# Knitting Chart (編み図)

> The sheet music of the needle: stitches encoded as symbols on a grid. Japan's JIS stitch symbols compress each operation into one figure — design you can see before reading, in contrast to the West's written-out patterns.

- IndexStyle No.429 — https://indexstyle.org/styles/knitting-chart
- Kind: Style · Family: Notation Systems · Era: 19th century–
- Mood: Intimacy, Technology, Nostalgia
- Color cues: #e9e6dd / #67635d / #171615 (cues taken from reference works, not a fixed palette)

## Defining characteristics

- The grid of stitch symbols
- One stitch, one symbol
- Row and stitch coordinates
- Correspondence to the finished fabric

## Best used for

- Comparing primary sources and canonical works
- Extracting principles that transfer to other media

## Research method

This entry records a historical style; derive the treatment from its sources rather than a fixed recipe:

- Observe the letters, signs and scale of reference works
- Extract the one structure that governs gaze and information
- Verify the materials and behaviors specific to era, region and process

## What to avoid

Don't reduce it to surface signs. Verify the context of era, region, technology and makers.

## Application checklist

Before calling a piece an application of this style, check it against the defining characteristics:

- [ ] The grid of stitch symbols
- [ ] One stitch, one symbol
- [ ] Row and stitch coordinates
- [ ] Correspondence to the finished fabric
- [ ] At least one reference work below has been studied directly
- [ ] The caution above ("What to avoid") has been addressed

## Related styles

- **Tablature (タブラチュア)** — Notation from the player's point of view: not what pitch, but where the fingers go. From lute letter-tablature to guitar TAB, the lineage of practical writing that encodes bodily action directly. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/tablature
- **Mola (モラ)** — The reverse appliqué of Guna women in Panama: layered colored cloth cut back and stitched so contours ripple in multiple lines — printmaking in fabric, worn daily as blouse panels. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/mola

## Further study

- JIS stitch symbols
- Western written patterns
- Fair Isle charting culture

## Reference works

- Craft Yarn Council — https://www.craftyarncouncil.com/

## Source of record

- Craft Yarn Council — https://www.craftyarncouncil.com/

## Machine surfaces

- JSON: https://indexstyle.org/api/styles/knitting-chart
- Image-generation prompt (legally clean): https://indexstyle.org/styles/knitting-chart/prompt.txt
- MCP: https://indexstyle.org/mcp (tools: search_styles, get_style, compose_styles; prompts: image-prompt, apply-style)

## 日本語

編み目を記号化して格子に並べる、手芸の楽譜。日本のJIS編目記号は一目ごとの操作を図形一つに圧縮し、文章式に頼る欧米と対照的な「読む前に見える」設計を達成した。

特徴: 編み目記号の格子／一目一記号の圧縮／段と目の座標／完成模様との対応
注意: 表面的な記号へ還元せず、時代・地域・技術・制作主体の文脈を確認する。