Stitchology 1: Herringbone Stitch — A Complete Guide for KB Looms
If you’ve ever watched someone knit a herringbone stitch and thought it looked impossibly intricate, you’re not alone. That distinctive woven zigzag pattern, reminiscent of the skeleton of a herring fish, has a way of making finished pieces look like they belong in a boutique window rather than a living room knitting basket. But here’s the thing — when you’re working on a KB Loom, the herringbone stitch becomes far more approachable than it ever is on two needles, and the results are every bit as stunning.
This is the first installment of Stitchology, our ongoing series dedicated to exploring individual stitches on KB Looms — what they are, how they work, why they look the way they do, and how you can use them to transform your loom knitting projects. We’re starting with herringbone because it’s one of those stitches that bridges the gap between beginner confidence and intermediate ambition. Once you understand it, a whole new world of textured, layered fabric opens up.
Whether you’re brand new to loom knitting or you’ve been making scarves and hats for years and want to push into more exciting territory, this guide is written for you.
What Is the Herringbone Stitch?
The herringbone stitch gets its name from its resemblance to the bones of a herring fish — two rows of diagonal lines meeting at a central spine, creating a V-shaped or chevron-like texture that repeats across the fabric. In traditional needle knitting, this stitch involves knitting two stitches together without dropping them off the needle, then knitting the first of those two stitches again before dropping both. It creates a braided, interlocked fabric that’s noticeably denser and more elastic than standard stockinette.
On a KB Loom, the mechanics are slightly different because you’re working with pegs rather than needles, but the concept of interlocking loops remains the same. The result is a fabric that feels almost woven, with excellent drape and a beautiful diagonal texture that runs consistently across the entire piece.
What makes herringbone particularly special is its versatility. Because it has an almost fabric-like quality when finished, it’s exceptional for items where you want structure without stiffness — think cowls, blankets, market bags, and winter accessories. The stitch also photographs beautifully, which never hurts when you want to share your finished work.
Why Use a KB Loom for the Herringbone Stitch?
KB Looms (also known as Knifty Knitter-style or round looms, though KB refers specifically to the Knitting Board brand) offer a unique working experience that actually makes certain stitches easier to execute consistently than needle knitting allows.
With a loom, you can see every loop clearly. There’s no risk of accidentally dropping a stitch because your working loop is held on a stationary peg. This visibility is enormously helpful with the herringbone stitch, which requires you to deliberately move loops from one peg to another — a task that benefits greatly from being able to clearly see what you’re doing at all times.
KB Looms come in various gauges and configurations, from small-gauge looms suited for fine yarn and detailed work to bulky looms that let you create chunky accessories in record time. The herringbone stitch is adaptable to most of these, though it works particularly beautifully on a rake-style or flat loom where you have two parallel rows of pegs. The double-knit setup native to many KB Loom configurations complements the two-sided nature of the herringbone pattern, giving you a fabric that looks consistent from both sides.
For new loom knitters, the KB Loom also simply removes a barrier. If you’ve struggled to tension herringbone on two needles, or if the motion of traditional needle knitting doesn’t work well for you physically, the loom gives you another path to the same beautiful destination.
Materials You’ll Need
Before you sit down to start your herringbone project, gather a few essentials.
Your KB Loom should be appropriate to your yarn weight. The herringbone stitch works across all yarn weights but shows its character most clearly in a smooth, medium-weight yarn — a worsted or DK weight in a solid or semi-solid color will let the texture read most clearly. Highly variegated or self-striping yarns can obscure the diagonal pattern, though they create their own interesting effect if that’s what you’re going for.
A loom hook or knitting pick is essential — this is the tool you’ll use to lift and move loops. Some loomers prefer a dedicated transfer tool for moving loops between pegs, and for the herringbone stitch, this can be especially helpful when you’re first learning the pattern.
You’ll also want a blunt tapestry needle for finishing, scissors, and if you’re new to this particular loom setup, a stitch marker or two to keep track of your position in the pattern repeat.
Lastly, be patient with your yarn choice on the first try. A smooth, light-colored yarn allows you to see the structure of what you’re creating. Once you understand the stitch intuitively, you can experiment with darker colors, textured yarns, or even mohair blends.
Understanding the Structure of the Herringbone Stitch on a Loom
To work any stitch well on a loom, it helps to understand what’s happening structurally before your hook ever touches a loop.
