CraftPatterns

Sunny polka dot alpha bracelet pattern

Round canary-yellow dots in offset rows on a winter-white ground, 13 knots wide; the 40-row chart is about 8 cm and needs only two colours.

Preview of the finished sunny polka dot alpha bracelet pattern
How it looks finished (rendered from the chart)
Pattern details
Size13 × 40 knots
Colours2 · DMC
Total knots520
DifficultyBeginner (1/5)
Finished size0.7 × 3.1 in (1.7 × 8 cm)
Strings13 base strings + 2 colours
LicenceCC BY-NC 4.0 — free for personal use with credit

Materials

ColourCodeNameKnotsShareAmount
3865Winter White38073%380 knots · ~5.6 m
972Canary Deep14027%140 knots · ~2.3 m

About this design

Polka dots never really go out of style, and in sunflower yellow they look cheerful without being loud. The dots are DMC 972 Canary Deep, a warm golden yellow, on 3865 Winter White, which is softer than a pure white and keeps the bracelet from looking stark. Each dot is a tiny rounded diamond four knots wide and three rows tall, and alternate rows of dots are shifted half a step so they sit in a staggered pattern, like the spots on a fabric print.

How to work it

Set up 13 base strings for the 13-knot width, one yellow and one winter white working string. This is a gentle chart for beginners: there are long stretches of plain background between dots, so you have time to settle into a rhythm. The places to concentrate are the dots that are cut by the edge of the bracelet in the offset rows. They are deliberate half-dots, so knot them exactly as charted rather than tidying them into full circles, or the stagger will drift. Each dot row plus its two plain rows makes a 5-row block, and two blocks make the 10-row repeat.

Length and finishing

At roughly 2 mm per row the chart is about 8 cm long. Knot it twice, 80 rows and about 16 cm, for an average wrist. White threads pick up grubby marks while you knot, so wash your hands before starting and keep the finished bracelet away from sun cream. Yellow ties look best against the winter white.

Colour chart for sunny polka dot alpha bracelet pattern with a bold line every 5
Colour chart preview. The PDF adds symbols, row and column numbers and the full key.

Colour plan

DMC 3865 Winter White does the most work, 73% of the 520 knots, followed by DMC 972 Canary Deep at 27%. Every colour is used at least 140 times, so there are no tiny one-off details to hunt for. Every square of the grid is filled.

Working notes

It is 40 knot rows of 13 knots; the busiest row changes colour 4 times. No square stands alone in its colour.

Anchor equivalents

The nearest Anchor colour for each DMC colour in this pattern, measured as ΔE 2000: up to 3 is very close, up to 6 close, up to 10 approximate.

DMCAnchor
3865 926 ΔE 1.9 · very close
972 298 ΔE 6.2 · approximate

Row by row

All 40 rows written out, row 1 at the top, where you start knotting
  • Row 1 (left to right, forward knots): 13 3865
  • Row 2 (right to left, backward knots): 3 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 2 3865
  • Row 3 (left to right, forward knots): 1 3865, 4 972, 2 3865, 4 972, 2 3865
  • Row 4 (right to left, backward knots): 3 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 2 3865
  • Row 5 (left to right, forward knots): 13 3865
  • Row 6 (right to left, backward knots): 13 3865
  • Row 7 (left to right, forward knots): 1 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972
  • Row 8 (right to left, backward knots): 3 972, 2 3865, 4 972, 2 3865, 2 972
  • Row 9 (left to right, forward knots): 1 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972
  • Row 10 (right to left, backward knots): 13 3865
  • Row 11 (left to right, forward knots): 13 3865
  • Row 12 (right to left, backward knots): 3 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 2 3865
  • Row 13 (left to right, forward knots): 1 3865, 4 972, 2 3865, 4 972, 2 3865
  • Row 14 (right to left, backward knots): 3 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 2 3865
  • Row 15 (left to right, forward knots): 13 3865
  • Row 16 (right to left, backward knots): 13 3865
  • Row 17 (left to right, forward knots): 1 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972
  • Row 18 (right to left, backward knots): 3 972, 2 3865, 4 972, 2 3865, 2 972
  • Row 19 (left to right, forward knots): 1 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972
  • Row 20 (right to left, backward knots): 13 3865
  • Row 21 (left to right, forward knots): 13 3865
  • Row 22 (right to left, backward knots): 3 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 2 3865
  • Row 23 (left to right, forward knots): 1 3865, 4 972, 2 3865, 4 972, 2 3865
  • Row 24 (right to left, backward knots): 3 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 2 3865
  • Row 25 (left to right, forward knots): 13 3865
  • Row 26 (right to left, backward knots): 13 3865
  • Row 27 (left to right, forward knots): 1 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972
  • Row 28 (right to left, backward knots): 3 972, 2 3865, 4 972, 2 3865, 2 972
  • Row 29 (left to right, forward knots): 1 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972
  • Row 30 (right to left, backward knots): 13 3865
  • Row 31 (left to right, forward knots): 13 3865
  • Row 32 (right to left, backward knots): 3 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 2 3865
  • Row 33 (left to right, forward knots): 1 3865, 4 972, 2 3865, 4 972, 2 3865
  • Row 34 (right to left, backward knots): 3 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 2 3865
  • Row 35 (left to right, forward knots): 13 3865
  • Row 36 (right to left, backward knots): 13 3865
  • Row 37 (left to right, forward knots): 1 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972
  • Row 38 (right to left, backward knots): 3 972, 2 3865, 4 972, 2 3865, 2 972
  • Row 39 (left to right, forward knots): 1 972, 4 3865, 2 972, 4 3865, 2 972
  • Row 40 (right to left, backward knots): 13 3865

This is an original CraftPatterns design, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0: stitch it, share it and gift what you make — please credit craftpatterns.app and don't sell the pattern itself. Want to change it? Open it in the alpha bracelet editor.

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