14 Free Knitting Charts (Lace, Cable & Fair Isle)
If you’ve been knitting for a while, you already know the feeling: you’re browsing through a pattern and suddenly there it is — a beautiful chart full of symbols, lines, and tiny squares that somehow promises to transform your plain yarn into something extraordinary. Knitting charts can feel intimidating at first, especially when you’re still learning to read them, but once you understand the basics, they become one of the most powerful tools in any knitter’s toolkit.
Charts aren’t just a shorthand for written instructions. They’re a visual map of your fabric. You can see the rhythm of a cable before you even pick up your needles. You can trace the diagonal flow of a lace motif across the page. You can spot how a Fair Isle colorwork pattern repeats itself across a row. That visual quality is exactly why so many experienced knitters actually prefer charts over row-by-row written instructions, especially for complex stitch patterns.
In this post, we’re going to walk through 14 free knitting charts across three of the most beloved categories: lace, cable, and Fair Isle. Whether you’re a beginner who just wants to try reading a simple chart, or an experienced knitter looking for your next obsession, there’s something here for you. Each chart comes with a description of what the pattern looks like, what skill level it suits, and tips for using it successfully.
Let’s start with a quick primer, and then dive straight into the charts.
How to Read a Knitting Chart
Before we get into the good stuff, it helps to make sure everyone’s on the same page about how charts work.
A knitting chart is a grid where each square represents one stitch, and each row of squares represents one row (or round) of knitting. Symbols inside the squares tell you what to do with that stitch — whether to knit, purl, yarn over, slip, or work a cable cross.
Most charts are read from the bottom up, just as your knitting grows upward. When you’re knitting flat (back and forth in rows), right-side rows are typically read from right to left, and wrong-side rows from left to right. When you’re knitting in the round, you almost always read every row from right to left, since you’re always facing the right side of the fabric.
Every pattern that includes a chart should also include a key or legend. This tells you what each symbol means. Because there’s no universal standard across all publishers, one pattern might use an empty square to mean “knit,” while another uses it to mean “no stitch.” Always check the key first.
Now let’s get into the charts.
Lace Knitting Charts
Lace is one of the most rewarding things you can knit. The combination of yarn overs and decreases creates delicate openwork fabric that looks far more complicated than it usually is. Lace charts are especially helpful because you can see at a glance where the holes are and which direction the decreases lean — information that’s much harder to track in written instructions.
1. Simple Eyelet Rib
This is the perfect first lace chart. The pattern alternates between columns of knit stitches and simple eyelet columns made with yarn overs paired with k2tog decreases. On the chart, you’ll see a clean vertical stripe of O symbols (yarn overs) paired with right-leaning decrease symbols, separated by plain knit stitches.
The fabric this creates is stretchy and slightly open, making it ideal for scarves, lightweight shawlettes, or the ribbed cuffs of a summer cardigan. The repeat is just four stitches wide and two rows tall, so it’s easy to memorize quickly. Once you’ve worked a few repeats, you probably won’t even need to glance at the chart.
Skill level: Beginner
Tips: Work this on needles one or two sizes larger than the yarn label recommends. Lace really opens up with a bit of extra needle size, and blocking will transform the fabric from something slightly crumpled to something beautifully defined.
2. Feather and Fan (Old Shale)
Few lace patterns have stood the test of time quite like feather and fan, also known as old shale. This classic stitch creates gentle scalloped waves that move horizontally across the fabric. On the chart, you’ll see a satisfying rhythm: a cluster of decreases, followed by a run of yarn overs, followed by another cluster of decreases going the opposite direction.
The four-row repeat includes two plain rows (one knit row, one purl row on flat knitting), which gives you a chance to rest between the more demanding yarn-over rows. This built-in breathing room makes it very manageable even for knitters who are just getting comfortable with lace.
Feather and fan looks stunning in hand-dyed yarn because the wave structure catches and displays color shifts beautifully. Think shawls, baby blankets, and the body of a lightweight pullover.
Skill level: Beginner to Intermediate
Tips: Always count your stitches at the end of a lace row. With yarn overs and decreases, it’s easy to accidentally add or lose a stitch. Catching the mistake immediately means you only have to tink back one row rather than three.
3. Vine Lace
Vine lace is one of those patterns where the chart really earns its keep. The motif creates a meandering diagonal line that looks like a climbing plant, with leaves of openwork branching off to alternating sides. In written form, this pattern can look bewildering. On the chart, you can immediately see how the diagonal line shifts one stitch to the left every two rows, and you can see the yarn overs and decreases that create the leaflike branches.
This pattern works beautifully as an allover fabric for shawls or as a panel set into a plainer background. It has a flowing, organic quality that suits natural fibers like linen and cotton especially well.
