Creative Knitting – Beyond Knit and Purl

I just ordered my yarn to make a Lavender and Black pair of the Double Knit Slippers.  But, when I was thinking about the color my thoughts went to an Iris, instead of a rose. Hummmmmmm…….?

Here we go again!    So this time I used my “table tool” in Publisher, 20 rows and 24 columns.  I clicked on each cell, then hit the line option button and selected,”hair line.”  Once I had all my cells outlined, I saved it as “blank for charts,” etc.”   Next, I took a picture of an Iris, enlarged it, put it in the “back layer” behind my grid, and started pointing and clicking the grey I had selected into the appropriate cells.  Here is the results.

Once done, I was inspired to do a few more.  Feel free to up load and use them as you like. I had great fun making them.

I will also upload them to my Free Charts and Patterns page so that you can access them later at your convenience.  All these charts were designed with the toe area in mind, although you could use them in the cuff or leg area as well.

Charts for DKS

Read Full Post »

Last night I finally finished charting a picture of the yellow rose I grew in my garden last year, and thought I might share the process with you.

Some of you probably already know how to do this, but for those of you who don’t, I’ll do my best to illustrate it.

If  you are viewing this site, I know you have a computer.  And, as most computers come with  software that allows you to draw simple shapes(I use Microsoft Publisher), then you have the means to make these simple charts.

Below is a picture of  a chart made for the gauge I knit when using sock yarn and a #1 needle.  There are 9 stitches, and 12 rows, to one square inch.  The chart is created by opening your art program and  selecting the “square” in the shapes. Draw your square.  While it is still “selected” go to the top task bar and click on the line thickness icon.  Select “hairline.”  Now you can copy and paste as many boxes together to represent the gauge of the project you are working on(I did 9 across and 12 down). Once you have the number of boxes neatly arranged, take the “select” tool pointer and draw a square around the entire group, then click “group.”  Now line that unit up with your side and top rulers to form a one inch square.  It should now look something like the picture below.  The camera angle on this makes it look oblong, but, trust me, it’s square.  You will also notice that your squares have turned into rectangles.

SAVE this unit in a separate file, maybe something like “my 9 by 12 knitting template.”  Now click on the unit and copy it.

Having copied the template  we will form the complete grid for our project in a NEW FILE.  Paste the template as many times as needed to form the size of grid desired.   When finished, group it, and SAVE IT.  Why? So that you will have a CLEAR grid to start again on a different picture-you won’t have to DO IT AGAIN.  Ask me how I know?  No, don’t.

Be sure to name it, with the d1mensions-such as “my sock chart -9 by 12,” etc.

Next, copy the chart that you have just SAVED.  You can paste in a another file or just add a page to the file you are using.  In any case, put it on a page by itself.  Now you can use the  “insert picture tool”  to import the picture you want to chart.  Enlarge it as you wish, then in the task bar at the top select “arrange.”  Click on  “back. ” This will place the picture behind the grid.

Once that is done, you can print the page, take it to your table and start filling in the squares as you like.

Here you can see some of my pencil marks.  Next I will take it back to my computer, click on the squares I have marked and click the color I want to fill them in with. I chose gray.

Here’s the finished product.  You will notice that I also added orange lines at  intervals.  I do this before I start filling the color, as it helps me keep track of where I am.  When I am pleased with the results, I SAVE it to my Knitting Chart Collection.

Have fun!

Have questions, contact me.

Knit -tweaker

PS.  Another alternative is to purchase a software program called Pattern Maker Pro(PM).  It is a cross stitch program but works well for my knitting projects.  The key is to “size” the fabric with the gauge you want to use.  When you set the stitch and row counts the chart grid changes to rectangles, thus what you see is what you get. Check it out.  I now have PM Professional.   I love it!

Read Full Post »