In this blog post, we're getting to the heart of using stitch patterns or motifs in sweater design. This essential skill ensures your design looks attractive and works well across your entire range of sizes. Whether you’re an experienced designer or just starting out, grasping these three golden rules is essential for creating size-inclusive, beautiful sweaters.
Read MoreIn this beginner’s guide to pattern adjustments, I’m going to demystify the process of modifying knitting patterns so that it can become a simple, empowering tool you can use whenever a pattern is not quite right for you. You’ll learn the “why” and “how” of pattern adjustments, understand common mistakes to avoid and gain the confidence to adjust knitting patterns to make them truly yours.
Read MoreHow long have you spent trying to manually work out the increase or decrease rates for your knitting pattern? What if I told you that you could automate the whole process in a couple of minutes using a spreadsheet and four easy steps? As much as it sounds too good to be true, this is exactly what I am going to teach you. By the end of this blog post, you’ll have everything you need to start calculating your shaping rates easily and efficiently at the click of a mouse.
Read MoreAre you a knitter who's always loved working from knitting patterns but has been too daunted to try your hand at designing one yourself? You're not alone! Knitting pattern design can seem like a complicated and mysterious process, but I'd love to show you how easy it can be. In this blog post, I will take you through the five simple steps to designing your first hat pattern using a spreadsheet, even if you have never designed a knitting pattern.
Read MoreUsing short rows is a convenient way to raise the back neck of a sweater when shaping top-down necklines, however, this method of shaping top-down necklines is pretty limiting in terms of the neck shapes you can create. In this blog post, I’ll teach you how to use a method that is far more flexible and can create any neckline, no matter what shape or depth.
Read MoreSpreadsheets are one of the most efficient ways to calculate the numbers in your knitting pattern, as well as grade it into multiple sizes. However, they can be very intimidating if you don’t have much experience with them! In this blog post, I explain how to use four of the handiest functions that I use frequently in my pattern spreadsheets.
Read MoreShort row shaping is a brilliant way of discreetly adding 3D shaping to your knitting pattern designs, but it can be a bit of a brain teaser to figure out how to actually calculate it. In this blog post, I’m going to show you a simple way of calculating your short row shaping using a spreadsheet.
Read MoreGood knitting pattern design is all about the details; making thoughtful choices about the function and aesthetics of your design without automatically choosing the default. And today, I’m jumping right into the details with this ultimate guide to designing handknits with buttonholes.
Read MoreIf you’re like many knitting pattern designers, you likely feel a bit lost when it comes to drawing schematics. You know how you want your schematics to look, but getting that to translate into the drawing is difficult! In this blog post, I am sharing 7 tips and tricks that will simplify the process and give you better results when drawing knitting pattern schematics.
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