12 Days KAL: Reading a Color Work Chart

This is the third in our series of posts to help you get ready for our 12 Days of Christmas Mitten Garland Knit Along. Today we are going to talk about reading a color work chart since a few people have said they have never done it. Reading a color chart is very simple. (Especially compared to a lace work chart!)

Basically, a color chart is a graph where each square of the graph represents a stitch. The color of each square tells you what color you should working that stitch. You read a chart starting at the bottom right then work each row towards the left. When you reach the end of the row, you move up one and start at the right again.

Here is a look at the mitten chart I did for the mitten in our KAL  header. I’ve labeled all the parts of it for you. Click on it to see it bigger or save it to your computer for reference.

With this pattern you will be given all the shaping directions in the written pattern, while the color work design is shown on the chart. You can see where the increases and decreases will happen, but the pattern will tell exactly which ones to use. These mittens are a relatively simple pattern and one you have done a few you will probably find you can knit one just using the chart.

The one reoccuring problem people had on our last mini mitten KAL was forgetting to start the thumb. The thumb chart is off to the side of the hand even though it is worked in the middle of the row between the front and back of the mitten. I’ve added a highlight to the row where the thumb starts to help people remember.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask.