Charting tuck stitches

Following on from Kate Atherley’s article on charting Brioche and Fisherman’s Rib Patterns I thought that it would be useful to detail how to chart Tuck stitches in Stitchmastery.

Tuck stitches are common in machine knitting patterns and you will find many examples of interesting tuck stitch patterns in commercially made knitwear. Sometimes these are repeating patterns as in this tuck stitch formed over three rows that forms a diamond effect;-

Another very effective way of using tuck stitches is to incorporate a column of tuck stitches into a lace or cable pattern. The tuck stitches emphasize the vertical line or lines and can be a useful way of changing up a stitch pattern. In the example below two columns of stitches tucked over a single row transform a lace pattern.

Brioche stitches have been widely charted using Stitchmastery with the most common symbols used being;-

Symbol	Name	Description
	brk - brioche knit	Knit the stitch that was slipped in the previous row together with its yarn over.
	brp - brioche purl	Purl the stitch that was slipped in the previous row together with its yarn over.
	yf sl1yo - yarn forward slip stitch yarn over	Bring yarn to the front, slip the next stitch purl-wise, then bring the yarn to the back over the needle and the slipped stitch. The slipped stitch and yarn over are counted as 1 stitch.

Tuck stitches are essentially stitches that are worked as ‘yf sl1yo’ on multiple rows. Each row that a stitch is ‘tucked’ it is slipped purl-wise and an extra yarn over added. For example, the first time that a stitch is tucked, it is slipped and the first yarn over added. In all subsequent rows the slipped stitch and yarn over are then counted as one stitch and worked together. If a stitch is tucked for a second time on the following row, both the original stitch and its accompanying yarn over are slipped purl-wise and a second yarn over added. Likewise, if a stitch is tucked on a third row, it and its yarn overs will be slipped and another yarn over added. When a ‘brk’ (Brioche knit) or ‘brp’ (Brioche purl) stitch is to be worked it is worked on the original stitch plus ALL of its yarn overs.

Brioche is essentially a tuck stitch where the ‘yf sl1yo’ is worked only once before a ‘brk’ or ‘brp’ is worked.

When it comes to working tuck stitches there is an additional symbol, ‘yf sl1yo plus’ that is an elongated form of the ‘yf sl1yo’ symbol used in Brioche but can be used over several rows to make a symbol to represent a stitch that is ‘tucked’ multiple times.

In terms of Tuck knitting it can be helpful to redefine the symbols as;-

Symbol	Name	Description
	brk - brioche knit	Knit the stitch that was slipped in the previous row together with all of its yarn overs.
	brp - brioche purl	Purl the stitch that was slipped in the previous row together with all of its yarn overs.
	yf sl1yo - yarn forward slip stitch yarn over	Bring yarn to the front, slip the next stitch purl-wise, then bring the yarn to the back over the needle and the slipped stitch. The slipped stitch and yarn over are counted as 1 stitch.
	yf sl1yo plus - yarn forward slip stitch yarn over plus	Bring yarn to the front, slip the next stitch and all its yarn overs purl-wise, then bring the yarn to the back over the needle and the slipped stitch. The slipped stitch and yarn overs are counted as 1 stitch.

Note that these re-definitions do not refer to the number of yarn overs on a stitch. Hence the number of symbols and stitch definitions needed is kept to a minimum and the key and chart are clear and simple;-

This is particularly useful when stitches are tucked over many rows;-

and when there are multiple tuck stitches in one pattern. For example, this stitch pattern has some tuck stitches worked over two rows whilst others are worked over 4 rows;-

Yet, the tuck symbols can be re-used which makes the resulting chart easy to read and the key short and simple.