Wild/erness, a free chart for any craft

The random number generator picked Wilderness from the suggestions for this post, suggested by Nim Teasdale, one of my Patreon supporters. I have entirely revamped the chart and instructions as of 23 May 2024 to better suit my style. I hope it makes things clearer.

The central part of the chart below can be extracted to make a chart that encodes the word Wild, which I have moved to its own post.

I developed a lace stitch pattern for Wilderness but I also like to provide a basic chart for any craft that’s worked on a grid: beads, cross stitch, whatever. I try to provide at least some digital art of the pattern repeated all over not as a chart. It doesn’t necessarily look like a finished object for any particular craft, but I want to give a sense of it in use. (I try to make it look like knitting when it’s got floats short enough for easy stranded knitting.)

• Wilderness has a repeat of 24 + 1 columns and 8 + 1 rows.
• In the written instructions, color A is the light squares above, and color B is the dark.
• My illustration has four colors instead of two because I felt it looked better. If you want to match it, substitute these colors for B:
  • Rounds 1, 2, 8, 9: dark green
  • Rounds 3, 4, 6, 7: medium green
  • Round 5: yellow
• See the bottom of this post for another layout of this chart.
• The written instructions below are formatted for stranded knitting, but it is my hope that they could be translated into instructions for other crafts. For instance, if working filet crochet, 1A could be one open square and 2B could be two filled-in squares.
• This pattern is written in rounds, but because each row has mirror symmetry, the colors can be read in flat rows as written. If knitting, just work purl stitches on alternating rows instead of knit.
• Designers, please feel free to use this in your patterns (no need to ask). I’d like credit but won’t be offended if people don’t give it.
• My blog posts and stitch patterns are supported by subscriptions on Patreon or donations to my Paypal tip jar in the sidebar. If you appreciate my work, please consider helping out. Thanks!

Round 1: work knit as follows; 1A, *1A, (1B, 1A, 1B, 3A) × 3, 1B, 1A, 1B, 2A ; work from *. (25 sts)

Round 2: work knit as follows; 1A, *1B, 5A, 2B, 2A, 1B, 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 5A, 1B, 1A ; work from *.

Round 3: work knit as follows; 1A, *2B, 3A, (1B, 5A) × 2, 1B, 3A, 2B, 1A ; work from *.

Round 4: work knit as follows; 1B, *4A, 3B, 2A, 1B, 3A, 1B, 2A, 3B, 4A, 1B ; work from *.

Round 5: work knit as follows; 1A, *1B, 1A, (1B, 5A) × 3, (1B, 1A) × 2 ; work from *.

Round 6: work knit as follows; 1B, *4A, 3B, 2A, 1B, 3A, 1B, 2A, 3B, 4A, 1B ; work from *.

Round 7: work knit as follows; 1A, *2B, 3A, (1B, 5A) × 2, 1B, 3A, 2B, 1A ; work from *.

Round 8: work knit as follows; 1A, *1B, 5A, 2B, 2A, 1B, 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 5A, 1B, 1A ; work from *.

Work Rounds 1-8 as desired, ending with Round 9.

Round 9: work knit as follows; 1A, *1A, (1B, 1A, 1B, 3A) × 3, 1B, 1A, 1B, 2A ; work from *.

Original illustration

Here is my original illustration for this post, which was made by rotating the chart by a quarter turn:

I include it to inspire you to try rotating any charted designs!