Knit Nurse Pattern Reading Clinic #2: What’s the deal with parentheses and brackets ( ) [ ]?
In the first post in this series we talked about the basic anatomy of a pattern to understand the basic contents. This time we’ll be taking a closer inspection at parentheses and brackets.
Parentheses and brackets - or round ( ) and square [ ] brackets in plain speak - can be a source of great confusion for many knitters, and a question (or even plea sometimes) I often hear is “what do all the brackets mean in knitting patterns?”. This is often compounded by the fact that different designers tend to use them in slightly different ways, as there's no uniform way in which they should be used. Some knitters can be so intimidated by this that they abandon their chosen project in favour of a simpler pattern, which is a real shame. If this resonates with you, then read on as I hope to be able to demystify (and pronounce even!) parentheses and brackets for you. This will increase your confidence in pattern reading (or writing) skills.Asides from normal use in full sentences, in general there are 4 main ways in which parentheses or brackets are used within knitting pattern instructions to:
enclose additional information about a row, such as whether it is worked on the ‘wrong’ side (WS) or ‘right’ side (RS)
present multiple sizing/version options & instructions
indicate repeats within rows
indicate stitch counts after the number of stitches will have changed.
#1 - Additional information about a row
The first purpose invariably uses parentheses (round brackets) rather than square brackets and examples of this are
Row 1 (Right Side): Knit.
and
Row 5 (Increase): K2, M1, k to last 2 sts, M1, k2.
#2 - Multiple sizing/version options & instructions
For multiple size projects, numbers are usually given for the smallest size with numbers for larger sizes following in either parentheses or square brackets. Here are some examples:
Finished Size - 30 (34, 36, 40, 44) in
Cast on 80 (85; 90; 95; 100) sts
Row 11 (dec): K 2 (4 : 2 : 5: 1), k2tog, K to last 4 (6 :4 : 7 : 3) sts, k2tog, k to end.
Cast off 3 [4: 5: 6: 7] sts at beg of next 2 rows.
Cont straight until back measures 39 [40, 40, 42, 42, 43]cm
You’ll notice too that these examples use a variety of commas (,) colons (:) or semicolons (;) to separate those numbers out, and all these are correct, but should be used consistently throughout the pattern.
#3 - Repeats within rows
Often in a pattern you will need to repeat a small set of instructions a number of times across the work. There are a number of alternatives (which we will explore in the next post in this series) but one method of expressing this is to enclose the instructions to be repeated within brackets, followed by the number of times (or up to which point) that instruction is to be repeated. For example:
Round 1: (K2, p2) around.
Row 1 (RS): K2, [k2tog, yfwd, k1, yfwd, ssk] to last 2 sts, k2.
Row 1: K5, (p2, k2) four times, p2, k to end.
#4 - stitch counts
Stitch counts are used whenever there is a change of stitch numbers, such as at the end of a decreasing row. They are a great ‘safety net’ for knitters, regardless of ability, as you can double check that you have managed to follow the pattern correctly to that point. Either style of bracket (or indeed none) can be used, and the stitch count may refer to single or multiple sizes.
Examples include:
Rnd 1: *K14, ssk; rep from * to end. [90 sts.]
Cast off 8 sts at beg of next 2 rows - 71 (75, 79, 87, 91) sts
Unlike in general writing and grammar, when pattern writing there is no absolute rule as to when you would favour using parentheses over square brackets. Some designers will use parentheses for multiple sizing options, and square brackets for repeats within rows, or vice versa. Stitch counts may be expressed with either type of bracket, or indeed no brackets, but whichever style they choose must be used consistently throughout the pattern.
If you often use the same designer then you'll probably get used to their style, however when using a pattern from a different designer it's always worth reading through the pattern before starting to get your bearings with stylistic things, such as how they use brackets & parentheses, and that way you'll quickly acclimatise to their way of doing things. Of course practise makes perfect, so if you're new to reading patterns, then the best way to learn how to follow them, is to knit more patterns ;-)
I hope this has been helpful to you in understanding what the different brackets mean and when they're used in knitting patterns, and that this in turn makes you feel more confident as a knitter, designer, or fledgling technical editor. If you have any questions about this, anything to add, or anything else in particular you’d like to see covered in this series, then please get in touch.
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