3. Kellie S.

    I’m confused as to why in the examples of ” the main pattern instructions”, row 2 starts with p3 and not k4? I thought the chart was read R to L. So after the first row, if you then purl back, would the next row not be a right side row once again?

    1. When reading flat charts, you read in a zigzag as if you were knitting because charts represent to right-side version of a stitch pattern. So you’d read RS rows from right to left and WS rows as left to right. When a chart is for stitches in the round, you read all rounds as right to left because that’s how you will knit them.

      After the first row, you will purl back because that’s what the stitch pattern tells you to do, and this is the second row. The next RS row is the third row. It’s important to remember that a plain stitch pattern row is still a stitch pattern row because not all stitch patterns will have plain and patterned rows nicely split between WS and RS rows.

      1. Kellie S.

        Thanks Andi…it finally makes sense.

  4. Ani Sargent

    I bought the Stranded Magazine with the ‘salal’ pattern, and the pattern is very confusing the way it’s written and in many different ways.
    !. Stitch pattern A is different from the way it’s graphed and how it’s explained.
    2. The rows are not numbered, so when you say repeat last 8 rows it takes intense speculation to decipher.
    3. Instead of saying “repeat last 2 rows so many times, it should say repeat pattern A (or B) until so many rows are completed.
    4. On the purl rows it says purl 2 work stitch pattern A to so may at end, purl so many. Why not just say purl next or number row? Or just plain work stitch pattern A?

    I’ve had to ripped out numerous times, it’s hardly worth the money and effort to try and figure it out.

    1. I’m sorry you find it frustrating, but it’s a common way of writing patterns so both written and charted versions of the stitch pattern can be used. It’s useful to learn because you’ll likely run across it again, but if you completely hate it, that’s okay because there are a lot of other designers and publishers out there who write in different styles. Susan Crawford and Kate Davied are also designers with a retro aesthetic, and their writing styles might be more to your taste.

      Most of your complaints are necessary for extracted stitch patterns. The rows are not numbered at that point because different sizes are on different row numbers. Row counts are given instead of repeat counts because it’s more accurate and less confusing if your size has partial repeats. The stitch pattern is always written as “Work Stitch Pattern” even on plain rows so it’s position can be tracked and for consistency with patterns written in the same style with no plain rows.

      On your first point, a correction went out soon after the release for the stitch pattern inconsistency. You can find an update in your Ravelry library or see the eratta note on Stranded’s website.

  5. Ani Sargent

    I’m 69 yrs. old, I’ve been knitting most of my life, I’m very familiar with lace knitting. I knitted your Miette sweater twice, (thank you for the free patter), but this one is especially difficult. I bought several of your other patterns, I hope they are not as frustrating as this one.

  6. Ani Sargent

    I obviously like your designs very much having bought so many of them and making the Miette sweater twice, I’m not being rude, I’m frustrated trying to understand the way you explain your pattern. I appreciate the pattern being given both written and charted. Instead of talking down to your customer by suggesting if I don’t like the way you explain your pattern I should buy from someone else, perhaps you should look at the way you explain your pattern and reassess. A little humility and gratitude go a long way.

    1. If you’re stuck with your knitting, I’m happy to provide resources and help you to understand it. But if you don’t want to work with a pattern written in this style, which is what it sounded like when you said it’s not worth your effort, that’s not something I can help with except to encourage practice or suggest finding designers who write the way you enjoy.

      I will pass on your complaint to my coworkers at Stranded if you’d like. The pattern style for the magazine is something we all agreed on as a team.

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