The elusive No Stitch in a chart – what do you do with it and why is it there?
We’ll answer all your questions about the No Stitch symbol and explain why it’s there.
What to Do with a No Stitch Symbol
A No Stitch symbol might look like a grey stitch or an X.
But either way, the key should tell you that it’s a No Stitch symbol.
Although you might not know what to do with a No Stitch symbol, it’s actually quite easy – you do NOTHING. That’s right – just ignore it. Skip past it to the next “real” stitch.
Why are there No Stitch Symbols?
The No Stitch symbol is there just for chart readability. It allows the correct parts to line up on top of each other.
Chart readability is the reason for No Stitch symbols. While technically not necessary, a chart would be A LOT more challenging to read if there weren’t any No Stitch symbols in it (but it needed them).
Here’s a chart with No Stitch symbols:
And here’s the same chart without them:
If the chart doesn’t have No Stitch symbols, you don’t see a picture of what the chart is making, and that’s a large part of why a chart exists.
When are No Stitch Symbols Used?
Typically, decreases or bind off’s are replaced in future rows with No Stitch symbols. This allows future rows to have the same number of stitches and things can line up nicely. See?
Don’t Fret the No Stitch Symbol
Many of our charts include No Stitch symbols and they shouldn’t discourage you from trying a pattern just because of them. Here are a few free patterns from Knotions. Give one of them a try!
Tutorial: I Cord Bind Off
Thank you , I’m not certain I’m 100% clear on the notion of the no stitch. Could you explain how around 10 functions. It states I repeat the pattern just four times so when it happens the rest of the round. I am definitely missing something about executing this pattern.
I’m not clear on your question. I suspect autocorrect wasn’t your friend 🙂
But, to try and help – the places where the no stitches are in the chart. You just skip over them and do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. So, in a 10 stitch repeat, if you had 3 no stitches, it would actually be 7 stitches.
Does that help?
Hi
If the chart said no stitches do you slip that st onto your right needle and don’t knit it.
Thanks
No – you ignore it. Just skip it on the chart and do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING on your work.
The no stitches are there only for readability and to be sure that you’re seeing the stitches over their correct ones.