How to make a knitting chart from a photo
- Enter your gauge. In the studio, fill in Stitches in 4 in (10 cm) and Rows in 4 in (10 cm) from a swatch knitted in your yarn, on your needles, in the colorwork you plan to use.
- Upload a photo. Drop it on Start with your image (PNG, JPG or WebP, up to 20 MB). It is converted in your browser and never uploaded.
- Set the width and the number of colors. Pattern width is stitches across, from 20 to 300. Maximum colors goes from 2 to 48. The number of rows is worked out from the photo and your gauge.
- Choose how you will work it. Set Working to Flat or In the round. This changes the direction of the written rows and where the row numbers sit.
- Run the float check. For stranded knitting, set the float limit and look at the highlighted rows. Edit the stitches, or plan to catch those floats as you knit.
- Clean up and name your yarns. Clean up stray stitches removes single stitches that no neighbor shares. Rename colors A, B, C to your yarns and change the swatches to match.
- Download. The PDF has the chart with row numbers (in color with symbols, or symbols only for black-and-white printing), a color key with stitch counts and the written rows.
For choosing and cropping the photo, the same tips apply as for cross stitch; they are on the photo to cross stitch pattern page.
Why the chart is drawn to your gauge
Knit stitches are not square. Ann Budd writes in Interweave Knits that "knitted stitches tend to be wider than they are tall" and recommends proportional knitter's graph paper (Interweave). The UK Knitting & Crochet Guild puts the width to height ratio of a stitch at "between 1.3 and 1.4" (Knitting & Crochet Guild).
The studio's default gauge is 17 stitches and 23 rows to 4 inches, the stockinette gauge on the Red Heart Super Saver ball band (Yarnspirations). That is a ratio of 1.35. A square photo charted on a square grid at 60 × 60 would knit up 14.1 inches wide and 10.4 inches tall. The studio charts it at 60 stitches and 81 rows instead, which knits up about 14.1 × 14.1 inches, and it draws each cell wider than it is tall so the chart on screen and on paper looks like the finished piece.
Measure your colorwork swatch rather than plain stockinette. The Knitting Guild Association notes that "stranded work tends to have square stitches" (TKGA), so your stranded gauge may be closer to 1 to 1 than your plain gauge.
How to read a knitting chart
Ann Budd: "charts are read from the bottom to the top, right to left for right-side rows, and left to right for wrong-side rows." When knitting in the round, "all rows are read from right to left" (Interweave). TKGA adds that right-side rows are numbered along the right edge.
- Flat. Row 1 is at the bottom and is a right side row, read right to left. Odd row numbers sit on the right edge and even ones on the left, where each wrong side row begins.
- In the round. Every round is read from right to left and every number sits on the right edge.
The written rows follow the direction you chose. A small example, 5 stitches wide:
| Row | Chart (left to right as printed) | Written row, flat | Written row, in the round |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | B B A A A | Row 2 (WS, left to right): 2 B, 3 A | Round 2 (right to left): 3 A, 2 B |
| 1 | A A A B A | Row 1 (RS, right to left): 1 A, 1 B, 3 A | Round 1 (right to left): 1 A, 1 B, 3 A |
Stranded or intarsia
The chart is the same for both methods. What changes is how you handle the yarn, and that decides which photos suit which method.
- Stranded (fair isle). "The nonworking yarn is carried across the wrong side" (Lion Brand). Every color in a row travels along that row, so long stretches of one color leave long floats behind. It suits charts where the colors alternate often: small motifs, repeats, and photos reduced to a few colors.
- Intarsia. "Separate balls of yarn are added into the row for each color block", and it is "usually worked flat" (Yarnspirations). Nothing is carried, so floats do not matter, but every color area in a row needs its own ball. It suits large, separate shapes such as a single animal or a letter on a plain background. Count the color changes in a written row to see how many balls that row needs.
