. . Well, hello there.. . I couldn't stand it.. . We had two more minutes left on the Timer,. but I couldn't stand it.. . I had to start.. . We've got new toys,. new things going on here.. . Welcome, everybody.. Welcome, welcome, welcome.. . We really appreciate your being here.. Thank you.. . I think I have sound.. We have video.. . We have everything.. We actually have confetti.. . My confetti is back.. . I've missed it.. . Rhonda is here from Idaho.. . Darlene is here from Toronto.. . She says it's snowing lightly.. Oh, my gosh.. . I'm not going to complain. about being cold, Darlene.. . Edith from Germany, near Cologne.. Welcome, Edith.. . Joy from France.. . We got a lot of folks. And I'm not sure if Matthew got the map. . fixed or not, but we will look into that.. . Jenny from cold and damp, North Wales.. . Marie-jo from France.. . Wilma from the Netherlands.. . Wow, we've got people. from all over the place.. . Kim from Arizona.. . Nancy from New Hampshire.. . Some new names here.. . Again, if you are new, please let me know.. . I'd love to give you a special. shout-out and use the chat.. . Talk to me, please.. Appreciate it.. . Elaine from the Midwest, Nova Scotia, Pat,. . Matthew from Marblehead, Tina from Norway.. . Snowy Norway.. . Nicole from New York.. . Nicole, welcome.. . Tina, Christopher, Maryanne from Budapest.. . Oh, my gosh, we've got. people from all over here.. . Thank you again for being here.. . Let's get started.. . Today, we want to talk. about knitting patterns.. . I'm not really talking about where can you. get knitting patterns, but I want to talk. . about the format of knitting patterns.. . And I'm just double checking. that everything is straight here,. . the format of knitting patterns.. . Lots of different ways.. . Sadly, we don't have knitwear designers. designing patterns for us as. . machine knitters any longer.. . So we have to rely on other sources,. and we have to get creative. . and resourceful ourselves.. . The first choice we have. are vintage patterns.. . Got a lot of vintage patterns out there,. stuff from the ', the ' even,. . some of it from the ', vintage. You're going to see things like. . some of the Old Brother. magazines, for example.. . Great stuff in here.. . The designs may be somewhat dated,. but you can get a lot of inspiration. . from these old magazines.. . For example, baby things. don't change all that much.. . So maybe the colors and things may not be. what you want,. . but get a lot of inspiration. from some of these old magazines.. . But pros and cons for the old magazines.. . Vintage patterns have limited sizes.. . So a lot of, especially the Japanese. magazines, have these. . teeny tiny little sizes.. . And I don't know about you,. but it's been a while since I've. . been teeny tiny little anything.. . So it makes it a challenge to use some. of these patterns because. . they're smaller sizes.. . We're larger than we were,. and we wear things a little bit different.. . We don't wear things as. fitted as we once did.. . Most of the vintage. patterns are in one gage.. . So basically what they said was,. buy my yarn, get my gage,. . and knit this thing, right?. . Didn't give you many options for changing. any sizes or making any adjustments.. . Didn't give you any options. for choosing a different yarn.. . Maybe you didn't like. the yarn that they chose.. . Well, chances are the yarn that they chose. in these vintage magazines. . doesn't even exist anymore.. . So what did that mean?. . You have to swatch and swatch and swatch. and swatch and swatch You can match. . their gage and follow their instructions.. . And I don't know about you,. but that's not something that I enjoy. . doing or have any plans to do is to make. multiple swatches to match. . somebody else's gage.. . I want a pattern that is knit at my gage.. . I want a pattern where my swatch. feels the way I want it to feel.. . And it may not be what the designer. originally had or the person that created. . this yarn originally wanted, but this. is what I like, and I want to use that.. . These old vintage patterns also. had a lot of abbreviations.. . You think about these old patterns were. written on a typewriter, with whiteout,. . and they did everything they could. to keep the typing to the minimum.. . They also tried to fit. these patterns into newspaper columns,. . so they would squeeze the instructions. and abbreviate everything as much as they. . could to make the pattern fit. on the page that they were publishing.. . And publishing was more expensive than you. were publishing,. . you were printing to paper,. and they wanted to keep a pattern. . on a page or a quarter page or whatever.. . So you got all these crazy,. crazy abbreviations.. . So if you run into these abbreviations,. I hope you to remember that Knitted Now. . has created a glossary.. We have our glossary.. . Let