Festive: a needlework chart for any craft

A long time ago, I encoded the word Festive for my Patreon. I made a Festive lace knitting stitch pattern and appended a needlework chart to the end, but I didn’t really know yet how to provide enough information to use it successfully. This blog post provides a proper chart and instructions for the Festive needlework chart.

This kind of chart is meant to work as a basis for all kinds of crafts that work with a rectangular grid: knitting, crochet, cross stitch, or whatever. I try to provide at least some digital art of the pattern repeated all over not as a chart. It doesn’t necessarily look like a finished object for any particular craft, but I want to give a sense of it in use. I try to make it look like knitting when it’s got floats short enough for easy stranded knitting.

How the Festive needlework chart might look as stranded knitting.
chart showing how to work the Festive needlework chart by means of dark and light squares. Written instructions in blog post.
  • Festive has a repeat of 12 + 1 columns and 12 + 1 rows.
  • In the written instructions, color A is the light squares above, and color B is the dark.
  • The written instructions below are formatted for stranded knitting, but it is my hope that they could be translated into instructions for other crafts. For instance, if working filet crochet, 1A could be one open square and 2B could be two filled-in squares.
  • Designers, please feel free to use this in your patterns (no need to ask). I’d like credit but won’t be offended if people don’t give it.
  • My blog posts and stitch patterns are supported by subscriptions on Patreon or donations to my Paypal tip jar in the sidebar. If you appreciate my work, please consider helping out. Thanks!

Round 1: work knit as follows; 1A, *(3A, 1B) × 2, 4A; work from *. (13 sts)

Round 2: work knit as follows; 1A, *2A, (2B, 3A) × 2; work from *.

Round 3: work knit as follows; 1A, *1A, (1B, 3A) × 2, 1B, 2A; work from *.

Round 4: work knit as follows; 1A, *2A, (1B, 1A) × 3, 1B, 3A; work from *.

Round 5: work knit as follows; 1A, *(1B, 3A, 1B, 1A) × 2; work from *.

Round 6: work knit as follows; 1B, *(3A, 1B) × 3; work from *.

Round 7: work knit as follows; 1A, *2A, 3B, 1A, 3B, 3A; work from *.

Round 8: work knit as follows; 1B, *(3A, 1B) × 3; work from *.

Round 9: work knit as follows; 1A, *(1B, 3A, 1B, 1A) × 2; work from *.

Round 10: work knit as follows; 1A, *2A, (1B, 1A) × 3, 1B, 3A; work from *.

Round 11: work knit as follows; 1A, *1A, (1B, 3A) × 2, 1B, 2A; work from *.

Round 12: work knit as follows; 1A, *2A, (2B, 3A) × 2; work from *.

Repeat Rounds 1 – 12 as desired, ending with Round 13:

Round 13: work knit as follows; 1A, *(3A, 1B) × 2, 4A; work from *.