Ask The Experts: Can You Repeat That?

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Knitters and crocheters know all about repeats. After all, it’s the rhythmic repetition of stitch sequences that make our projects so delightfully soothing.  

Given their prevalence in our craft, you’d think there would be a standard way of expressing repeats. But no. There are nearly as many ways of writing a pattern repeat as there are people who write patterns. There is no universally accepted standard for writing knitting and crochet instructions. This includes abbreviations, capitalization, punctuation, and repeats.  

Repeats in Knitting Charts

Here is the chart for the project currently on my needles, a simple all-over lace pattern. You can see that the 20-stitch pattern repeat is marked on the chart with a red bracket. Boxes and brackets, usually in a contrasting color, are a common way of indicating the repeat in a chart.  

Related: How to Read Knitting Charts

Repeats in Row-by-Row Instructions

What if you’re working with row-by-row instructions instead of a chart? Let’s look at some of the different ways Row 1 of this pattern might be written out.

Asterisks 

1) Row 1 *P1, k4, k2tog, k3, yo, p1, yo, k3, ssk, k4; rep from * to last st, p1. This is the standard format used in Interweave patterns. An asterisk (*) marks the beginning of the section to be repeated. A semi-colon (;) marks the end of the section to be repeated.  

2) Row 1—*P1, k4, k2 tog, yo, p1, yo, k3, ssk, k4; rep from *, end p1. This is the format used in the 1968 version of Barbara Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, the cherished original knitting stitch dictionary. Note the space in “k2 tog”.  

3) Row 1: *P1, k4, k2tog, yo, p1, yo, k3, ssk, k4* rep from * to *, end p1. Here, the repeated stitch sequence is shown between asterisks.  

4) Row 1: *P1, k4, k2tog, yo, p1, yo, k3, ssk, k4** rep from * to **, end p1. Some pattern writers mark the beginning of the repeat with an asterisk and the end of the repeat with a double asterisk.  

Parentheses or Brackets

5) Row 1: (P1, K4, K2tog, K3, YO, P1, YO, K3, SSK, K4) to last st, P1. The repeated stitch sequence is shown within parentheses. Note that all the abbreviations are capitalized.  

6) Row 1 – [P1, k4, k2tog, k3, yo, p1, yo, k3, ssk, k4] to last stitch, p1. In this example, the repeated stitch sequence is shown within brackets. In addition, the word “stitch” is not abbreviated.  

That’s six different ways of saying exactly the same thing—seven if you count the chart! All of these formats are currently in use in contemporary patterns. Antique and vintage patterns are often even quirkier. Like so many things in knitting and crochet, none of these formats are “wrong”. It’s simply a matter of what the designer or editor prefers.  

When you begin a project, take a moment to read through the instructions and make sure you understand how the stitch pattern repeat is expressed. Check the abbreviations list or glossary for any terms that are new to you. Then sit back, relax, and settle into many happy repeats.    

Happy Knitting,

Sandi Rosner
Technical Content Editor, Yarn

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