Galaxite: a free chart for any craft

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Yes, that chart in the featured image is leaning. There’s some crafts that can be worked from a grid, but which bias in the process: tapestry crochet, for example. I can’t crochet any more (please, no suggestions), but I can still make a “secret code” chart that’s suitable for it – or for quilting or crochet or cross-stitch or what-have-you.

One kind of chart suitable for tapestry crochet doesn’t involve mirror symmetry so much as rotational symmetry; it doesn’t look so strange when biased. And so this month’s chart based on encoding a word suggested by one of my Patreon patrons is rotationally symmetric. The word is Galaxite, suggested by Katherine.

21 April 2023: I needed to remake the illustration for this post, so I decided to make the rest of the post more thorough.

How the Galaxite charted pattern might look if worked in a craft that leans slightly to the right. There are some two-armed spirals, and some dots and arrows.
chart showing how to work the Galaxite chart by means of dark and light squares. Written instructions in blog post.
click chart to enlarge
  • The Galaxite charted design has a repeat of 16 columns and 7 rows.
  • In the written instructions, color A is the light squares above, and color B is the dark.
  • The written instructions below indicate how many stitches of each color to work in a given row. I’ve tried to make them craft-neutral; please let me know if it’s confustin.
  • 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!

Row 1: *1B, 3A, 1B, 1A, 2B, 6A, 1B, 1A; work from *. (16 sts)

Row 2: *1B, 4A, 1B, 2A, 4B, 1A, 1B, 2A; work from *.

Row 3: *1A, 2B, 13A; work from *.

Row 4: *3A, 1B, 8A, 1B, 3A; work from *.

Row 5: *13A, 2B, 1A; work from *.

Row 6: *2A, 1B, 1A, 4B, 2A, 1B, 4A, 1B; work from *.

Row 7: *1A, 1B, 6A, 2B, 1A, 1B, 3A, 1B; work from *.