Dots and Dashes: a charted design for any craft

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I posted the charted designs I incorporated on the backs of some mitts I knit for myself and said I’d be posting the palm charts later. Later has arrived for the one at the bottom of the palms. I derived this chart from the modified center of a stitch pattern I considered using in the mitt backs and ended up leaving out.

This is not a pattern for knitting the mitts; this is a rectangular chart you could incorporate into your own knitting — or other craft that uses charts.

I’m going to split the palms up into two separate posts since I haven’t posted any variant on these before. I came up with them on my own, but they both feel like charts that someone else must have come up with at some point. I won’t be making a written pattern for these mitts, but I wanted to share the charted designs because I like them.

The mitts, showing the palm side. They are muted green with the pattern worked in white. The thumbs have narrow vertical stripes.

The chart and instructions below show how to knit the pattern at the bottom of the palm.

Light vertical dashes that are three stitches long alternate with one-stitch dots vertically and horizontally, with a muted green background in between. The stitches are drawn to look somewhat like knitted.
Chart showing how to work the Dots and Dashes design by means of dark and light squares. Written instructions in blog post.
click chart to enlarge
  • Dots and Dashes has a repeat of 4 + 1 columns and 6 or 6 + 3 rows. (End after either row 3 or 6).
  • In the written instructions, color A is the light squares above, and color B is the dark.
  • 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, 3B; work from *, 1A. (5 sts)

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

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

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

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

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

Work as desired, ending after either Round 3 or Round 6.