A knitted stitch is rarely square. In stocking stitch, a stitch is usually a little wider than the row is tall, so a motif drawn on square graph paper looks too tall and narrow when knitted. A chart that matches your gauge shows the real proportions before you cast on.
Measure your swatch
Knit a swatch at least 12 cm (5 inches) square in the yarn and needles you plan to use, wash it the way you will wash the finished piece, and let it dry. Count the stitches and rows in a 10 cm (4 inch) span in the middle.
Work out one stitch
- Stitch width = 100 mm divided by the number of stitches in 10 cm.
- Row height = 100 mm divided by the number of rows in 10 cm.
For example, 22 stitches and 30 rows in 10 cm gives a stitch 4.5 mm wide and 3.3 mm tall. Enter those values in the knitting chart generator. In inches, a gauge of 20 stitches and 28 rows in 4 inches gives about 5.1 mm by 3.6 mm.
Using the chart
- Mark the centre with the arrows if the design is symmetrical.
- Colour in the squares to draw your motif.
- Check the stitch and row count printed under the chart against the stitches you have available.
- Read the chart from the bottom up. Right-side rows go right to left, and wrong-side rows go left to right when knitting flat. For knitting in the round, read every row right to left.
Square cells are right for some crafts
Cross stitch, tapestry crochet, pixel crochet, beadwork and perler patterns have square or nearly square cells. Use the cross stitch chart for those.
Check the print
As always, print at 100%. If your chart scales, the ratio will stay correct, but the printed size will be off. See the guide to printing at true size.