Skill level: Intermediate
Tips: Place markers on either side of each vine lace repeat if you’re setting it as a panel. This helps you keep track of where each repeat starts and ends, which makes it much easier to spot any mistakes before they compound.
4. Shetland Print Lace
Traditional Shetland lace patterns are some of the most intricate and historically rich in the entire knitting canon. A Shetland print lace chart features complex geometric arrangements of yarn overs and paired decreases that create an almost woven-looking fabric filled with diamonds, flowers, and starbursts.
These charts tend to be larger and more detailed than beginner lace charts, with longer row repeats and multiple motif variations stacked on top of each other. Reading the chart carefully before you begin is essential. Many experienced knitters use a magnetic chart holder or a row-by-row ruler to keep their place.
The finished fabric is typically very light and airy, almost gossamer-thin, which is why traditional Shetland shawls were famously packed into a ring box or pulled through a wedding ring to demonstrate their fineness.
Skill level: Advanced
Tips: Practice the individual motifs separately before combining them. Work a small swatch of just the central diamond or just the border repeat before attempting the full chart. This helps you internalize each symbol combination without the added pressure of tracking the whole design.
5. Leaf Panel Lace
Leaf panel lace features a series of elongated leaf shapes arranged vertically or on a slight diagonal, created through a combination of yarn overs, central double decreases, and simple k2tog or ssk decreases. The chart for this motif is typically about ten to sixteen stitches wide, making it perfect for setting as a single decorative panel down the center of a garment.
You’ll often see this pattern used on the front of a classic pullover, running from hem to neckline, or as the central panel of a top-down raglan. It can also be arranged in repeating columns across a full shawl body.
The central double decrease (usually shown as a special symbol in the chart key) draws stitches toward a center spine, creating the sharp point at the bottom of each leaf and the tapering at the top. This gives the motif its beautifully dimensional, botanical quality.
Skill level: Intermediate
Tips: Pay particular attention to the center-stitch marker within each leaf. The central double decrease always works over three stitches and produces one stitch, so tracking the center spine is important for keeping the symmetry correct.
Cable Knitting Charts
Cables are created by temporarily rearranging the order of stitches, usually with the help of a cable needle. The result is a raised, twisted rope or braid effect that looks impressively complex but is actually quite systematic. Cable charts make these rearrangements easy to visualize. A cable crossing symbol shows you exactly how many stitches are involved and which way the cable twists.
6. Simple Six-Stitch Cable
This is the cable chart every knitter should start with. A six-stitch cable involves slipping three stitches to a cable needle (held either in front or in back), knitting the next three stitches, and then knitting the three stitches from the cable needle. On the chart, this appears as a symbol showing six stitches with diagonal lines indicating which way they cross.
When the cable needle is held in front, the resulting cable twists to the left. When held in back, it twists to the right. The chart makes this distinction clear at a glance, so you never have to decode written instructions like “C6F” or “C6B” once you’re comfortable with chart symbols.
A six-stitch cable typically crosses every six or eight rows. The plain rows in between are usually purled on the wrong side (shown as horizontal dashes in the chart), which creates the cushioned, raised appearance that makes cables so tactile and satisfying.
Skill level: Beginner to Intermediate
Tips: Use a cable needle close in size to your main needles. If the cable needle is much smaller, stitches will be difficult to slide onto it. If it’s much larger, you risk splitting the yarn or distorting the stitches.
7. Horseshoe Cable
The horseshoe cable is a classic traditional panel pattern that creates a rounded, U-shaped cable form. Two mirrored cables cross toward each other and then away from each other in alternating cable rows, producing the horseshoe silhouette.
On the chart, you’ll see a twelve-stitch panel divided into two six-stitch halves. The left half always crosses to the right, and the right half always crosses to the left (or vice versa, depending on the designer’s preference). The visual rhythm on the chart is very clear once you understand what you’re looking at.
Horseshoe cable is one of the most recognizable patterns in traditional Aran knitting and appears in countless fisherman sweater designs. It’s a workhorse pattern that suits almost any weight of yarn and works beautifully on accessories, sweaters, and home goods alike.
Skill level: Intermediate
Tips: Work horseshoe cables on a reverse stockinette background (purl stitches on the right side) rather than plain stockinette. The purl background pushes the cable forward and makes the twisted stitches pop dramatically.
8. Braided Cable
A braided cable is a sophisticated-looking design that uses a series of cable crosses offset by just a few stitches to create the appearance of three (or more) strands weaving over and under each other in a continuous braid.
The chart for a braided cable can look busy at first glance because cable cross symbols appear in almost every other row. But once you identify the repeating unit — usually about four to eight rows tall — the rhythm becomes clear and fairly easy to follow. The key insight is that adjacent sections of stitches take turns crossing over each other, which is exactly what a physical braid does.
