Turnpike Stitchopedia | Knotions Magazine
1. Meet the Stitch
The Turnpike stitch doesn’t announce itself loudly. It’s the quietly confident one in the room: a clean, almost woven-looking colorwork pattern that lays small dashes of color across a smooth stockinette ground like road markings on a well-kept highway. Hence the name.
It’s a slipped-stitch pattern worked one color at a time, and it produces fabric that looks tailored and intentional. Not flashy. Just really, really good.
2. Why This Stitch Rocks
What sets Turnpike apart is its restraint. Where Bean Sprouts reaches upward and Flecked Tweed scatters in every direction, Turnpike lays its color down in precise horizontal dashes, evenly spaced, quietly rhythmic. The effect reads almost like a woven textile or a subtle geometric print.
The repeat is 4 stitches with 1 stitch before and 2 after, which makes it very easy to center and very easy to memorize. A few rows in and your hands know exactly what’s coming. That kind of flow is genuinely enjoyable to knit.
It’s also remarkably versatile. Depending on your color choices, Turnpike can read as bold and graphic or soft and tonal. The structure stays the same; the mood shifts entirely with the palette.
3. What to Watch For
The floats on the wrong side are short and well-behaved, but tension still matters. Slip stitches too tightly and those little dashes will pucker and pull the stockinette ground out of shape. Keep your slips loose and relaxed.
Because the ground fabric is essentially stockinette, it will want to curl if worked flat without an edging. Plan for a border, or work it in the round where curling isn’t an issue.
One thing to watch in your color sequencing: the dash color and the ground color interact closely, so high contrast combinations will read as bold and graphic while low contrast combinations produce something much more subtle. Neither is wrong, but swatch your specific colors before committing to a large project.
4. Perfect Projects for This Stitch
Turnpike’s tailored, graphic quality makes it a natural fit for:
- Hats and beanies, where the horizontal dashes wrap neatly around the crown
- Cowls and scarves, where the woven look feels polished and intentional
- Bag panels or pocket details
- Blanket squares, where it holds its own beautifully next to more textural neighbors
Smooth fingering weight is ideal; Heritage lets the color separation stay crisp and clean. Heavier weights work too, but the dashes get chunkier and the effect shifts from refined to rustic.
5. Try It Now: Stitch Breakdown
See the Written Instructions here, or, see the chart below.
Cast on: Multiple of 4 sts, plus 1 before and 2 after.
Colors: A (Dusky Coral), B (Lemon), C (Herb)
Difficulty: Intermediate
Stitches are slipped purlwise with yarn in back on RS rows, and purlwise with yarn in front on WS rows. Or, see the chart below.
Row 1 (RS): Knit. (40 sts)
Row 2 (WS): Purl.
Row 3: Knit.
Row 4: Purl.
Row 5: Knit.
Row 6: Purl.
Row 7: K1, (sl × 2, sl wyif × 2) 9 times, sl × 2, k1.
Row 8: P1, sl wyif × 2, (sl × 2, sl wyif × 2) 9 times, p1.
Row 9: Knit.
Rows 10-33: Repeat rows 4-9.
Row 34: Purl.
Row 35: Knit.
Rows 36-37: Repeat rows 34-35.
Row 38: Purl.
Swatch shown: Cascade Heritage fingering weight in Dusky Coral (A), Lemon (B), Herb (C). Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm)
6. Knotions’ Take: Design Twist
Try working Turnpike in two colors instead of three for a cleaner, more graphic look. A dark ground with a single bright dash color gives you something almost like a woven stripe that still has the handmade softness of knit fabric.
You can also use Turnpike as a transitional band between two other stitch patterns, a row or two of those neat dashes acts as a visual pause that makes everything around it look more deliberate. It’s a small detail that reads as a design decision.
7. TL;DR Recap
- Best for: Hats, cowls, bags, blanket squares
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Yarn: Smooth fingering weight; Heritage is ideal
- Why try it: Clean, graphic, woven-looking texture that’s far simpler to knit than it appears
8. Your Turn!
Have you tried Turnpike, or a stitch that gives you that same woven, graphic look? We’d love to see what you make. Share your swatches and projects with us using #Knotions.
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