In the herringbone stitch on a flat KB Loom, each loop from one row reaches diagonally to interlock with a loop from the adjacent peg before being locked in by the following row. This interlocking creates the characteristic braid-like fabric. Rather than each loop sitting directly above the loop that created it (as in a basic e-wrap or flat stitch), the loops lean into each other, creating that woven appearance.
On a double-rake loom (two parallel rows of pegs, which is common on many KB Loom configurations), the herringbone stitch often involves working stitches that cross between the front and back pegs as well as moving laterally along the pegs. This gives the finished fabric a particularly substantial, almost quilt-like quality that’s difficult to achieve with simpler stitches.
The pattern typically works in a two-peg repeat, meaning you’ll always be working with two pegs at a time. This is consistent and rhythmic once you’re in the flow of it, which makes herringbone an oddly meditative stitch — you establish a mental cadence and the fabric grows with a satisfying regularity.
How to Work the Herringbone Stitch on a KB Loom — Step by Step
Let’s walk through the basic herringbone stitch on a flat rake-style KB Loom. This version produces a single-layer fabric with the classic herringbone texture on both sides.
Start by casting on using your preferred cast-on method. The e-wrap cast-on is common and works well here, giving you a flexible foundation row. Make sure your cast-on is even and not too tight — the herringbone stitch will naturally tighten the fabric slightly as you work, so starting with some ease in your foundation is helpful.
For your first working row, you’ll begin the interlocking process that creates the herringbone effect.
Starting at the peg on the right end of your loom, take the loop from the second peg and place it onto the first peg. You’ll now have two loops on the first peg. Wrap your working yarn around the first peg in an e-wrap, then knit over — meaning you’ll lift both the original loops over the new wrap and off the peg, leaving only the new working loop on the peg. This is the essential action of the herringbone stitch: the loop from the neighboring peg travels with you before being locked off.
Move to the next peg. Transfer the loop from the peg ahead of your current position onto your current peg, wrap the working yarn, and knit over again. Continue in this way across the entire row, always reaching ahead by one peg and bringing that loop with you before creating and locking your new stitch.
At the end of the row, you’ll turn and begin working back in the opposite direction. The key to maintaining the herringbone texture is that you always reach in the direction you’re traveling — when working left to right, you borrow the loop from the peg to your right; when working right to left, you borrow from the peg to your left. This consistent directionality is what creates the diagonal lean of the finished fabric.
After several rows, you’ll begin to see the characteristic V-shapes and diagonal lines emerging from your work. This is deeply satisfying, and it tends to happen faster than you expect.
Tips for Even, Consistent Herringbone Fabric
Tension is the single most important variable in the herringbone stitch, even more than in simpler stitches. Because you’re interlocking loops and moving them between pegs, any inconsistency in how tightly or loosely you wrap will show up clearly in the finished fabric.
Try to wrap with the same pressure on every peg. If you find yourself pulling tighter at the beginning of a row (which is common when you’re concentrating especially hard), practice starting each row with a conscious, deliberate looseness before settling into your rhythm.
Count your pegs regularly, especially when you’re learning. It’s easy to accidentally skip a peg when you’re reaching ahead for the borrowed loop, particularly if your loom is long. Running your eye along the pegs every few rows to confirm your stitch count costs very little time and saves a great deal of frustration.
Work slowly at first. The herringbone stitch has more steps per peg than a basic stitch, and rushing before you’ve internalized the motion leads to errors that can be difficult to identify and fix once they’re buried in several rows of fabric. Speed comes naturally with repetition.
If your fabric is puckering or pulling in more than expected, your tension may be too tight. Try using a slightly larger loom for the same yarn weight, or consciously loosen your e-wraps. A small swatch worked before your actual project is always worth the time.
Project Ideas Using the Herringbone Stitch on a KB Loom
Once you’ve practiced the basic herringbone stitch and feel confident in its execution, you’ll start seeing possibilities everywhere.
A herringbone cowl is one of the most rewarding first projects. The dense, slightly elastic fabric is ideal for neck warmth, and because a cowl is worked in the round (or seamed from a flat piece), there are no complicated shaping decisions to navigate. Work until your piece is as wide as you’d like, seam the short ends together, and you have a gift-worthy accessory.
