Knitting ChartPeerie seeds
4-stitch repeat · 4 rounds · 2 colors per round · longest float 3 stitches
Between wider bands, on cuffs or as an allover background. The easiest first Fair Isle: one contrast stitch in every four.
Free Fair Isle Charts
Here are 8 free Fair Isle charts, from a 4-stitch peerie band to the classic 14-stitch OXO, each with no more than two colors in a round and floats of 5 stitches or fewer. Print them all as one PDF, or open any chart in the free chart maker to change the colors, mirror it or knit it at your own gauge.
Checkerboard
4-stitch repeat · 4 rounds · 2 colors per round · longest float 2 stitches
Hat brims and mitten cuffs. Every float is 2 stitches, so it is a good band for practising tension.
Zigzag
4-stitch repeat · 3 rounds · 2 colors per round · longest float 3 stitches
A narrow border above ribbing or between bands. Only three rounds, and the line runs on across every repeat.
Peerie diamonds
6-stitch repeat · 5 rounds · 2 colors per round · longest float 5 stitches
A small band for hats, mittens and yokes; pairs well with the seeds above and below it.
Peerie hearts
6-stitch repeat · 5 rounds · 2 colors per round · longest float 5 stitches
Mittens, hats and baby sweaters. Each heart is 5 stitches wide with one background stitch between hearts.
Diamond lattice
8-stitch repeat · 8 rounds · 2 colors per round · longest float 5 stitches
An allover pattern for hats, cushions and sweater bodies: repeat the 8 rounds as often as you like.
Snowflake
12-stitch repeat · 9 rounds · 2 colors per round · longest float 5 stitches
Hat crowns, yokes and the backs of mittens. The small dots between snowflakes keep every float to 5 stitches.
OXO band
14-stitch repeat · 9 rounds · 2 colors per round · longest float 5 stitches
The classic Shetland O and X band. It uses four colors but only two in any round: the motif shades from cream to gold to red and back.
Each chart shows one repeat. Round 1 is at the bottom, stitch 1 on the right; the letters in the PDF’s written instructions name the colors, A being the main color. The charts are free to knit, change and use in your own projects and patterns.
How to fit a Fair Isle repeat to your stitch count
A Fair Isle chart is one repeat that you knit again and again around the piece, so the number of stitches has to be a multiple of the repeat: 96 stitches holds 24 repeats of a 4-stitch chart, 16 of a 6-stitch chart or 8 of a 12-stitch chart. If your pattern gives a different number, increase or decrease a few stitches evenly on the last plain round before the band — for example from 100 to 104 for an 8-stitch repeat — and back again after it.
| Stitches | Typical use | 4-st repeat | 6-st repeat | 8-st repeat | 12-st repeat | 14-st repeat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | Child mittens | ✓ ×10 | – | ✓ ×5 | – | – |
| 48 | Adult mittens | ✓ ×12 | ✓ ×8 | ✓ ×6 | ✓ ×4 | – |
| 56 | Adult mittens | ✓ ×14 | – | ✓ ×7 | – | ✓ ×4 |
| 96 | Hat | ✓ ×24 | ✓ ×16 | ✓ ×12 | ✓ ×8 | – |
| 104 | Hat | ✓ ×26 | – | ✓ ×13 | – | – |
| 112 | Hat | ✓ ×28 | – | ✓ ×14 | – | ✓ ×8 |
| 120 | Hat | ✓ ×30 | ✓ ×20 | ✓ ×15 | ✓ ×10 | – |
| 168 | Every chart here | ✓ ×42 | ✓ ×28 | ✓ ×21 | ✓ ×14 | ✓ ×12 |
| 192 | Sweater body | ✓ ×48 | ✓ ×32 | ✓ ×24 | ✓ ×16 | – |
| 216 | Sweater body | ✓ ×54 | ✓ ×36 | ✓ ×27 | ✓ ×18 | – |
| 240 | Sweater body | ✓ ×60 | ✓ ×40 | ✓ ×30 | ✓ ×20 | – |
✓ ×24 means the repeat fits 24 times. 168 is the smallest stitch count that every chart on this page divides into evenly, so a sweater yoke or body with 168 stitches can mix all of them.
Reading a Fair Isle chart in the round and flat
In the round — the usual way to knit Fair Isle — every round is worked from the right side, so you read every row of the chart from right to left, starting with round 1 at the bottom. Knit the repeat, then start it again until you reach the end of the round. Because the rounds are really a spiral, the motif steps up by one round where each round begins (the “jog”); put the start of the round at the back of a hat or under the arm of a sweater, where it is least visible.
Flat, right-side rows are read from right to left and knitted, wrong-side rows from left to right and purled, still using the colors in the chart. Keep both yarns on the side of the work facing you on purl rows so the floats stay on the wrong side. Many knitters prefer to knit garments in the round and cut a steek for a cardigan opening. More on rows, repeats and the chart key in how to read a knitting chart.
Floats: how long is too long?
