I have never had a problem reading a symbol chart in a crochet pattern.
But I’m looking at some of the stitches in the Knitting SB and sometimes an empty square means K on right side rows and P on wrong side rows. Why can’t they just use a symbol for K and a symbol for P? That way, I don’t have to wonder. Some of the patterns are easy to read with the symbol chart and some make me scratch my head.
I see the Chart Symbols pages in the back but still don’t understand why they can’t be more straight forward. Or can’t they at least put the meaning of the symbol on the same page as the pattern? That would be so much easier!
Just wondering. Knitting can be tricky enough, why not make it easy enough for my cat to figure out?
A chart only shows the RIGHT side of the work, and if you want, say, the stockinette “look” then you have to knit on the RS, purl on the WS, but everything LOOKS like all knit stitches. So and an empty box means that on the RS, it will LOOK like a knit stitch. Similarly, if you want the look of a purl, but you are on a WS row, you will knit on the WS but on the RS it will LOOK like a purl.
IMO, now that I’ve been looking at more charts (bought myself some books!) I think they are easy to keep your place in, because you know what it should look like.
I think that using the empty box for knit on the right side/purl on the wrong side is to enable you to look at the chart and see what the end result will be.
I do agree, though, that having the descriptions in the back of the book is a pain. It would make so much more sense to have the symbols for that particular pattern on that page.
I see the point of charts and I know a lot of people like them, but I still have to write out the pattern for myself, it just makes it easier for me to follow!