Chevron Garter Stitch Pattern
A Zig-Zag Pattern of Garter & Stockinette Stitch
This page will show you how to knit the chevron garter stitch pattern, with an optional garter stitch border.
The raised chevron/zig-zag itself is garter stitch, whilst the background is stockinette stitch.
The pattern itself requires you to cast on a multiple of 6 stitches.
Note: I also added a 4 stitch garter stitch border to each edge, so I cast on an extra 8 stitches for this purpose. The border is optional and is represented by the 'k4' sections in the pattern below. Feel free to remove this border if you like, although the border is there to stop the edges curling.
If you do keep the border, you will probably want to start and end your project with at least a couple of rows of garter stitch to create a border the entire way around your knitting.
Row 1 (and all odd-numbered rows): k
Row 2: k4, p until there are 4 stitches left, then k4
Row 4: k4, *p3, k1, p2
Repeat from * until there are 4 stitches left, then k4
Row 6: k4, *p2, k3, p1
Repeat from * until there are 4 stitches left, then k4
Row 8: k4, *p1, k2, p1, k2
Repeat from * until there are 4 stitches left, then k4
Row 10: k4, *k2, p3, k1
Repeat from * until there are 4 stitches left, then k4
(Where k = knit stitches and p = purl stitches)
Below you can see the knitting chart I made to represent this pattern repeat.
Instead of the green/white colours representing different yarn colours, the squares represent the type of stitch you will do on the even-numbered rows; knit stitches where there are green squares (in order to make garter stitch), and purl stitches where there are white squares (in order to make stockinette stitch).
Note that every odd-numbered row is a knit stitch row. It's only on even-numbered rows where purl stitches are brought in to create the actual chevron pattern.
Using this simple method, even beginners can make their own raised/embossed knitting patterns with just knit and purl stitches. Want to make a heart pattern? A duck shape? The Taj Mahal? Well you can!
Just draw your pattern repeat onto graph paper and knit the parts you want raised, and purl the parts you want to be the background, as detailed above.
Have fun!