Herringbone scarves and wraps are classic for a reason. The stitch creates a fabric with natural drape, and a long scarf worked in herringbone in a luxurious yarn — a wool-alpaca blend, for instance — will feel and look far more expensive than the materials suggest. The reversible quality of herringbone fabric means both sides of your scarf will look finished and intentional.
Baby blankets in herringbone are particularly beloved in the loom knitting community. The stitch creates a fabric that’s substantial enough to feel cozy without being too heavy or too warm, and it holds its shape beautifully through washing. Using a soft machine-washable yarn in a pastel or neutral tone produces a blanket that feels like an heirloom.
Market bags and tote bags in cotton yarn are another wonderful application. The woven quality of the herringbone stitch gives cotton bags a firmness that makes them practical and attractive. A ball of smooth cotton worsted, a bulky KB Loom, and an afternoon are genuinely all you need.
For the adventurous, a herringbone stitch pillow cover worked in a chunky yarn on a large-gauge loom is both fast and dramatic. The stitch scale increases beautifully with yarn weight, and a bold, oversized herringbone on a throw pillow makes a striking home décor statement.
Troubleshooting Common Herringbone Problems
Even experienced loom knitters encounter challenges when they first tackle the herringbone stitch. Here are the most common issues and how to address them.
If your stitch count is decreasing row by row, you’re likely forgetting to replace the loop you’ve borrowed from the neighboring peg. Remember that when you transfer a loop forward, the peg you borrowed from becomes empty — your working wrap on that peg in the next step creates the replacement loop. Visualizing the loop path before you work each peg helps.
If your fabric isn’t showing a clear herringbone texture and instead looks like a lumpy or uneven version of something else, check your directionality. The borrowed loop must always come from the peg in the direction you’re traveling. If you accidentally borrow from behind you rather than ahead, the lean of the stitch reverses and the pattern loses its coherence.
If your edges are uneven or flaring, pay extra attention to your edge pegs. The first and last peg in each row don’t have a neighboring peg to borrow from on one side, and how you handle these edge stitches affects the neatness of your selvedge. Many loomers simply work the edge pegs as a standard flat stitch to create a clean border.
If loops are breaking or splitting, your yarn may be catching on the peg as you transfer loops. Slow down at the transfer step and make sure your loom’s pegs are smooth — a tiny amount of yarn conditioner on rough pegs can eliminate this problem entirely.
Expanding the Herringbone — Variations to Explore
Once the basic herringbone is comfortable, there’s a rich territory of variations to explore.
The double herringbone creates two interlocking rows of the standard stitch before the direction reverses, producing a more compressed, basketweave-like texture. This variation is particularly beautiful in thicker yarns.
A herringbone rib combines the herringbone stitch with a ribbed structure, giving you a fabric with both the diagonal texture of herringbone and the stretch and recovery of ribbing. This is exceptional for hat brims and cuffs.
Color-block herringbone, where you change yarn color every few rows, creates a graphic, modern look as the diagonal pattern interacts with horizontal color changes. The result has a slightly retro, geometric quality that’s very popular in contemporary knitwear.
Some advanced loomers work a crossed herringbone, where the diagonal lean of the stitch alternates direction every few rows to create a diamond or chevron effect across the full width of the fabric. This requires careful counting but produces a dramatically textured fabric that borders on sculptural.
Why Stitchology Matters for Loom Knitters
This series exists because stitches are the vocabulary of knitting, and expanding your stitch vocabulary expands everything you can make and say with your craft. Many loom knitters, especially those who come to loom knitting as an alternative to needle knitting, learn a handful of basic stitches and stay there because the gap between beginner stitches and “advanced” stitches can seem enormous.
Stitchology is our way of bridging that gap — one stitch at a time, with full explanations, practical guidance, and project ideas that let you immediately apply what you learn. The herringbone stitch is a perfect starting point because it rewards close attention with genuinely beautiful results. There’s a real satisfaction in watching a pattern emerge from what felt like complicated technique, and that satisfaction is worth pursuing.
KB Looms, with their visibility, versatility, and accessibility, are a wonderful tool for exploring stitches like herringbone. Whatever your experience level, we hope this guide gives you the confidence to pick up your loom and start weaving those beautiful diagonals.
In the next installment of Stitchology, we’ll explore another stitch that transforms the texture and character of your loom knitting — stay tuned, and in the meantime, we’d love to see your herringbone projects in the comments or tagged on social media. Happy looming.
