Typo: a free mosaic knitting chart

Last week’s code grid for the Typo lace turns out to work quite well as the basis for a mosaic knitting chart. The nice thing about mosaic knitting is that the charts are similar to the final appearance of the knitting, so I’m not going to provide a swatch this time. Mosaic knitting looks difficult, but it’s really easy to do! Basically, knit two-row stripes, and slip stitches from the row below to make the contrasting pattern. If you can knit stripes, you can knit mosaic patterns.

Here’s an article from Twist Collective about how it works.

This is a Barbara-Walker-style mosaic chart for typo. Each row of squares in it represents two rows of knitting (which is why there’s a row number at each end). The square in the column to the right of the row numbers indicates the color of yarn being worked in that line. So in rows 1 & 2, all black squares are knit or purled, and all white squares are slipped with the yarn being held on the wrong side of the work. In rows 3 & 4, all white squares are knit or purled and all black squares are slipped.

Notes:

  • This is a stitch pattern such as might be found in a stitch dictionary. This is not a pattern for a finished object.
  • Typo is a multiple of 10+1 stitches and 20+2 rows.
  • The non-slipped stitches in the second row of each stripe may be either knit or purled, as desired.
  • Before starting any of these instructions, knit two plain rows in Color A, represented by the black squares on the charts.
  • Designers, please feel free to use this in your patterns. I’d like credit but won’t be offended if people don’t give it.
  • If you like my posts like this, please consider supporting me on Patreon or donating with my Paypal tip jar in the sidebar. Thanks!

Abbreviations:

  • k: knit.
  • sl: slip. For this stitch pattern, slip all stitches purlwise.
  • wyif: with yarn in front. This means you should hold the yarn on the side of the knitting that’s facing you while slipping stitches.

Setup rows
Knit 2 rows in color A (shown in white on chart)

Switch to color B (shown in black on chart)
Row 1 (RS): *k2, sl1, k5, sl1, k1; work from *, k1.
Row 2 (WS): k1, *k1, sl1 wyif, k5, sl1 wyif, k2; work from *.

Switch to color A
Row 3: *(sl1, k4) x 2; work from *, sl1.
Row 4: sl1 wyif, *(k4, sl1 wyif) x 2; work from *.

Switch to color B
Row 5: *(k1, sl1, k2, sl1) x 2; work from *, k1.
Row 6: k1, *(sl1 wyif, k2, sl1 wyif, k1) x 2; work from *.

Switch to color A
Row 7: *k2, sl1, k5, sl1, k1; work from *, k1.
Row 8: k1, *k1, sl1 wyif, k5, sl1 wyif, k2; work from *.

Switch to color B
Row 9: *k1, (sl1, k3) x 2, sl1; work from *, k1.
Row 10: k1, *(sl1 wyif, k3) x 2, sl1 wyif, k1; work from *.

Switch to color A
Row 11 (RS): *k2, sl1, k5, sl1, k1; work from *, k1.
Row 12 (WS): k1, *k1, sl1 wyif, k5, sl1 wyif, k2; work from *.

Switch to color B
Row 13: *(sl1, k4) x 2; work from *, sl1.
Row 14: sl1 wyif, *(k4, sl1 wyif) x 2; work from *.

Switch to color A
Row 15: *(k1, sl1, k2, sl1) x 2; work from *, k1.
Row 16: k1, *(sl1 wyif, k2, sl1 wyif, k1) x 2; work from *.

Switch to color B
Row 17: *k2, sl1, k5, sl1, k1; work from *, k1.
Row 18: k1, *k1, sl1 wyif, k5, sl1 wyif, k2; work from *.

Switch to color A
Row 19: *k1, (sl1, k3) x 2, sl1; work from *, k1.
Row 20: k1, *(sl1 wyif, k3) x 2, sl1 wyif, k1; work from *.

repeat rows 1-20 as desired.

How the design worked:

This is the same code grid I used for the Typo lace chart. Here’s what makes it a good candidate for mosaic:

  • Each marked square is above an unmarked square (a key thing about mosaic knitting is that a slipped stitch from one pair of rows cannot be slipped in the next pair of rows).
  • There aren’t more than three consecutive marked stitches in any row.

I replaced each black square with a slip symbol.

The I worked out what the resulting colors would be if using the standard mosaic knitting methods for colorwork. The final chart involves two repeats because the original chart has an odd number of rows; the second repeat has the colors inverted.

I used this online mosaic chart software to double check my work.