The float check
A float is the strand of an unused color carried across the back between two stitches of that color. Long floats catch on fingers and pull the fabric in. Sources differ on the limit: Lion Brand's fair isle guide puts it at three or four stitches, while Berroco catches floats longer than 5 stitches and allows up to 7 on yokes and hats (Berroco).
The studio's float check measures, for every row and every color in it, the gap between one stitch of that color and the next. Gaps longer than your limit are highlighted on the chart and listed by row. The default limit is 5 and you can set it from 3 to 7. To shorten a float, change a stitch in the middle of the gap to the carried color, lower the number of colors, or plan to catch the float as you knit. Floats do not apply to intarsia.
Choosing a size
Finished size is stitches divided by your gauge. These figures use the default 17 stitches and 23 rows to 4 inches; enter your own gauge and the studio recalculates.
| Chart width | Finished width at 17 sts = 4 in | Rows for a square design |
|---|---|---|
| 40 stitches | 9.4 in (24 cm) | 54 |
| 60 stitches | 14.1 in (36 cm) | 81 |
| 80 stitches | 18.8 in (48 cm) | 108 |
| 100 stitches | 23.5 in (60 cm) | 135 |
| 120 stitches | 28.2 in (72 cm) | 162 |
For stranded work, a low color count keeps the number of strands in each row manageable. Convert the photo at two or three color settings, look at the float check for each, and keep the one that still reads as the subject.
Knitting chart maker or knitting pattern generator?
This tool makes colorwork charts: which color each stitch is, row by row. It does not size or shape garments. If you need a sweater pattern calculated from body measurements, that is a different kind of tool. You can still use a chart from here inside a garment: place it on a yoke, a front panel or a blanket square and follow your garment pattern for the shaping.
For crochet, the crochet pattern generator makes single crochet graphs and C2C charts the same way, and the filet crochet pattern generator makes two-tone filet charts.
Yarn colors and how much yarn to buy
Colors are labelled A, B, C and so on, with names and swatches you can edit. The studio does not match them to a yarn line, because no yarn company publishes color values for its shades. The color key counts stitches per color exactly. For a yardage estimate, knit a swatch, measure the yarn it took, and enter it in Yarn per 100 stitches; no yarn maker publishes how much yarn one stitch uses, so the studio does not guess. Mary Maxim describes the same swatch method for whole projects and adds 20% (Mary Maxim).
What you get
- A printable PDF: chart pages drawn to your gauge, with row numbers on the correct edges, a color key with stitch counts, a list of long floats and the written rows.
- Written instructions (.txt), a chart image (PNG), a color list (CSV) and an editable project file.
No watermark, no account, and no premium tier. Start stitching lets you mark finished stitches; progress is saved in this browser.
Honest limits. This is a colorwork chart maker only: no lace or cable symbols, no increases or decreases, and no garment shaping. Every cell is one knit stitch in one color. Charts go up to 300 × 300 stitches and 48 colors. Screen colors are approximate. Only convert photos you have the right to use. The method is explained on how it works.
Frequently asked questions
Is the knitting chart maker free?
Yes. Every chart and every export is free, with no watermark and no account. There is no premium tier.
Is my photo uploaded?
No. The photo is converted inside your browser on your own device and never sent anywhere.
Why does my knitted picture look squashed?
Because it was charted on square graph paper. Knit stitches are wider than they are tall, so a square chart knits up short. Enter your stitch and row gauge here and the chart gets the extra rows it needs.
What gauge should I enter?
The stitches and rows in 4 inches of a swatch knitted in the same colorwork, yarn and needles as the project. The default is the Red Heart Super Saver ball band gauge of 17 stitches and 23 rows.
Can I use it for fair isle and intarsia?
Yes. Use the float check for fair isle (stranded) knitting. For intarsia, ignore the floats and use the written rows to count color changes per row.
Does it use US or UK terms?
US terms. Stockinette is stocking stitch in the UK, and gauge is called tension.