me get there.. I'll show you.. . If we go to learn and Glossary,. . we're up to .. . Just added one yesterday, terms.. . A lot of these terms, this whole. thing started out as abbreviations.. . One of my favorite. abbreviations is C-O-B-H.. . First time I ran across that and was like,. what the heck are they talking about. . C-O-B-H stands for cast on by hand.. . Okay, well, we don't. have to do that anymore.. . We're not using a typewriter anymore.. . We can type out cast on by hand. or E-wrap cast on if we want to.. . So some of these old patterns. can get really confusing.. . Use the glossary to translate if you. choose to use some of these old patterns.. . Again, a lot of these patterns are dated. in their style, and they. . use the vintage yarns.. . So there's pluses and minuses to using. vintage patterns,. . magazines from individual designers,. whatever, some of the old ones.. . So think about that.. That is an option.. . Another option is to use these vintage. patterns and discover. . what shape that design is.. . So if you see something in the vintage. pattern that you like,. . and let's take a look at this one.. . So this one is just a drop. shoulder sweater, round neck.. . Nothing special, nothing fancy about. it other than the stitch pattern.. . So go to Knit It Now.. . Find a drop shoulder,. round neck that will fit you and use. . a Knit It pattern and substitute. that stitch pattern for it.. . So use the designers' ideas and use. a Knit It Now pattern or some. . other method that you would like.. . And let's talk about some other methods.. . Okay, we've got some comments here.. Oh, my gosh.. . We've got Marthie from South Africa,. Joette from Pittsburgh.. . If I've missed you, forgive me.. . Edith from Norway, Deborah from. Christmas City, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.. . Just in time for the holidays.. . Karen from Germany,. Silvana from Michigan, Marie-Jo.. . Oh, did you get your sound?. I hope so.. . You're good?. . Sue M says, As an advanced hand knitter,. I find the adventure of creating. . on the machine so fascinating.. . I'm hoping to get a second new machine.. . I dip my toe in with the SKSR. and love the manual manipulation.. . Well, welcome, Sue, and welcome. to the world of machine knittings.. . Most of us have more than one machine.. . You can see I've got three of them here,. and there's one over there on the floor,. . and I got a whole. warehouse full of machines.. . You start out with, I really want to do. this, and then like, You know what?. . It'd really be cool if I could do that.. . So you're in a really good company.. . Paulina is from Surrey.. Welcome.. . Marie-jo is back.. Good.. . She's got her sound.. That's terrific.. . All right, so let's go. back to hand netting.. . The next option are. hand knitting patterns.. . So you get the traditional patterns,. but we've got a lot of fabulous, very,. . very creative designers creating. patterns today for hand knitting.. . Sadly, many of them don't have a clue. about machine knitting, and none of them,. . that I know a very few of them put it that. way, write patterns for machine knitting.. . So one of the negatives about a hand. knitting patterns, again,. . you've got some limited sizes.. . They may publish a size for teens or. publish a size for misses and you're not. . a misses, or they may publish a plus size,. and you don't need the plus size.. . So you're a little bit limited with using. hand knitting patterns,. . but you've got some really great designs.. . Also, hand knitting patterns are. also written for just a single gage.. . Buy my yarn, buy row and yarn, buy lang. yarn, buy XYZ yarn, and get my gage.. . So swatch, swatch, swatch, swatch,. swatch on your machine until you can match. . the gage of that pattern,. and then you can follow the pattern. . line by line to a point.. . Many of, again, hand knitting patterns. have abbreviations, more abbreviations.. . What does knit Through the Back Loop mean?. . Knit in front and back.. . How about that one in hand knitting?. . That doesn't mean anything. for machine knitters.. . So again, there's some more. translation to do with hand knitting.. . Hand knitting patterns will also.... . One of the biggest differences within. hand knitting patterns is length.. . They'll tell you to cast. on for your sleeve, right?. . And then they'll say, Do this, do this,. do this, do this, do this,. . until the sleeve measures inches.. . Well, what does that mean to us?. inches?. . We can't measure inches on our machine,. so we need to do some math. . in order to translate.. . We're doing a lot of translating. with hand knitting patterns.. . We're going to translate inches to rows. so that we know exactly. . how many rows to knit.. . Again, abbreviations, many, many hand. Knitting patterns are knit in the round.. . I don't know what it is.. . Hand knitters, for