How to Knit Garter Block Stitch [Free Knitting pattern & video tutorial!]
Garter Block Stitch (I’ve also seen it called Garter Checkerboard Stitch) is a nice, simple stitch pattern that creates a fabulously textured piece of knitting.
This stitch pattern combines Stockinette stitch and Garter stitch to create an almost Chess Board like pattern on the front of your work. I think this sort of texture would work amazingly well for a baby blanket!
I’m a big fan of stitch patterns that give loads of texture without being overly complicated. I feel like this makes them much more accessible to less experienced knitters, and can hopefully show them that knitting doesn’t have to be complicated to be beautiful.
For those of you who have followed my knitting adventures for a while, you’ll knot that I’m someone who sticks firmly in the camp of “knitting what I enjoy”.
That means that although I’m a relatively experienced knitter, I find more joy in knitting simple, clean patterns that use basic stitches to create texture.
Garter Block stitch fits right into this category of knitting patterns, and I’m sure you’ll see me use it (or a variation of it) in a baby blanket in the near future!
IS this a reversible stitch pattern?
Whenever I produce a knitting tutorial, or a baby blanket pattern, I’m always being asked if its reversible or not. Hopefully having a little section to cover this question within my blog posts will help to answer that question nice and quickly.
Garter Block Stitch isn’t a reversible pattern, it has a definite right and wrong side. This means it isn’t a stitch to use if you’re wanting a reversible knitting project.
That being said, the reverse isn’t ugly, or messy. The photo below shows how the reverse of this stitch looks:
I’m a big fan of non reversible stitches, I don’t like the constraints that keeping a project reversible puts on my creative mind. You’ll see me using lots of stitch patterns that have a definite right and wrong side, but I’m yet to find one that looks messy or ugly on the reverse side.
Nine times out of ten the reverse is just a plain piece of knitting that looks like a slight variation of Garter Stitch.
pin for later
Want to easily bookmark this stitch for later? Why not pin this image so you can easily find it in the future!
written pattern
Stitches Used
- K – knit
- P – Purl
- WS – Wrong Side
- RS – Right Side
Pattern Repeat
Foundation Row: Cast on an ODD number of stitches. (I like to use the Long Tail method)
Row 1 (RS): k all stitches
Row 2 (WS): k5, *p5, k5* repeat from *to* until end of row.
Row 3: k all stitches
Row 4: k5, *p5, k5* repeat from *to* until end of row.
Row 5: k all stitches
Row 6: k5, *p5, k5* repeat from *to* until end of row.
Row 7: k all stitches
Row 8: P5, *k5, p5* repeat from *to* until end of row.
Row 9: k all stitches
Row 10: P5, *k5, p5* repeat from *to* until end of row.
Row 11: k all stitches
Row 12: P5, *k5, p5* repeat from *to* until end of row.
Repeat Rows 1-12 until your project is the desired size.
When casting off, cast off knit wise after a Row 7, this will give you a nice symmetrical piece of knitting.
video tutorial
If you’re a beginner, or new to reading written patterns, then you’ll love this step by step video tutorial that accompanies this free knitting pattern!
Want to browse all of my free knitting patterns and more? See them HERE!