Reading Aran Cable Charts

OK, here’s a really, really long post to make up for the time I’ve missed…

On one of the internet needlework digests I read, the following question

was asked about reading a chart to make cabled knitting patterns. I’ve

wanted to write this explanation for a long time, so it was great to have

a reason to do so.

Q: “I received a copy of the Great

American Aran Afghan book, and have

been reviewing it in order to choose a

beginning pattern. My problem is that in

spite of the 'knitter's school' material in the

back and the charts around the pages,

there are no clear explanations of what the

cable charts MEAN....This is very

frustrating. Each can be so different from

the others, even when one is only

increasing by one stitch in the cable.

Can anyone help me?”

(http://www.stitchesmarket.com)

A: Here is a tutorial on reading cable charts:

Because there are a lot of right and left directions in this tutorial, to

avoid confusion, I will refer to direction by left or right and the knitted

piece by RS (right side) for the front or face side and WS (wrong side)

as the back, or wrong side.

This is a beautiful example of

an Aran sweater knit from an

Alice Starmore pattern, "St

Briget" by Sarah Peasley of

Michigan. Photo from her

website,

http://www.sarahpeasley.com

Knitting an Aran pattern can be intimidating, but once you've worked

out the directions, they tend to be relatively intuitive. The pattern is

almost easier to work without a chart after a few repeats. As with any

new skill, it is important to try the stitch by making a sample before

making the real piece. Samples are a great way to try new techniques.

Directionality: The main thing that you have to keep in mind about any

cable chart is that the chart is always showing the RS (front or face) of

the piece. You will be alternately working on the RS (front) and the WS

(back) of your work, but the chart will always show the RS (front). So,

if you are on a RS row the markings will mean one stitch, if you are on

a WS row, they will mean the opposite stitch. Because the chart does

not show the WS, you have to read the chart backwards for the WS

rows. I hope that makes sense.

Everyone who writes or publishes patterns uses their own symbols but

if you look for the key, they are usually very easy to follow. For

instance, some charts use a dash (--) in the stitch box to mean "knit on

the RS, purl on the WS",and a vertical line ( | ) in the box to mean "purl

on the RS, knit on the WS).

It's up to you to know which side you are working on. This specific

XRX book uses white blocks on the chart to mean "knit on RS, purl on

WS" and shaded blocks to mean "Purl on RS, knit on the WS". It makes

the charts less cluttered to read; the cabling patterns are clearer. So if

you’re on the RS of your piece and you have a white block on the

chart, you would knit, if you have a shaded block, you would purl. If

you are working on the WS of your piece and you have a white block,

you would purl, and if you have a shaded block, you would knit.

The chart reads from the bottom up, so a right-hand knitter would start

row 1 on the RS of the piece and work the 1^st chart line from right to

left. A left-handed knitter would start from the left side of the chart

and work line 1 of the chart from left to right on the RS of the piece.

Line 2 is worked on the WS of the piece in the opposite direction of the

chart (reading it backwards). You will be doing the opposite stitch for

each block; if it was knit on the RS, it will be purled on the WS. A

right-hander would read line 2 of the chart from left to right, while

knitting from right to left on the WS of the piece (because you turned

it after row 1). A left-hander would read line 2 from right to left, while

working from left to right on the WS of the piece.

This is a 3D process. It would be easier if you had the chart on a trans-

parent paper and when you turned the work at the end of the row, you

could turn the paper over too. Then you would be on the WS of the

chart as well as the WS of the piece and you would always be starting

the line on the same side and knitting in the same direction that you

were reading. But, since patterns are not on transparent paper, you have

to read the WS rows in reverse.

It becomes pretty easy, after a few rows, when you start to see the

pattern appear on the knitting because you have the surrounding

stitches to guide you. You will be able to see if something doesn't

line up.

Horizontal: Each chart controls 1 part of the pattern design over a

certain number of stitches, and the charts may be worked one right

after the other, or they may be separated by columns of knit or purl

stitches. The “pat arrangement” (pattern arrangement) chart is shown

on the first page of each pattern in this book, and tells you the order

that you would work each pattern across the block, or piece, and how

many stitches for each chart or pattern.

