A step-by-step tutorial on the star stitch knitting pattern with detailed instructions for beginners.
So, you want to knit a project in the star stitch but you don’t know how? Well, you came to the right place! In this tutorial, I’m not only going to show you the repeat but also provide you with step-by-step instruction with extra-large pictures, as this stitch is a bit more difficult to explain and knit.
The star stitch creates very beautiful fabric with a lot of texture. It’s not all that stretchy, rather solid, and pretty thick. So, it can be the ideal pattern for a little baby blanket or a warm sweater. It’s maybe not the best beginner stitch but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty smooth knitting.
In knitting pattern, the star stitch is often also called Daisy Stitch or Flat Knot.
Note: The star stitch is not a reversible pattern. If you are looking for a similar-looking reversible pattern the moss stitch might be a good option for you.
The star stitch knitting pattern
The star stitch is an easy 4-row repeat where the iconic stars are knitted from the wrong side. Here’s the repeat:
- Row 1: Knit across all stitches
- Row 2: *P1, <P3tog and don’t slip the stitch, YO, and P3tog in the same stitch again>*, P1
- Row 3: Knit across all stitches
- Row 4: P3, *<P3tog, YO, P3tog>, P1*, P2
I know, this sounds quite difficult, but it really isn’t. It’s maybe a bit slower to knit, but if this instruction didn’t make any sense to you, read on to view the close-up pictures.
Step-by-step instructions (continental)
I am a continental knitter, so I am going to show you how to knit the start stitch the continental way. But if you are an intermediate English knitter, I’m sure you can adapt it. I’m just going to show you how to knit the star stitch here. You can catch up on how to purl stitch here, and here’s a tutorial for the knit stitch.
Step 1: Insert the right needle into the first three stitches on your left needle.
Step 2: Purl these three stitches together BUT DON’T SLIP THE STITCH. Keep it on the left needle.
Step 3: Now you have to yarn over purlwise once.
Step 4: Secure the yarn over with your right index finger and now purl 3 together into the same 3 stitches again.
Step 5: And now you can slip this triple-stitch off the right needle. It should look like this.
Essentially, you combined a decrease with 2 increases and this creates the star shape. You have the p3tog at the base and 2 loops sticking out of it. This is what will make it look like a star.
The star stitch is quite a bit similar to the brioche stitch and is quite a yarn intensive pattern as well. But unlike a typical brioche stitch, it’s not reversible. The wrong side looks a bit strange, so I wouldn’t use it for a scarf or anything else where both sides are easily visible.
Star / Daisy stitch in the round
If you want to knit the star stitch in the round, you have two options:
A) you stick to the same repeat as detailed above but obviously knit rows 1 and 3 instead of purls and construct your hat (or whatever) from the WRONG side.
B) Or you adapt the repeat with K3tog. So it looks like this:
- Row 1: Knit
- Row 2: *K1, <K3tog and don’t slip the stitch, YO knitwise, and k3tog in the same stitch again>*
- Row 3: Knit
- Row 4: K3, *<K3tog, YO, K3tog>, K1*
Now you might say: Woah, this is way easier. And in fact, you could actually knit the daisy / star stitch flat with this repeat as well (though you would have to purl row 1 and 3). But I personally believe P3tog is a loooot easier to knit than K3tog as you are not working against the tension of the loops but with them.
Oh, and for a very nice variant, you can alternate yarn between two rows to create a beautiful 2 color star stitch knitting pattern!
So, this was my little tutorial on how to star stitch in knitting. Feel Free to comment below with you questions.
Hi, thank you for the pattern, it looks really pretty. I have a question about row 4. It has a different amount of total stitches than row 2. My solution was to either p4 at the beginning or p2 at the end to make it come to x*4 + 1 stitches. How do you do it?
Cheers, Rebecca
Hey Rebecca,
you are absolutely right. That was a typo. You need to p2 at the end. But p4 at the beginning works as well – but not as good imo.
Hi Norman,
thank you for this pattern, it really looks great!
I have a similar question abouz rows 2 and 4 in the ROUND pattern. They result in a different number of stitches as well. How would you correct that. So far, I have been skipping the last K1 in rows 2 and 4 but I’m not sure it will result in the same pattern… Can you help?
Is casting on only 4 in the round instead of 4+1 correct?
Thank you!
Vera
Hey Vera,
well…this is a difficult question really and there is no right and wrong answer.
The basic repeat of the start stitch is *p1, [p3tog,yo,p3tog]* and you are off-setting that repeat by 2 stitches every pattern row. That’s why, in R4, it says “purl 3” instead of just one.
So, like someone else already pointed out, row4 was missing a “k2” at the very end.
Now here comes the hard part about casting on. So, when knitting flat, the +1 will give you a selvage of one knit stitch on both sides of the repeat.
When you are knitting in the round, you don’t need the second +1 because you only want 1 knit stitch between every little “star”. But, in round 4 you will create a pattern gap of 5 knit stitches around the start/end of your round if you would add a k1 at the very end of the repeat.
Or, you continue with the repeat INTO the next round. BUT then you would end up with a slight slant as they will not properly align.
So, essentially I’m saying….you can adapt it any way you like best 🙂
And there is no easy solution for this. Either,
Brilliant thanks 😊
Hi. I’m still newish to knit. I know the basics. I came across your video and for it to this site. What a game changer for me. I’ve never been able to Hold my yarn the way you show but thanks to you I can now. You’ve helped me tremendously. My question is can you do a video of the star stitch I’m trying to Create a baby blanket and I would love to use this beautiful stitch. I’m a little stuck trying to figure out how many stitches to cast on, because I would like it to resemble the coaster you created. I’m also having issues trying to figure out how to create the star stitch. When you pearl yarn over after the 1st decrease, gave where I’m struggling… I think I’m not carrying my yarn correctly. Any help would be wonderful
Hmm…I’ll keep it in mind for the future
Wow, after I thought I had learned a lot of techniques, here comes double moss stitch and star stitch, all that to say thanks for putting together such a wide range of stitch patterns and all the free patterns that you put here, it really helps me out, I love learning all the stuff, in fact, I’ve learned more knitting techniques in the past few months that I’ve known about this blog than the 1-2 years that I’ve knitted for, and now I can call myself an intermediate knitter thanks to this blog and this blog only.
A quick question about the results that I’m getting, so I follow the directions and all the stitch numbers work out, but I don’t see the diagonal ridges that I see in the pictures, any idea on what that may be?
probably because yours are somewhat offset? Hard to tell without a picture.
I figured it out, I had thought that the P1 at the beginning of the Row 2 repeat, wasn’t actually part of the repeat, so yes, the stitched were somewhat offset.
I would love to know how you knit the borders. I see they are garter but then there’s that chain just B4 the pattern begins. Can u give border stitches?
this is pure garter stitch …so *k3….k3* in every row