While you knit with one color, the other is carried loosely across the back of the work; this strand is the float. The longest float of each chart above is the longest run of a single color in any round, counted across the edge of the repeat too, because the next repeat continues the round. A common rule is to catch any float longer than 5 stitches, or about 2.5 cm (1 in), by twisting the two yarns once halfway along so fingers and rings cannot snag it. At a DK gauge of 22 stitches per 10 cm, 5 stitches is about 2.3 cm (0.9 in), which is why every chart here stays at 5 stitches or fewer.
Keep floats loose: before changing color, spread the stitches on the right needle to their full width, so the float is as long as the knitted fabric. Tight floats pucker the motif and make the piece smaller than your gauge.
Mirror and symmetry
Most traditional Fair Isle motifs are symmetric from left to right — the hearts, diamonds, snowflake and OXO here read the same whichever way you knit them. The zigzag is not: its diagonals lean. For a pair of mittens or the two fronts of a cardigan, knit the second piece from the mirrored chart: open the chart in the editor and click Mirror ↔, then download its PDF. Flip ↕ turns a motif upside down, which is how a border at the top of a band can mirror the one at the bottom.
To design a symmetric motif of your own, draw one half, then draw the other half as its mirror image across the center stitch. The free editor mirrors and flips whole charts; selecting part of a chart to copy, flip and paste comes with Knitting Chart Pro.
Two colors per round, and choosing colors
Traditional Fair Isle uses only two colors in any round but changes them often between rounds, which is how a band gets its shaded look. The OXO band above uses four colors — navy, cream, gold and red — yet never more than two in a round: the background stays navy while the motif shades from cream at the edges to gold and red in the center.
The flower knitting charts include a Fair Isle tulip band that uses only two colors in each round.
What makes a motif stand out is the difference in lightness between the two colors in a round, not the hues. Photograph your yarns in black and white: if the motif color and the background look like the same gray, the pattern will blur when knitted. Pair a light color with a dark one in each round, and save the similar shades for neighboring rounds.
Norwegian colorwork follows the same two-colors-per-round rule but builds its patterns from eight-pointed stars and lice dots; the free Norwegian knitting charts collect those motifs with their floats and repeats.
Lettering is a different kind of colorwork. To add a name or a word to a hat or sweater, the knitting chart letters generator makes a chart at your stitch count.
Planning a winter project? The free Christmas knitting charts follow the same repeat-and-float rules, with reindeer, trees, snowflakes and stockings.
Design your own Fair Isle chart
Pick a repeat width
Choose a width that your stitch count divides by — 4, 6, 8 or 12 stitches fit 96-stitch hats and 192-stitch sweaters. Small repeats of 2 to 5 rounds make peerie bands; 8 to 15 rounds make large motifs.
Start a chart in the round
In the chart maker set the width to your repeat, the height to the number of rounds, and choose “in the round”. Add your two yarn colors. To sketch on paper first, print knitting graph paper at your gauge.
Draw two colors per round
Fill the squares one stitch at a time. Keep any run of one color to about 5 stitches; where it is longer, add a single contrast stitch or plan to catch the float.
Check it and print
See the motif in true stitch proportions, mirror it if you need a pair, then download the PDF with the color key and round-by-round instructions. To start from a picture instead, use photo to knitting chart.
Questions about Fair Isle charts
What is a Fair Isle chart?
A grid in which each square is one stitch and its color is the yarn to knit it with. A Fair Isle chart usually shows a single pattern repeat, which you knit again and again around the piece with two colors per round.
How do you read a Fair Isle chart?
Start at round 1 at the bottom right. Knitting in the round, read every round from right to left and repeat the chart until the end of the round. Knitting flat, read right-side rows from right to left and wrong-side rows from left to right, purling them.
How many colors can you use in one round of Fair Isle?
Two. Traditional Fair Isle never carries more than two colors in a round; it changes colors between rounds instead. The OXO band on this page uses four colors, but only two in any round.
How long can floats be in Fair Isle knitting?
About 5 stitches, or 2.5 cm (1 in). Catch longer floats by twisting the two yarns once halfway along. Every chart on this page keeps its floats to 5 stitches or fewer.
How many stitches should I cast on for a Fair Isle pattern?
A multiple of the repeat width. 96 stitches fits 4-, 6-, 8- and 12-stitch repeats, and 168 fits every chart on this page. If your count does not divide evenly, increase or decrease a few stitches evenly before the band.
What are good Fair Isle patterns for beginners?
Small repeats with short floats, such as the peerie seeds (floats of 3 stitches), the checkerboard (floats of 2) and the 3-round zigzag on this page. Knit one as a band on a hat brim before trying a yoke.
What colors go well together in Fair Isle?
Colors that differ clearly in lightness: one light and one dark yarn in each round. Check by photographing the yarns in black and white; colors that look the same gray will blur the motif.
Is Fair Isle the same as stranded colorwork?
Fair Isle is the stranded colorwork tradition of Shetland: small repeating motifs, two colors per round and frequent color changes between rounds. Today the name is used for most stranded knitting.
Are these Fair Isle charts free?
Yes. Download all 8 charts as a PDF or open them in the editor, without sign-up or watermark. You can knit them, change them and use them in your own projects and patterns.