Tutorial: No Stitches in Knitting Chart

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!