The “No Stitch”

An advantage of charted instructions is the visualization of what we actually are knitting. This is where charts can be easier to use than written line-by-line directions. You can see row by row how a pattern is supposed to look (or at least, usually a good approximation).

But there are also limitations to charts. Most notably is the nature of a chart confined to a grid of vertical and horizontal lines. A simple grid is not able to communicate, without some kind of alteration, lace patterns that have differing stitch counts from row to row. And thereby the reason that the “no stitch” might be encountered in charts (whereas you never have a need for it in written instructions).

If the number of stitches varies from row to row, then the charted representation of fewer or more stitches in a row necessitates the need for removing or adding grid cells to that row in the chart. One method is to use the “no stitch” symbol, typically represented by a totally gray or black cell. These “no stitch” symbols are inserted in the chart, if needed, to maintain the correct stitch count, but still allow the chart to look similar to the resulting knitting. Essentially they are just placeholders for grid layout. When knitting the chart, you should ignore them.

Here’s the simple, short message: When reading a chart that has any of these gray or black “no stitch” symbols, you just pretend they are not there. For example, in the chart for Lace Cable Bookmark, you only knit according to the other “real stitch” symbols (i.e. the ones that have a white background).

It’s as easy as that. Please don’t let “no stitch” trip you up or deter you from using charts. I hope this explanation helps if you’ve felt it’s been a mystery before.