If you refer to the Levy block, the 2^nd block in the book, it tells you the

block pattern is 3 garter stitches, followed by chart A over 17 stitches,

followed by chart B over 36 stitches followed by chart A again over 17

stitches, ending with 3 garter stitches. That shows that you have a

symmetrical block pattern, centered on chart B, that totals 76 stitches

across.

Vertical: When you are working these patterns, it’s important
to realize that, in most cases, the charts do not match up by
row (line) numbers. Wouldn’t that make for a boring design
if all the different elements in a pattern were the same height?
It’s important that you write out a chart for the whole block
or pattern so you know which chart lines will be done together
on which rows. I find it is less confusing if I refer to a “row” as
all the stitches that cross the entire block from one side to the
other. On the charts, instead of rows, I call them “lines”.

Using the Levy block as an example again, chart A is worked over 30

lines (rows), while chart B is worked over 28 lines. Up until the end of

line 28, the charts will all stay together as you work your pattern,

A-B-A. From line 29 on chart A you will pass to line 1 on chart B, then

back to line 29 on chart A. The next row will be made up of chart A line

30, chart B line 2, chart A line 30. The following row would contain

chart A line 1, chart B line 3, and chart A line 1, and so on.

The pattern notations for cable stitches can be confusing, but once you

know what you are reading, they work well. Cables have direction, so

you have to know if you are cabling right or left. If you do a left cable

across 6 stitches, the diagram will show a 3D “x” stretched over 6

blocks in one line.

The diagram shows a solid bar tilting to the left over a broken
bar leaning right; like a bridge crossing over a road on a map.
The solid bar represents the stitches that will be on top, toward
the RS, the broken line designates the stitches that will be
underneath, toward the WS. That means that on the RS of the
piece you will see the cable bar stitches moving up to the left.
You cross the right 3 stitches overtop of the 3 left stitches as
you make them. When cabling, you need to think dimensionally,
rather than flat.

(6 stitch left twist cable pattern is shown in this photo from

http://www.knitting.co.nz/site/page_affix/toaffix_learntoknit8/)

If you are knitting right-handed, you come

up to the stitch on its right side. The next

6 stitches are used for the cable left. You

slip the first 3stitches, which will be the RS

of the completed cable, from the left needle

onto a cable needle and drop the cable

needle to the RS of the piece.Knit the next 3

stitches from the left needle, then put the 3

stitches from the cable needle back onto the

left needle without twisting them. Knit those

3 stitches. This completes your left cable

over 6 stitches. A right cable is worked in just the opposite manner.

You slip 3 stitches onto the cable needle and drop it to the WS of the

piece, knit the next 3 stitches, put the 3 stitches from the cable needle

back onto the left needle, knit those 3 stitches. Now the cable on the RS

will be going up to the right.

If you are a left-handed knitter, you will be starting on the left hand side

of the cable. The cable is made over the next 6 stitches. You slip the

first 3 stitches, which will be the WS of the completed cable, from the

right needle onto a cable needle and drop the cable needle to the WS

of the piece. Knit the next 3 stitches from the right needle. Put the 3

stitches from the cable needle back onto the right needle without

twisting them then knit those three stitches. This completes your 6

stitch left cable. A right cable is worked in just the opposite manner.

Slip 3 stitches onto the cable needle and drop it to the RS of the piece,

knit the next 3 stitches, put the 3 stitches from the cable needle back

onto the right needle, knit those 3 stitches. Now the cable on the RS

will be going up to the right.

Check out this page for an example of the symbols:

http://www.yarmando.com/wash_aran.html

You just need to know which direction the cable is going, and which set

of stitches need to be to the RS and the WS. Cables can be made of any

number of stitches, evenly or unevenly split. You could have 1 over 1,

3 over 3, 3 over 1, 4 over 2, etc.

Charts will either place empty spaces below an increase block, or above

a decrease block to hold that space open, or they will change the

number of blocks in the line to accommodate the change in stitches. It

changes the shape of the chart, but the pattern keeps the same width.

This allows for making bobbles, or one set of stitches getting bigger

while another set gets smaller on the same line.

There are a lot of different symbols for different stitches, but if you

take the time to work them out in samples, you will be able to work

any chart and have it come out great!