What Does STS Mean in Knitting?

As you begin your knitting journey you will come across many abbreviations as you are working patterns.

At first, every new abbreviation will leave you scratching your head and wondering what you are supposed to do, but this will go away with more experience.

One common abbreviation you will come across is STS. So what is STS? What does it mean in knitting? We’ll cover everything you need to know about it here.

In knitting, STS simply means stitches. You may also find it written as simply ST which means stitch. As you are working through patterns you might find instruction to “knit 2 sts per inch” or “knit 3 sts per inch”. This would just mean knit 2 stitches per inch or knit 3 stitches per inch.

You will also come across abbreviations for the various types of stitches. For example, SL ST means: slip stitch, and ST ST is the abbreviation for stockinette stitch.

Sts is a very common abbreviation but it should be very easy to understand once you know what it means.

Don’t get discouraged by all the different knitting abbreviations. With enough practice, learning them all will be second nature.