Here are 9 free snowflake knitting charts: 7 single snowflakes from 5 to 25 stitches wide, worked flat with a border of background around them, and 2 in-the-round repeats, a border and an all-over pattern. Every snowflake has six arms, like a real one: the 25-stitch snowflake draws a straight arm of 20 rows and four diagonals of 12 steps, and at DK gauge those two knit to 6.7 cm and 6.8 cm, so all six arms come out the same length.
Each card shows the chart as it is worked, a preview in real stitch proportions, and the numbers that decide how to knit it.
5 sts × 7 rows · about 2.3 × 2.3 cm (0.9 × 0.9 in) at 22 sts × 30 rows = 10 cm · duplicate stitch: 15 stitches · intarsia: 11 bobbins · stranded: longest float 3 stitches
The smallest snowflake: mitten thumbs, sock cuffs and baby hats, or scattered over a sweater in duplicate stitch after knitting.
7 sts × 11 rows · about 3.2 × 3.7 cm (1.3 × 1.4 in) at 22 sts × 30 rows = 10 cm · duplicate stitch: 27 stitches · intarsia: 15 bobbins · stranded: longest float 3 stitches
Mitten backs, hat crowns and baby cardigans. Still small enough to add in duplicate stitch.
9 sts × 15 rows · about 4.1 × 5.0 cm (1.6 × 2.0 in) at 22 sts × 30 rows = 10 cm · duplicate stitch: 39 stitches · intarsia: 19 bobbins · stranded: longest float 3 stitches
A navy snowflake on cream for a hat front, a mitten back or a pocket.
13 sts × 21 rows · about 5.9 × 7.0 cm (2.3 × 2.8 in) at 22 sts × 30 rows = 10 cm · duplicate stitch: 65 stitches · intarsia: 31 bobbins · stranded: longest float 3 stitches
Hat fronts, cowls and child-size sweaters.
17 sts × 29 rows · about 7.7 × 9.7 cm (3.0 × 3.8 in) at 22 sts × 30 rows = 10 cm · duplicate stitch: 107 stitches · intarsia: 43 bobbins · stranded: longest float 7 stitches
An ice-blue snowflake for an adult hat, a cushion or a blanket square.
21 sts × 35 rows · about 9.5 × 11.7 cm (3.8 × 4.6 in) at 22 sts × 30 rows = 10 cm · duplicate stitch: 120 stitches · intarsia: 59 bobbins · stranded: longest float 9 stitches
A snowflake with an open hexagon in the middle, for a sweater front, a tote bag or a cushion.
25 sts × 41 rows · about 11.4 × 13.7 cm (4.5 × 5.4 in) at 22 sts × 30 rows = 10 cm · duplicate stitch: 162 stitches · intarsia: 83 bobbins · stranded: longest float 10 stitches
The big snowflake for an adult sweater front, a pillow or the middle of a blanket.
6-stitch repeat × 11 rounds · cast on a multiple of 6 · every round uses 2 colors · longest float 5 stitches
A band of small snowflakes between two dotted lines, worked in the round, for a hat brim, a sweater hem or mitten cuffs.
6-stitch repeat × 16 rounds · cast on a multiple of 6 · every round uses 2 colors · longest float 5 stitches
Small snowflakes all over a hat, a cowl or a sweater body, worked in the round.
The single snowflakes are flat charts with the background border shown; the repeats are worked in the round. 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.
The sizes below are the snowflake itself, without the background border around it, so they match what you measure on the finished knitting. They are given for 3 common yarn weights at a typical stockinette gauge per 10 cm (4 in), the same presets as the knitting graph paper: the same snowflake in a finer yarn makes a smaller motif.
| Snowflake | Snowflake size (sts × rows) | Fingering (28 sts × 36 rows) | DK (22 sts × 30 rows) | Worsted (18 sts × 24 rows) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5-stitch snowflake | 5 × 7 | 1.8 × 1.9 cm (0.7 × 0.8 in) | 2.3 × 2.3 cm (0.9 × 0.9 in) | 2.8 × 2.9 cm (1.1 × 1.1 in) |
| 7-stitch snowflake | 7 × 11 | 2.5 × 3.1 cm (1.0 × 1.2 in) | 3.2 × 3.7 cm (1.3 × 1.4 in) | 3.9 × 4.6 cm (1.5 × 1.8 in) |
| 9-stitch snowflake | 9 × 15 | 3.2 × 4.2 cm (1.3 × 1.6 in) | 4.1 × 5.0 cm (1.6 × 2.0 in) | 5.0 × 6.3 cm (2.0 × 2.5 in) |
| 13-stitch snowflake | 13 × 21 | 4.6 × 5.8 cm (1.8 × 2.3 in) | 5.9 × 7.0 cm (2.3 × 2.8 in) | 7.2 × 8.8 cm (2.8 × 3.4 in) |
| 17-stitch snowflake | 17 × 29 | 6.1 × 8.1 cm (2.4 × 3.2 in) | 7.7 × 9.7 cm (3.0 × 3.8 in) | 9.4 × 12.1 cm (3.7 × 4.8 in) |
| 21-stitch snowflake | 21 × 35 | 7.5 × 9.7 cm (3.0 × 3.8 in) | 9.5 × 11.7 cm (3.8 × 4.6 in) | 11.7 × 14.6 cm (4.6 × 5.7 in) |
| 25-stitch snowflake | 25 × 41 | 8.9 × 11.4 cm (3.5 × 4.5 in) | 11.4 × 13.7 cm (4.5 × 5.4 in) | 13.9 × 17.1 cm (5.5 × 6.7 in) |
The 2 in-the-round repeats are not in the table because they are knitted as a band around the piece, not as one motif.
