Welcome back again. This week’s post is going to be a little brief as I have been quite sick lately.

During the knitting of my prototype I start to type a rough draft of the pattern. This I send off to a test knitter, as well as use it to test the pattern myself. Using only these directions, I knit the pattern for a second time.

A test knitter for a complicated pattern is a must, at least for me. As the pattern writer, it is hard to follow the pattern exactly without making assumptions. A fresh pair of eyes and a different perspective help to point out errors and help to make the pattern language clearer.

I like to provide the test knitter with the yarn I am planning on using for my final pattern. This is nice for both the tester, as they don’t have to purchase or use their own yarn, and also for me, as I will get a good idea about yardage and compatibility with the pattern. Other designers have the tester provide their own yarn; really it’s whatever you and your tester agree upon. There is even a group on Ravelry dedicated to helping you find test knitters.

The document I prepare for testing is very basic. If I use charts, I try to have both the charts and the written instructions for the test knitter to compare for equality and accuracy.

There are several ways to create charts. I touched on one of these ways in the Q&A post last week. This free Java program is great for most all of your basic stitches. Other methods include using a knitting font in conjunction with a spreadsheet program, using vector image software such as Adobe Illustrator, and using software specifically for knitting design.

Personally, I enjoy using Adobe Illustrator. As I mentioned last week, this program is quite expensive, and I just happen to have it because it came bundled with other software I use for web design. I found this tutorial to be excellent. For me, the biggest advantage of using Illustrator is that the resulting images are vectors, meaning they can be re-sized while remaining clear and sharp.

I have played around with the knit font and a spreadsheet, but found it to be cumbersome and time consuming. I don’t have any experience with knitting design software, but would love to hear your opinions if you have used any.

Once I have my charts and written instructions sent off to my test knitter I start knitting my second sample and compiling the final document.

My first pattern was drafted entirely in Adobe Photoshop as separate images, converted into PDF’s, and merged into a single PDF using Adobe Reader. I found however that this merged PDF created problems for some knitters (Mac users were not able to view the merged file) as well as the document itself was rather large. I had to then release the pattern again with single pages.

I have since started using the free word processing tool included in Open Office. I like using this program better than even Microsoft Office because it gives me more flexible image placement, it allows me to save as a multi-page PDF, and its free. I still make images in Photoshop, but then import them into Open Office for the final layout.

Photoshop is not the only tool to use for images, again I just happen to use this tool for work. There are other great tools available. Two noteworthy (and free) ones being Paint.NET and Gimp.

With my first pattern, I tried to establish a layout theme so that all my patterns will all have a similar look and feel. I took some time to look at how other designer’s lay out their patterns. Some are in column format, others are more casual, some have distinctive design elements around important sections.

My theme contains blocks of color with silhouetted images of flowers or leaves. I also use the same font for all my patterns for uniformity. It is not necessary to develop a theme, but I think it’s nice if knitters can pick out your patterns with a glance. Here are some images I made for this shawl pattern:

Next week I will talk more about the final pattern formatting and publishing options. Again, sorry for the shortness this week. To make up for it, have a look at the shawl during it’s photo shoot.

Tags: design, Design Series

This entry was posted on Monday, April 12th, 2010 at 7:43 am and is filed under Design Series. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.