The Production of a Knitting Pattern – Part 3

This is a continuation on The Production of a Knitting Pattern — Part 1 and Part 2.

The next thing to do is grading and writing the pattern, one of the longest process. I break the process into the following steps:

1. Derive sample measurements
2. Grading: derive measurements for all the sizes based on the sample measurements and my sizing chart. You can use any standard sizing chart.
3. Convert measurements into stitch and row counts based on the gauge.
4. Round the numbers in step 3 so that numbers in the pattern turn out nicely.
5. Write the pattern and derive the shaping steps (e.g. dec x sts every y th row) from numbers in step 4.
6. Calculate schematic measurements.

It takes me at least 5 hours to do all the steps. Step 2 is the most time consuming step. So if I could recycle a design reusing results of Step 2, it would be a huge time saver. Well, it has not yet happened… Step 3 and 4 are relatively simple. Step 5 is another time consuming step but I find it more fun to do than Step 2. Using a spreadsheet program is compulsory here. It is much less error-prone than using a hand-held calculator.

The schematic measurements are best produced at this stage, when I still have fresh memory of how my spreadsheets are organized. I make the actual graphics after knitting the sample so that the graphics are to-scale.

As usual, I’m slow in writing blog post. By the time I have finished writing, I have finished knitting the sample. I knit all the samples myself for my self-published patterns. Sample knitting will be the next topic of this series.