I have recently talked about how much tech has changed just since I started writing patterns for knit and crochet. Another area that has been affected is charts, knitting charts in particular.
When I started I was excited to be able to purchase software that would let me plug the stitches into a grid easily. It also populated the legend and how to work the stitches. It was great but unfortunately this particular company never updated the software. It was a one and done. Somethings were clunky and slow but hey it was better than using a spreadsheet.
Now there is a new charting software and it does all those great things the first one did and so much more!
One of the neat things this new software does is take your chart and turn it into written directions. This is great, mostly. I’m a bit torn and I’ll explain why in a moment.
First why charts, what’s the point? To save space in the pattern. Patterns until recent years were always printed, this saved paper and made it possible for longer patterns to be in magazines too. It is also a concise way to convey information. It is highly visual way to show knitting instructions. I know that there are crochet charts out there as well. I can read them, but I haven’t been able to find good software to build them. If you know of some please drop it in the comments. Also if there’s a chart you can probably still knit the piece even if the rest of the directions are not in your language.
I am torn with having the written directions for a few reasons. If the written directions are there then there is no reason to learn to read a chart. As a knitter knowing how to read a chart your world is opened up to patterns from other places. Lace, color work and cables will all go much faster. It is easier to keep up with where you are just marking rows and not following text. There is even an app for digital charts and it does some crazy things! It will help you read your knitting and spot mistakes faster too.
People want the written directions so that they don’t have to learn how to read a chart. Who cares how long the pattern is now, they’re digital anyway so it can be over a hundred pages if needed. I have one pattern that is. It’s for a crocheted dragon.
I have been working with charts a lot more in my designing as of late. The Feather and Fan Pi Shawl is charted but you only work from one chart at a time. The Luminous Ladybug Shawl is also charted. For most of the shawl you need to work from two different charts at the same time. That isn’t a big deal when you’re working from the charts. There is a sentence to explain exactly how to do it and you’re good to go. The problem came when I decided to have the written directions for this piece.
The work that is going to take. I did put in about two hours of charting, math and trial and error before I talked to a fellow knitter and got some perspective.
To get the written directions to be correct I had to make an entirely new chart. No big, except that chart is so large that it can’t be used for the charted directions. So I will have to have two different sets of charts to be able to have both charted and written directions for some of my designs. When that is the case, these designs will be put out in charted form only.
I’m not out to exclude anyone or gate keep. There are plenty of ways to learn to read knitting charts and gain a new skill.
I currently have a design that I am working on, maybe you’ve seen it, this purple lace bit. I still haven’t given it a name. It will have a crocheted counterpart I learned this week, so yay for that. Anyway I’m not sure it will have charted directions, only written. It is a very repetitive piece and the chart confuses me to make, let alone how to convey to you how read it correctly for the repeats involved. It is very intuitive and makes sense once you know what you’re doing. It is only a two stitch and four row repeat though so writing that out should be no problem.
I have one pattern, a sock pattern where I did do the work to have both the written and charted directions. I even did this one on the old software and had to write each of the rounds myself. I’m offering it to you guys for half off until the end of June 2023 so you can see the difference adding the written directions to a pattern makes. Use code HalfBasketSub
Azariahs Fibre Arts 