A charting system is ideally suited to convey visually stitch by stitch, row by row instructions for a knitted lace pattern. In many cases, written instructions are also provided, but one needs to be comfortable using charts, if one wishes to go further into lace knitting. The way in is to follow both the chart and the written instructions, relating the symbols to the words.
Unlike Japan, there is no single system of charting anywhere else in the world, although most individual systems owe something to the Japanese approach. The charting system used here is standard Japanese for hand knitting. Machine knitters everywhere have been using the Japanese chart form for machine knitting ever since Japanese knitting machines with lace carriage first made their appearance in the late 1960s.
The charts, here for hand knitters, represent the right side of the fabric, and not the purl (machine knitting).
