How to Read a Knitting Pattern
Knitting patterns are written in shorthand — k2tog, ssk, *rep from * — which is brilliant once you can read it and baffling before you can. This site turns that shorthand into plain English.
What knitting abbreviations actually mean
Patterns are abbreviated to save space. A sweater written out longhand would run to many pages, so designers compress it: k for knit, p for purl, and dozens of shorter forms for the moves in between. None of it is difficult once someone tells you the code — the trouble is that most patterns assume you already know.
There are two separate things to learn. The first is the vocabulary: what k2tog and ssk stand for. The second is the grammar: what an asterisk means, how a repeat ends, and why there's a number in brackets at the end of the row. Knowing only the vocabulary still leaves you stuck, which is why the converter explains both.
Start with these six
These cover the large majority of what you'll meet in a beginner pattern.
What the converter does
What the pattern says
Row 1 (RS): K3, *k2tog, yo, k1; rep from * to last 2 sts, k2. (24 sts)
What it means
Row 1 — right side
1. Knit 3.
2. Repeat this sequence until 2 stitches remain:
— knit 2 together
— yarn over
— knit 1
3. Knit 2.
You should have 24 stitches.
Notice the repeat is explained rather than written out stitch by stitch. Spelling it out would mean working out how many times it happens, which depends on how many stitches are on your needle — and patterns don't always say. A confident wrong number would be worse than none.
UK and US patterns
British and American patterns mostly use the same stitch names, but a few everyday terms differ: bind off is cast off, gauge is tension, and stockinette is stocking stitch. The converter can switch a pattern between the two.