How to read a crochet chart

What a chart actually is

Every symbol on a chart stands for one stitch, and — this is the part that makes charts click — the symbol is drawn where the stitch goes. Its foot sits on the stitch or space you work into. Its height tells you how tall the stitch is. Craft Yarn Council, who standardized the symbol set most designers use, describe each symbol as showing the stitch as it looks on the right side of the work.

So you do not memorize a chart the way you memorize a paragraph. You trace it. Find the first stitch, follow the symbols in order, and let the picture tell you where each one belongs.

Charts worked in the round

Round charts — doilies, mandalas, granny squares, amigurumi motifs — are read from the center outward. Round 1 is the tight ring of symbols in the middle; the outermost ring is the last round you will work.

Within each round, right-handed crocheters read counter-clockwise, because that is the direction the work grows under a right-handed hook. Left-handed crocheters work clockwise — the mirror image — and for a symmetrical motif the finished piece is identical either way.

Two markers tell you where a round begins: the round number, printed beside its first stitch, and often an arrow. At the end of most rounds you will find a small filled dot sitting on the round’s first stitch — that is the slip stitch that joins the round closed. Unless the pattern says to turn, you do not turn between rounds; the right side faces you the whole way.

Charts worked in rows

Row charts read bottom to top, and the direction alternates because you turn your work at the end of every row:

• Row 1 (and every odd row) reads right to left for right-handed crocheters.
• Row 2 (and every even row) reads left to right.

The row number is your compass. Chart-makers put it at the end where the row begins — number on the right means read that row right to left, number on the left means read it left to right. If a chart puts every number on the same side, it is telling you the piece is worked in the round or without turning.

Some published charts also color alternate rows — black for right-side rows, blue or red for wrong-side rows — purely to help you keep your place.

Do turning chains count as a stitch?

This is the question written patterns answer badly and charts answer for free. Look at where the chain symbols sit at the start of the row or round:

• If the turning chain stands in a stitch position — with a stitch worked into its top on the following row — it counts as a stitch.
• If it hangs off the edge with nothing worked into it, it does not count, and the first real stitch goes into the very first stitch of the row below.

What the guide rings and lines mean

The faint dashed circles on a round chart, and the faint horizontal lines on a row chart, are not stitches. They are position guides: one ring per round, one line per row, with the round or row number printed beside it. They exist so you can see at a glance which round a symbol belongs to when the motif gets busy. In this editor you can leave them on or turn them off before exporting — they are useful while you draw and often unwanted in a finished pattern PDF.

Reading a chart when you cannot read the language

Charts are why Japanese and Russian crochet books are usable by people who read neither. The symbols are near-universal, so the diagram carries the whole pattern. The same property solves the US/UK problem: a T with one slash is the same stitch whether the words beside it say "dc" or "tr". If a written pattern and its chart seem to disagree, the chart is usually the one telling the truth about the shape you are making — but check the pattern’s own key first, because symbols are standard rather than identical from publisher to publisher.

A five-minute way to practice

1. Open a chart you have already made in written form. A granny square is ideal — you know what it should look like, so the chart cannot mislead you.
2. Find the center and the number 1. Trace round 1 counter-clockwise with a finger until you reach the joining dot.
3. Count the symbols in round 2. Check the total against the written stitch count. They will match, and that match is what builds trust in charts.
4. Look at what sits between the posts. The chain arcs are the shape of the finished lace; that is the information written instructions cannot give you.
5. Draw one yourself. Nothing teaches chart-reading faster than placing the symbols.