About

Maille à part collects free knitting patterns, in English and French, designed to be followed on screen: each pattern has a short description, then steps to tick off, readable charts and a row counter.

Where the patterns come from

Nothing here is copied from another website or a recent book. The content comes from two sources:

• Original patterns and stitches, written for this site from traditional stitches (ribbing, seed stitch, cables, honeycomb, diamonds…) that belong to everyone. They are published under CC BY-SA 4.0: you may share and adapt them with credit.
• Public domain vintage patterns, from 19th and early 20th century books digitised by Project Gutenberg. We modernised them (centimeters, current yarns and needles, clearer instructions) and every pattern lists what was changed.

Vintage books used

• Handbook of Wool Knitting and Crochet, Needlecraft Publishing Company (anonyme), 1918 - Project Gutenberg
• My Knitting Book, Miss Lambert, 1843 - Project Gutenberg

Checking

Every pattern is checked by a knitter. Until then, a banner says so. If you find a mistake, write to contact@nico7an.fr. The review page shows the progress.

Following a pattern

• Tick the steps as you go: the current step is highlighted.
• The counter at the bottom counts the rows of the current section. When the section has a chart, it shows which pattern row to knit next, with its written instructions.
• Knitting mode enlarges the text, hides the extras and keeps the screen on (in browsers that allow it).
• Pick your size: only your numbers stay on screen.
• Everything is saved on your device. No account, no ads, no tracking.

Irish "family patterns"

It is often said that each family on the Aran Islands had its own pattern, used to identify drowned fishermen. It is a lovely story, but it was born in the 20th century, largely to sell sweaters. Aran stitches are a shared heritage: anyone can knit them.