In the game of Mahjong, the “Four Joyous Tiles” determine the order of play. The player who draws the “East Wind” tile sits at the head of the table and plays first. “South Wind,” “West Wind,” and “North Wind” players take their places at the points of the compass and play proceeds clockwise around the table.

The designs for a set of four knitted coasters began with an idea to collect patterns for a Mahjong game night, suggested by a member of Ravelry’s Loom Knitters group. The “Wind” tiles, with their lovely Chinese characters, captivated me – my design attempts to express their beauty in knitting.

Although gauge is not critical, the finished dimensions of the coasters will depend on your stitch and row gauges. The 4 ¼” x 4 ¾” sample pictured was worked at a knitting gauge of 18 stitches and 30 rows in four inches.

For absorbency, choose natural fibers like cotton, linen, hemp, or wool. Check your colors to be sure of a good contrast (one way is to take a photo in “gray scale”).

The blue and white samples were needle-knitted in two colors of “I Love this Cotton!” yarn, on U.S. size 3 (3.25 mm) needles (see project notes for Mahjong - Four Joyous Tiles 四喜牌).

The green and yellow sample was loom-knitted on a KISS F0 50 Peg Dynamic Duo Double Knit (see project notes for Mahjong WEST WIND Tile).

For each tile, there are two double-knitting options and two pairs of charts.

• The first option, mirror-image double-knitting, produces an image in a dark color on a light background for the “front” side of the tile, and a mirror image in a light color on dark background for the “back” side.
• The second option, non-reversible double-knitting, lets you knit the image in a dark color on a light background on the “front” side while knitting a speckled “bird’s-eye” pattern for the “back” of the tile. A “plain” back is a little more like an actual Mahjong tile and is a little more challenging to knit!

The “Mahjong West Wind Double-knitting Coaster” pattern is a free pattern from the “Mahjong - Four Joyous Tiles” bundle. Updates will include more detailed knitting instructions.