How to Knit Diamond Shapes

A Great Way to Practice your Increases & Decreases

A diamond is a great shape to learn how to knit, because it gives you hands-on practice at pairing increases and decreases on the same row, and shows you how they look in a finished project.

The video below demonstrates the knitting of all 3 diamond shapes, and underneath that I have written out the patterns for you:

(Please find the written patterns further down the page.)

The first shape is a classic diamond, the second is more of a leaf shape, and the third is more of a square.

The idea of showing a variety of diamond shapes is to show the different ways of going about making the same basic shape, and also to try and incorporate as many different increase/decrease methods as possible.

I've tried to write the patterns as briefly as I can, whilst making them clear enough to follow.

k = Knit, p = Purl

RS = Right (front) side of the knitting, WS = Wrong (back) side of the knitting

M1R = Make one right increase, M1L = Make one left increase

ssk = Slip, slip, knit decrease, k2tog = knit two together decrease

kfbf = Knit front, back and front again increase, kfb = Knit front and back increase

s2kpo = Slip two stitches, knit 1, pass slip stitch over decrease

sl 1 k-wise = Slip a stitch knitwise

sk2po = Slip a stitch, knit two together, pass slip stitch over decrease

Classic Diamond Shape in Stockinette Stitch

Cast on 3 stitches to start.

Row 1 (WS) & every odd-numbered row: Purl

Row 2 (RS) & every even-numbered increase row:

k1, M1R, knit until there is only 1 stitch remaining on the left needle, M1L, k1

Row 14 & every even-numbered decrease row:

ssk, knit until there are only 2 stitches remaining on the left needle, k2tog

When you have only 3 stitches remaining overall (row 25), do a purl row as usual and then row 26 will be: ssk, k1, pso

(Where pso means you use your left needle to pass the ssk stitch over the knit stitch that you've just done and drop it off the needle.)

Then you can cut off the excess yarn, leaving a tail of 8" or so, put this yarn tail through the last remaining stitch and pull tight. Weave the yarn tails into the back of the diamond to finish.

Remember that you don't have to switch to decrease rows at row 14 like I did; you can carry on and do many more increase rows if you want, as more increase rows means a larger diamond :)

Diamond Leaf Shape in Stockinette Stitch

Cast on 3 stitches to start.

Row 1 (WS) & every odd-numbered row: Purl

Row 2 (RS): k1, kfbf, k1

Row 4 & every even-numbered increase row from now on:

k1, kfb, knit until there are only 2 stitches remaining on the left needle, then kfb, k1

Row 14 & every even-numbered decrease row:

Knit up to the central 3 stitches on the row*, s2kpo, then knit the rest of the stitches on the row

( * For rows 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24 and 26, this will be 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and 0 knit stitches respectively. )

Then just cut the excess yarn off to create a tail 8" long or so, feed this tail through the remaining stitch and pull tight. Weave the yarn tails into the back of the diamond to finish.

Remember that you don't have to switch to decrease rows at row 14 like I did; you can carry on and do many more increase rows if you want, as more increase rows means a larger leaf.

Garter Stitch Diamond/Square

Cast on 25 stitches to start.

Row 1 (WS): Knit to the last stitch, p1

Row 2 (RS) & every even-numbered row:

sl 1 k-wise, knit up to the central 3 stitches*, sk2po, knit to the last stitch, p1

Row 3 & every odd-numbered row from now on:

sl 1 k-wise, knit to the last stitch, p1

Follow the above pattern until you only have 3 stitches left overall, and then:

Last odd-numbered row (row 23): sl 1 k-wise, k1, p1

Last even-numbered row (row 24): sk2po

(* For rows 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22, this will be 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and 0 knit stitches respectively )

Then simply cut off the excess yarn to leave an 8" tail, feed this tail through the last stitch, pull it tight and weave it into the back of your knitting to finish.

The larger you want the shape to be, the more stitches you cast on in the first place.

This shape is actually usually called a 'domino square' in knitting circles, and if you knit enough of them, you can join them together to form something larger like a blanket.

I hope this tutorial has been useful.

Thanks for reading!