A real snowflake has six arms spaced 60° apart; with one arm pointing straight up, the four side arms sit 30° from the horizontal. Graph paper is square, so a diagonal of one stitch per row is drawn at 45°. Knitting is not square: at the gauge these charts are drawn at, 22 stitches and 30 rows measure 10 cm, so a stitch is wider than a row is tall. The same one-stitch-per-row diagonal therefore knits at less than 45°, and at the 3 gauges in the size table it comes out at Fingering (37.9°), DK (36.3°) and Worsted (36.9°) from the horizontal, much nearer the 30° of a real side arm than the 45° on paper.
The single snowflakes use that: a straight arm up the middle and four diagonals that step one stitch across for every row up. A diagonal step is longer than a row because it also moves sideways, so the straight arm needs about 1.63 to 1.69 rows for every diagonal step to finish at the same distance from the center: Fingering (1.63), DK (1.69) and Worsted (1.67). The 25-stitch snowflake uses 20 rows up and 12 diagonal steps: at DK gauge that is 6.7 cm against 6.8 cm, and across the three gauges the six arms stay within 1.3 mm of each other. That is what keeps the six points even instead of stretching the side arms.
The trap is drawing the snowflake as a square. A 25 by 25 square at DK gauge knits to about 11.4 × 8.3 cm (4.5 × 3.3 in), wider than it is tall, so the six arms get squashed. The chart here is 25 stitches by 41 rows instead, which knits to about 11.4 × 13.7 cm ( 4.5 × 5.4 in) at DK and keeps the snowflake round.
For the smallest snowflakes, duplicate stitch is the quickest method. Knit the piece in the background color, then copy the snowflake on top of the finished stitches, following the V of each stitch. Nothing is carried behind the work, there are no bobbins to wind, and you can decide the placement after the piece is finished. The 5-stitch snowflake takes 15 stitches of embroidery and the 7-stitch snowflake 27. Once a motif runs past a hundred stitches, duplicate stitch becomes slow, and the snowflake turns thick and stiff because every stitch is covered by a second one.
Intarsia is the method that does not suit a snowflake. Every separate block of color in a row needs its own strand, and a six-armed snowflake breaks into many small blocks: the 5-stitch snowflake already needs 11 bobbins and the 25-stitch snowflake needs 83, 54 of them carrying three stitches or fewer. That is a lot of winding and a lot of ends to weave in. The free intarsia charts show the bobbin method on solid shapes where it pays off.
Stranded knitting, or Fair Isle, is the usual way to knit a snowflake. Both colors travel along the row, and the one not in use is carried across the back, so the snowflake has no bobbins at all, only floats. On this page the longest float is 3 stitches on 4 of the single snowflakes and 10 on the 25-stitch snowflake. 3 charts go past 5 stitches: 17-stitch snowflake (7), 21-stitch snowflake (9) and 25-stitch snowflake (10). A common rule is to catch the float on the back once it is longer than about 5 stitches, so the loose strand cannot catch on fingers or jewelry. The in-the-round repeats keep every float to 5 stitches and use 2 colors per round, which is exactly what stranded knitting is good at; see the free Fair Isle charts for more short-float bands.
Take the 17-stitch snowflake, which is 17 stitches wide, and put it on the back of a 48-stitch mitten, where the back of the hand is 24 stitches. Subtract the snowflake width from the back width: 24 − 17 = 7 stitches left over, so one side gets 3 stitches and the other 4. The snowflake then sits half a stitch off center, which nobody will see in the knitting. On a right-side row, knit 3 stitches in the background color, then work the snowflake, then knit the rest of the row. Count from the same edge on every right-side row so the motif stays straight.
For the height, decide where the bottom tip of the snowflake should sit, measure that distance from the cast-on edge and turn it into rows with your row gauge: at 22 sts × 30 rows = 10 cm, 8 cm is 24 rows. Start row 1 of the chart there, and mark the center stitch with a removable marker before the first motif row; checking one marker is much easier than recounting the whole row.
The snowflake border and all-over snowflakes are repeats, not single motifs. One repeat is 6 stitches wide, so the cast-on has to be a multiple of 6. A 96-stitch hat holds 16 whole repeats. The repeat charts use 2 colors per round and keep the longest float to 5 stitches, so there is no need to catch floats or cut the yarn between repeats.
