Archive for the ‘Software’ Category
An iPad app for hand knitters
Monday, January 23rd, 2012More cables and lace links
Friday, December 23rd, 2011Cables on multiple brand KMs including some reversible at knittsings. A technique that first appeared in Japanese knitting books that “cheats” in creating cables by knitting tuck stitches that are regularly rehung on the back of the work was embraced by Ricki Mundstock, who published copyrighted designs extensively for a while, and named the technique magic cables. Superba was another machine knitting brand that may be familiar. At the site there is a thorough discussion of hand transferred lace patterns on the machine with clear illustrations and suggestions that could be applicable on most brand KMs. For “ideas/inspiration” sometimes magazine such as at the Austermann site will provide an idea of how patterns may appear when scale changes to bulky or larger.
In terms of charting software for designing one’s own pattern charts some sites to explore: Aran paint, Stitchmastery, Sweater Project, Knit Visualizer, Intwined Pattern Studio, and 2 online chart generators: Chartgen, and Knitting Chart Maker by Jacquie, in addition to previously mentioned tutorials such as those by Marnie MacLean.
A wealth of information
Saturday, December 17th, 2011I have shared this site before. It is a treasure trove of generously shared information with excellent tutorials for DIY knit stitch, symbol, graphing, and charting design though not specifically a machine knitting resource. The author also publishes video tutorial on youtube uploaded by “sdamot”. She is a contributor to Twist Collective , Ravelry, in several issues of knitty online magazine, and her website for sale patterns may be found here.
Knitting software
Saturday, November 19th, 2011Recent googling revealed some possible new sources. For Mac and PC: intwined studio, knibird, for Windows: envisionknit, free for now savannahwinds. One more make it work with excel tutorial. Mac and PC compatible font .
Design software news
Thursday, September 8th, 2011DAK8 is in the works. See info. Visit this site for a leaflet pdf.
Lots of felt
Monday, August 8th, 2011Photos, information and many links on all things felt. Site is in spanish. Google chrome will translate pages as they load, I find it useful for that purpose.
Online stripe generator
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011Visualizing stripes .
So many ways to procrastinate!
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011Ronaldo Fraga is the designer of the bottle cap fashion in the previous post. In attempting to view his site in english or his blog directly from his personal site link I had no luck with anything in any language other than Portuguese. With the latest version of Flash, the Google Chrome translator and Mac OS however, success! For me this is proving to be an interesting way to view/ understand text in sites and blog postings from foreign countries.
Oh the math!
Saturday, June 18th, 2011There are many knitting programs that will perform the necessary calculations, as well as a variety of knit calculators. The diophantine formula is the basis for what is know to some knitters as the “magic formula”. In the early 1980s Alles Hutchinson authored a small book on the subject. There is a bit of personal leeway in the results, and the formula may be used in calculating even complex shapes with the proviso that one has the patience to break such shapes into series of simpler ones.
There are many online resources for information and calculators to sort out the math. Kathleen Kinder has written on the subject and has kindly made available some of her writings on the subject online as a word document . The eHow on use of a home calculator . PC formula calculator download . The UK knit and crochet guild shares their version on the topic . For online math including a triangle calculator .
Using the gauge to match the previous post of 4S and 6R per inch the calculation for the pie divided into five triangles breaks down into the web calculator result pictured below:
The longhand method for same calculation which follows and also translates to: bring into hold 2 stitches for 4 times, 1 stitch for 80 times. Stitches in shaping are proofed as above: 88 stitches shaped over 84 rows.
OY!
Sunday, June 12th, 2011Home repairs, new computer, family distractions: to quote John Lennon, ““Life is what happens to you while you‘re busy making other plans”. I hope to return to my ramblings and maybe even some actual knitting over the next week. A quick note of thanks for the many comments left by visitors in the interim.
I have often had mixed feelings about Vogue Knitting. They have a new web presence . Please note that, as explained by the publisher, you may encounter some issues when visiting. Choppiness may be due to gap between download and play speeds, may resolve itself or page may have to be refreshed. If the latest version of Adobe Flash player is not available or capable of being installed in your computer, the screen may be blank or absent. That said, this is a different way to view their knit offerings, entice new magazine subscriptions, or simply to find some inspiration and ideas.
For those with Mac OS X 10.5 or later, Intel only, Google Chrome is free and installs in minutes. It has a translation component that can help when you come across pages written in other than your spoken languages.