Braided cables appear frequently in modern knitwear, from slouchy hats to textured sweater sleeves. They have a bold, graphic quality that holds up well in solid and semi-solid yarns.
Skill level: Intermediate to Advanced
Tips: Use stitch markers to separate each “strand” of the braid within the cable panel. This helps you keep track of which group of stitches is crossing next, especially when you’re first learning to read the chart.
9. Tree of Life Cable
The tree of life is one of the most iconic traditional cable patterns in Aran knitting. Starting from a central trunk, cable branches spread outward and upward in a stylized tree form, with each branch itself splitting further as the motif grows.
The chart for a tree of life cable is typically worked over a panel of around twenty to twenty-four stitches. Unlike a simple repeating cable, this chart has a defined beginning and end, with each section of the tree reading as a distinct motif unit. The trunk is formed by a column of twisted stitches or a simple cable, and the branches are created by yarn overs and decreases in some versions, or by outward-crossing small cables in others.
This pattern is a wonderful example of how cable charts can capture pictorial, almost representational imagery within the structure of the knitted fabric.
Skill level: Advanced
Tips: Print the chart and trace the “path” of each branch with a colored pen before you begin. Understanding where each cable offshoot is heading helps you anticipate the crosses rather than just reacting to each symbol as you encounter it.
10. Twisted Rib Cable
Not all cables require a cable needle, and twisted rib cables are proof. This chart-based pattern uses twisted knit stitches (knit through the back loop) arranged in a ribbed structure to create the appearance of a very fine, dense cable without any actual stitch crossing.
The chart shows columns of “ktbl” symbols (knit through back loop) separated by purl columns. The resulting fabric is firm, elastically stretchy, and has a pleasingly textured surface with subtle diagonal lines.
Twisted rib cables are excellent for cuffs, hat brims, and neckbands because they hold their shape even better than regular rib. They’re also a great way to practice reading a cable-style chart without the coordination challenge of the cable needle.
Skill level: Beginner to Intermediate
Tips: Working into the back loop creates more friction on the stitch, which can make your tension tighter than usual. Consider going up half a needle size if your twisted rib feels very stiff or if your gauge is significantly tighter than in plain rib.
Fair Isle and Colorwork Charts
Fair Isle colorwork involves knitting with two (or more) colors of yarn in a single row, carrying the unused colors loosely across the back of the fabric (this is called stranding or floats). The result is a dense, warm, colorful fabric covered in repeating geometric patterns. Fair Isle charts are color-coded grids — each color in the pattern corresponds to a different shade in the key, making them among the most visually intuitive charts in all of knitting.
11. Classic Peerie Border
A peerie is a small, simple Fair Isle motif typically worked in just a few rows, often used as a border or divider between larger pattern bands. The most classic peerie charts feature small X shapes, tiny stars, or simple zigzag lines in two colors across a narrow band of about five to seven rows.
These charts are the ideal starting point for Fair Isle colorwork because the floats (the strands of yarn carried across the back) are always very short. Short floats are easier to manage, less likely to distort the knitting, and significantly less intimidating than the longer floats found in larger motifs.
A peerie border is a great finishing touch on the cuffs and hem of a colorwork hat, the bottom edge of a stranded yoke sweater, or the wrist edge of a pair of mittens.
Skill level: Beginner to Intermediate
Tips: Always strand both yarns loosely across the back of the work. If your floats are too tight, the fabric will pucker and lose its stretch. A good trick is to spread the stitches on your right needle wide apart as you make each float, which ensures there’s enough slack in the strand.
12. Nordic Snowflake
The snowflake is arguably the most universally recognized Fair Isle motif. A traditional Nordic snowflake chart features a large eight-pointed star with geometric extensions that radiate outward symmetrically in all directions, worked in two contrasting colors.
The chart for a snowflake motif is usually square or nearly square — often around twenty-four stitches wide and twenty-four rows tall. Because of the motif’s size, there are sections where one color is carried across four or more stitches at a time, creating longer floats. Managing these longer floats without letting them distort the fabric requires a technique called “catching” the float, where you wrap the carried yarn around the working yarn every three to five stitches to anchor it.
Snowflake motifs are the centerpiece of traditional Norwegian lopapeysa sweaters, classic colorwork hats and yokes, and holiday knits of all kinds.
Skill level: Intermediate
Tips: Use a yarn that has some grip or a slight halo — wool or wool-blend yarns are ideal — because the floats catch against the individual fibers and prevent them from pulling too tightly. Slippery yarns like bamboo or nylon-heavy blends can make stranded colorwork significantly more difficult to manage.