In the round, every round is worked on the right side, so read each row from right to left, starting at the bottom and repeating the chart until the end of the round. On straight needles, right-side rows are read from right to left and knitted, and wrong-side rows are read from left to right and purled; the colors still come from the chart, and the floats sit on the wrong side. The all-over chart is already offset by half a repeat between bands, so the snowflakes sit like bricks without you counting the offset, and the border has a dotted line above and below the band.
Every card has an Open this chart in the editor button. The chart is copied into your browser’s chart list, where you can change the colors, set a different width and height, choose flat or in the round, and set your gauge. Nothing is uploaded, and the charts stay on your device. To make a snowflake smaller or larger than the ones here, keep the diagonals at one stitch per row, give the straight arm about 1.7 rows for every diagonal step, and check the preview at your gauge.
To put a name or a word beside a snowflake, the knitting chart letters generator can set a name in stitches. To draw your own shape on paper first, print knitting graph paper at your gauge. To turn a photo or a drawing into a chart, use photo to knitting chart. Selecting part of a chart to copy, flip and paste comes with Knitting Chart Pro.
The same grids work for crochet: one square is one stitch, and the color of the square is the yarn you work it in. This is tapestry crochet when the unused color is carried inside the stitches. Single crochet stitches are closer to square than knitted stitches, so a snowflake drawn for knitting comes out taller in crochet. Set your crochet gauge in the editor (stitches and rows per 10 cm) and the preview and finished size follow it.
Pick a snowflake
Choose a single snowflake for a flat motif, or one of the repeats for a hat brim or an all-over pattern. The card gives the stitch count, the finished size and the method that suits it.
Open it or print it
Use the button on the card to open the chart in the free editor, or download the whole set as one PDF. Set your gauge before you print so the finished size is right.
Place it
For a single snowflake, subtract its width from the total and split what is left between the two sides, then mark the center stitch. For a repeat, check that the cast-on is a multiple of the repeat width.
Knit it
Work the snowflake in stranded knitting, add it afterwards in duplicate stitch, or knit the repeats in the round. Block the piece and the six arms will settle into their final shape.
Start at the bottom row, with stitch 1 on the right. Flat, right-side rows are read from right to left and knitted, and wrong-side rows from left to right and purled. In the round, every round is read from right to left. The chart shows the right side of the fabric, so the snowflake appears as drawn. See knitting chart symbols and how to read a knitting chart for the full key.
The 5-stitch snowflake: 5 stitches by 7 rows, about 2.3 × 2.3 cm (0.9 × 0.9 in) at 22 sts × 30 rows = 10 cm. It takes 15 stitches to add in duplicate stitch and its longest float is 3 stitches, so it suits mittens, sock cuffs and baby hats.
Yes. Every single snowflake is a flat chart, and the repeats can be knitted flat too: read right-side rows from right to left and knit them, then read wrong-side rows from left to right and purl them. On straight needles the floats stay on the wrong side, and you can seam the piece afterwards. The repeats are written for the round, but the grid works either way.
For the repeats, cast on a multiple of 6 stitches. A 96-stitch hat holds 16 repeats exactly. For a single snowflake, the cast-on comes from the hat pattern, not the chart: place the snowflake on the front and check its width against the stitch count at your gauge.
Use stranded knitting (Fair Isle) or duplicate stitch, not intarsia. A six-armed snowflake breaks into many small color blocks, so the 5-stitch snowflake needs 11 bobbins in intarsia and the 25-stitch snowflake needs 83. Stranded, the same charts have no bobbins: the longest float is 10 stitches on the big snowflake and 5 on the repeats. For the two smallest, duplicate stitch avoids floats completely.
Catch them on the back. The 17-stitch snowflake, 21-stitch snowflake and 25-stitch snowflake have a longest float of 7, 9 and 10 stitches, so anchor the carried yarn behind a stitch every 5 stitches or so as you work across. That keeps the strand short enough not to snag.
Because graph paper is square and knitting is not. At the chart gauge, 22 stitches and 30 rows measure 10 cm, a rows-to-stitches ratio of 1.36. A 25 by 25 square snowflake knits to about 11.4 × 8.3 cm (4.5 × 3.3 in) at DK gauge, wider than it is tall, which squashes the six arms. Use a chart drawn 41 rows tall for 25 stitches, and check your own gauge in the editor before you start.
Yes. Download all 9 snowflake charts as one PDF. Each chart is printed with its row and stitch numbers, followed by notes on its size, duplicate-stitch count and floats. There is no sign-up and no watermark, and you can print it as often as you like.
Yes. The charts are free to knit, change and use in your own projects and in patterns you sell, with no credit or payment needed.
The charts are free to knit, change and use in your own projects and patterns. There is no sign-up and no watermark on the PDF. The free editor opens every chart on this page; selecting part of a chart to copy, flip and paste comes with Knitting Chart Pro. For more winter motifs, the free Christmas knitting charts include trees, reindeer and another snowflake, and the free Fair Isle charts keep the same short floats for bands in the round.
Knitting Chart