Add Chevrons to Your Knitting: The Zigzag Knitting Stitch

Have you noticed all those chevron-patterned curtains and rugs lately? Chevrons aren’t just for home décor. Learn how to knit the zigzag stitch — sometimes called the chevron stitch — and you can knit chevrons into garments, or just add a zigzag border to something you already own.

Before you knit the zigzag stitch, you’ll need to make sure you have a couple of things under your belt — or your needles, as us knitters might say. Check out the slip, slip, knit (SSK) tutorial and the knit two together (k2tog) tutorial and make sure your skills are solid before trying this zigzag stitch.

Here’s how the zigzag stitch pattern is written:

Cast on a multiple of 14 + 2
Row 1 and all odd rows: Purl.
Row 2 and all even rows: K1, knit into the front and back of the next stitch, K4, SSK, K2tog, K4 *Knit into the front and back of the next 2 stitches, K4, SSK, K2tog, K4* Repeat from * to last 2 stitches, knit into the front and back of the next stitch, K1.

Let’s try it! Cast on a multiple of 14, plus two more stitches. I cast on 30 stitches for my swatch.

Row 1: Purl.

Row 2: Knit the first stitch. Knit into the front and back of the next stitch. To do this, knit the stitch as you normally would but don’t drop it off the left needle.

Stick your needle into the back of the same stitch you just knit. It should look like this:

Knit into the back of the stitch and drop it from the left needle.

Knit 4. SSK, referring to the SSK tutorial if you need help. Remember that the ssk decreases stitches and makes them lean to the left.

K2tog, referring to the K2tog tutorial if you’re stuck. Remember that the k2tog decreases stitches to make them lean to the right. This combined with the SSK above will help form the rising point of each zigzag.

Continue to follow the pattern as written above. The pattern will repeat the stitches shown in the photos, just in a different order.

Repeat these two rows to continue the zigzag pattern. It may be hard to see the zigzag when you first start. You may not start to notice it until you have knitted at least 4 rows.

You may also change colors at the beginning of a new row if you’d like. The zigzag is much more visible —and fun — if you alternate colors like I did.

How to use the zigzag knitting stitch

You can knit the zigzag as a border, or you can knit an entire item in the chevron pattern. Use as many colors as you’d like. The possibilities are endless!

We have a whole collection of chevron knitting patterns on the blog so you can try your hand at this stitch with a gorgeous pillow, sweater, shawl or something else!