My interest in knitting has been kept alive over the years by the almost infinite variety of color, pattern, and texture that is found in collections of knitters and museums around the world. Although I love the smooth, quiet repetition of knitting a rectangular scarf in garter stitch using a luxurious yarn, it is the endless diversity of technique and style that keeps me interested in knitting as more than a way to keep my hands busy while watching TV.

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."
--from The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Many knitters want to knit from Japanese patterns because the designs are exquisite, and often quite elaborate and complex. But to learn to read the patterns, it's best to start with a simple design. In this column we will go over the basics you'll need to get started and in the Naga Fuji shawl pattern, we will look at how to put all of this information together to knit from a relatively simple, but elegant, pattern.

When you look at a pattern in a Japanese knitting book, you'll notice that the amount of Japanese text is very brief, and is not intended to provide complete instructions for making a garment. So you're not missing much by not being able to read Japanese.

It helps to be familiar with the basic shapes of knitted garment pieces, so you can recognize what pieces the drawings represent without having to read the symbols. For example, if a piece is getting wider and there are numbers on the edge, those numbers are (obviously I hope) telling you how to increase rather than decrease.

There are a few symbols you need to know to help you decipher the schematic drawings, which replace line-by-line knitting instructions in Japanese patterns. Here are several you may find helpful, although the only ones that are crucial for you to recognize are the symbols for rows, stitches, and times. If you really want to learn more, you can find a large Japanese-English knitting dictionary here.

Symbol	Description
	Cast on sts / Start
	Bind off / Stop
	Decrease
	Increase
	Rows / Rounds
	Stitches
	Times
	Chart

Reading the Schematic
Measurements are marked in centimeters as well as in rows and stitches. The abbreviation cm or c is usually not included. If there are two numbers and one indicates the number of stitches or rows, the other will be the width or length in centimeters.

3 = 12 means that 3 cm equals 12 rows.

54 = 109 means that 54 cm equals 109 sts.

Knit circular or flat? For flat knitting, there will be a straight line with dots or arrows at the ends at the bottom of the piece.

Direction of Knitting. Arrows on the diagram indicate the direction of the knitting. Pay particular attention when you see two arrows going in opposite directions, because...

Type of cast on. Many Japanese sweater patterns begin with a provisional cast on, and the ribbing, or a few rows of edging, are worked down from the live stitches after the body is complete.

Number of stitches. The number of stitches and the width of the piece is listed at the bottom -- or above the ribbing on a sweater pattern if the ribbing or edging is worked down from a provisional cast on.

If you're making a sweater, be sure to take note if the number of stitches changes between the ribbing and the body.

Pattern stitches. The pattern stitch names are listed in the middle of the pieces, sometimes in parentheses. Everything -- and I mean everything -- is charted except for stockinette stitch, garter stitch, k1-p1 ribbing, and k2-p2 ribbing (we looked at those symbols in my Deep Fall 2013 column, Japan Style).

Charts usually include an A, B, C designation in addition to the Japanese title, making it easier for English-speaking readers to identify. But if they don't, just match up the writing on the schematic piece to the writing at the top of the chart to identify which chart is being referenced.

Shaping. Increases and decreases may be marked with the symbols listed in the table above, but remember, if a piece is getting wider you are increasing, if it is getting narrower you are binding off or decreasing. If you are adding or removing 1 stitch at a time, increase or decrease. If you are adding or removing 2 or more stitches at a time, cast on or bind off.

bind-off stitches

decrease

increase

The shaping instructions are always in this order, which is easy to memorize because it is alphabetical in English:

Rows

Stitches

Times

If the direction of knitting is going from bottom to top, follow the instructions from bottom to top as well. For example, for a piece that is getting narrower,

If you see this:	Do this:
5	Step 6: Work 5 rows even.
4-1-1	Step 5: Every 4th row, dec 1 st, once.
2-1-4	Step 4: Every 2nd row, dec 1 st, 4 times.
2-2-1	Step 3: Every 2nd row, BO 2 sts, once.
2-3-2	Step 2: Every 2nd row, BO 3 sts, twice.
3 or 1-3-1	Step 1: On the next row, bind off 3 sts, once.

• Some shaping that is repeated on the another part of the garment -- usually the armhole and/or shoulder shaping on a sweater -- is only marked on one part of the schematic.
• Special stitches and techniques are often defined with each project or at the back of the book. There are a lot of pictures to help you figure out what to do.

Finishing
Adding a color, button and buttonhole bands, or edgings and borders will also be shown in a schematic. The outlines on the main piece of the garment will be fine lines and the outlines of the finishing portions, to be worked after the rest of the knitting is complete, will be outlined in bold.

Basic Chart Symbols
In Japan, there is a national standard requiring that all knitting books use the same chart symbols! Some are the same as symbols you'll be familiar with already, while others are different. Many of the Japanese symbols are similar or identical to those used by various publishers in English language patterns. For example, knit is a vertical line and purl is a horizontal line.

Unusual symbols will often be defined, with pictures illustrating the knitting technique, but it will be assumed that the reader understands basic chart symbols. An excellent resource is the book Clear & Simple Knitting Symbols. Although you won't be able to read the text, all of the stitches are illustrated with detailed drawings showing how to manipulate the yarn and needles.

Besides the symbols, a few other Japanese charting conventions my seem unfamiliar:

• If the chart shows the entire knitted piece, the first row is the cast on row and it is generally shown as all knit stitches. This is different than American and European charts, where the cast on is never counted as a row. For bands, the pick up row may be indicated on the chart in the same fashion. The original Japanese version of Chart A, which I used as the main pattern on my shawl, includes the cast-on row.
• The bind off is not usually shown on the chart unless only part of the row is bound off or a special technique is being used. The original Japanese version of Chart C, which I used as the border on my shawl, includes the bind-off.
• The pattern repeat is almost always indicated by row and column numbers, rather than being outlined or shaded.
• A blank square may represent any stitch so always check the bottom of the chart for an indication of whether blank squares stand for knits, purls, or something else. The Japanese version of Chart A for the shawl uses a blank square to represent the purl symbol (purl on right-side rows, knit on wrong-side rows).
  
• Basic symbols in Japanese charts are sometimes combined to form more complex symbols. Knowing the basic symbols is key to understanding the more complex chart motifs. The faux cable Chart A combines the symbols for passing a stitch over (stretched out over 3 squares in the chart) with the symbols for knit, yarn over, and knit. I used a simpler symbol for my version of the chart, as we don't normally combine symbols in this fashion.

In this pattern, I have included both the Japanese style charts as well as charts in the standard Knitty style for you to compare. As you can see, many of the basic symbols are similar or identical in both styles.