Photos – Page 7 – Cowtown Knits

Design Process Series, Installment Four – Math and Grading

September 2, 20132 Comments

That swatch that was knit way back in the second installment of the series is coming back to the fore again. Not only does it show you how your fabric will look and how the different elements will work together, it also contains two very valuable numbers. Those would be your stitch gauge and your row gauge, or how many stitches and rows, respectively, make up an inch of your blocked swatch. Most patterns will give the gauge per 4 inches (10 cm), and that is the best way to measure it for accuracy. But when determining the numbers for a pattern I always use a the per inch (2.5 cm) gauge.

Measure 4" [10 cm] lengthwise and count the number of rows in those 4" to get the row gauge. Measure 4" widthwise and count the number of stitches in the width to the the stitch gauge. Divide each of these values by 4 to get the number of rows/stitches per inch. — Measure 4″ [10 cm] lengthwise and count the number of rows in those 4″ to get the row gauge. Measure 4″ widthwise and count the number of stitches in the width to the the stitch gauge. Divide each of these values by 4 to get the number of rows/stitches per inch.

The next set of information needed are the measurements of the type of person or thing you are designing the piece for. If you’re just designing for one person or thing in particular, using their measurements is ideal. But, when writing a pattern for public consumption you are going to greatly increase your market if you include instructions for many different sizes. There are a number of different resources out there with this information but I tend to go with the Craft Yarn Council’s Standard Body Measurements/Sizing table. There is a wealth of information there for men’s, women’s and children’s standards.

Now that you’ve got your gauge and your standard sizes, it’s time to put that information together. Marnie Maclean has an incredible tutorial on how to use Excel to do all the calculations for your pattern. Excel is particularly helpful for the grading aspect of the calculations, or figuring out the numbers for all the sizes you are interested in.

I’d say that for me this is the most time-intensive part of the process, mostly because I don’t have a very streamlined spreadsheet yet. I maintain a template each for women’s, men’s and children’s sizes, and, in theory, I should just be able to plug in my gauge information and have it spit out the majority of my information. Unfortunately my templates aren’t really at that point yet, but I’m building on them all the time. Below is an example of my current template for women. I’d love some feedback on what I might be missing. Perhaps I’ll come back to this post down the road and show a much different (better) template, but for now this is what I’ve got.

Template for calculating values for women's garments. Adding the swatch values for row gauge and stitch gauge as well as the amount of desired ease will give values for the "Stitches and Rows" section. There are also extra worksheets for Charts, Spacing Formula, Yardage and Testing. — Template for calculating values for women’s garments. Adding the swatch values for row gauge and stitch gauge as well as the amount of desired ease will give values for the “Stitches and Rows” section. There are also extra worksheets for Charts, Spacing Formula, Yardage and Testing.

Thanks for reading Installment Four, stay tuned for Installment Five – Pattern Writing.

Testing Again

July 19, 2013Leave a comment

I’m looking for testers for my upcoming design, the Helen Pencil Skirt. Yep, this is the pattern from the Design Series. You can find the details in the Cowtownknitters thread on Ravelry.

Introducing The Eleanor Romper

July 18, 2013Leave a comment

After a long drought, I have finally released a new pattern, the Eleanor Romper! This was my first pattern through the Knit Picks Independent Designer Partnership program, and hopefully the first of many. I really enjoyed working with them, and their yarn.

The Eleanor Romper is a darling little one-piece outfit for babies. Worked with a seamless top-down raglan construction, the romper features a simple but elegant cable pattern running down the sleeves as well as the sides, all the way down to the ankles.

The design is suitable for boys or girls so it can be a gender-neutral baby gift or made more masculine or feminine with color and button choice. This is the kind of garment that will be cherished by parents and passed down through generations.

I would like to give a huge Thank You! to Ryan and Vanessa Barr for letting me photograph their adorable little girl!

Also, to Eleanor Dixon for another wonderful job with Technical Editing.

You can download the pattern, and even buy the yarn at the same time, at Knit Picks website.

Design Process Series, Installment Two – Yarn Selection and Swatch

July 14, 20131 Comment

Once I had an idea of how I wanted the skirt to look, I needed to move on to yarn selection. In my head I was picturing something with a bit of halo to it, maybe some mohair. Having never worked with it before I didn’t really know what was out there. As it turns out, mohair is usually mixed with something else like silk, and it’s also generally very fine weight, like lace or cobweb. I wanted something a little more substantial than that since otherwise I would have been knitting forever!

I headed to my favorite local yarn store, The Loop in Kensington. I was able to describe what I was hoping to achieve and within minutes the very knowledgeable Diana had it all figured out for me. I came out of there with two yarns: Schulana Kid-Seta, a 70% mohair, 30% silk 2-ply lace-weight yarn; and Berocco Ultra Alpaca Light, a 50% Alpaca, 50% Wool 3-ply sport-weight yarn. The two yarns held together provided just the right weight, strength and texture that I was looking for. I was able to find two coordinating colours that were just beautiful together.

The next step was to draw up a chart of the diamond pattern and then put together a swatch. I’ve learned in the last year or so of designing that “meaningful” swatches are of the utmost importance when designing. They are not only useful for determining your gauge but also trying out increases, decreases, edgings, etc. My swatch for this pattern included not just the diamond motif, but also the stockinette stitch hem that I was planning on incorporating. I was delighted with how this one turned out.

In the end, after submitting my idea to Knit Picks, I ended up with yarn support from them. I was able to find two yarns of theirs that had almost the same properties of those from my original swatch: Aloft Super Kid Mohair, a 75% Super kid mohair, 25% silk lace-weight yarn; and Andean Treasure, a 100% Baby alpaca sport weight yarn. Once received, I made another, smaller swatch in just the diamond pattern with the new yarn.

The two swatches matched stitch and row gauge exactly so I was a very happy camper. The two Knit Picks yarns have a little more contrast between the colours, which I actually like in the end. I find it makes the fabric have a tweed-ish look to it. And oooh, is it ever soft!

Stay tuned for the next post – The Submission Process (Yeah, I know, I said that last time, but I realized after the fact that I needed to talk about swatching first).

New Camera!

May 13, 2013Leave a comment

For better, and worse, I got a new camera. It’s better because my day-to-day pictures are going to be much better than the ones I used to take on my phone. It’s worse because I’m also going to try to do my own pattern photography now, which in no way will compare to that of my previous photographer. I’m going to take some classes and practice a lot, so hopefully it won’t be too long until it’s passable for “photography”.

The new camera is a Sony NEX 6, a Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens camera. I like it because it’s not as big and heavy as a DSLR, but it’s can still take great photos and I can change out the lens for others more suitable for the photography I need to do. I’m pretty excited, but also incredibly intimidated. Bear with me while I learn the ropes!

In the meantime, here is my first blog photo with the new camera.