some reason,. like to knit in the round.. . They don't want to do. seams for some reason.. . This one's beyond me.. I've never understood that.. . I won't get on my soapbox about that one.. . Also, hand knitters like. to knit from top down.. . And again, this doesn't make any sense. to me, maybe because I've been doing this. . so long that knitting. from bottom up makes more sense.. . But top down, what is it?. . They don't want to swatch.. . They don't know what their gage is,. so they want to try things on as they're. . knitting them so that they can. change the gage as they're.... . I don't know.. . Let's not even go there.. . But that's another negative. with hand knitting patterns.. . You have to look out for.. Is it knitting around?. . Is it knit top down?. . You're going to have. to do more translating.. . The other issue with hand knitting. patterns is quite often the stitch. . patterns incorporate a lot. of pearl stitches, garter stitch.. . So I found this fabulous blanket.. I've been into blankets lately.. . Fabulous blanket,. and it was all garter stitch.. . And yeah, I could knit that on the machine. in stockinette, but really the beauty. . of that pattern was the texture. that garter stitch would give.. . So I could do it with tuck.. . Yeah, I suppose.. . But something else to look at when you're. looking at hand knitting patterns,. . what is the stitch pattern?. . If it's a beautiful,. beautiful lace pattern and you say, Okay,. . I can hand manipulate some lace,. but are there garter stitches there?. . So are you willing to hand manipulate lace. and do all the garter stitch that's. . incorporated in that lace pattern?. Yeah, maybe not.. . So if you're using hand knitting patterns,. there are lots of tricks.. . We can do it.. I really recommend it.. . Again, with hand knitting patterns,. find the shape and then pick a Knit It Now. . pattern that looks like the one. that you're looking at, and then. . incorporate the designers' ideas.. . So the designer puts an amazing. stitch pattern across the yoke a sweater.. . So take a Knit It Now sweater with set. in sleeves, whatever the shape is that you. . like, and incorporate that designer. element in your pattern. . and make it your own.. Get creative.. . Knitting, Handknitting patterns. on the Knitting Machine.. . We do have an entire course on that.. . I believe it's called The Big Hug.. . I'll put a link to it in the show notes,. and it talks a little bit about,. . talks a lot about how to translate where. to start art as far as, okay,. . I've got this this thing from whatever. that I printed off the Internet.. . How can I take this hand knit. pattern and knit it on my machine?. . So I'll put that in the show notes.. . You can take a look at that course.. . It goes step by step through translating a. hand knitting pattern to machine knitting.. . Hand knit in the.... . Hand knitters like knitting in the round,. especially for fair-eil,. . because they hate to perl in fair-eil.. . Marjorie, good point.. . Their gage often changes. in perl on top of it.. . It's a very good point.. Very good point.. . I hadn't considered that one.. . Hand knitters hate to Pearl,. which is another thing.. . It's like, I don't get it, but whatever.. Whatever works.. . Annie says, We don't have to Pearl.. . Doris says, Hi from Ireland.. . Cynthia, you made it.. Welcome.. . And Sherry, you made it.. . All righty.. . Joy says, I'm into machine knitting. raglins top down at the moment.. . Joining the sleeves,. knitting the sleeves first. . and joining the raglin' seams as I go.. Joy, thank you.. . That's a really good suggestion.. . There we do have an entire,. and I think we've called it a course.. . Again, I'll put a link. to the show notes in that.. . Let me make myself a note.. . We do have a course about knitting ragland. . sweaters from the top down on the machine.. . And it's really fun because you start. with a neck band And. . then you pick up those stitches and you. knit the four pieces down from there.. . The only seams you end up with are under. the arm and down the side of the garment.. . So let me top down.. . And what was the other thing. I was going to talk about?. . Whatever.. Okay, hand knit to machine knit.. . I'll put that in the show notes.. . So if you come back where you are. right now to this page, knititnow.. . Com/live, the replay will be here. in a couple of hours. . and along with these notes.. . Tina says, We can knit from the top down.. . I lost it here.. . On the machine, too,. I struggle most with knitting in the round. . to identify the place to increase,. decrease, et cetera.. . It's easier to reform the pattern from. pieces to the round than the other way.. . So I agree.. . Yes, if you have a ribber,. you can knit in the round.. . Actually, I have a whole video about. knitting sleeves in the round,. . which is fun.. . If you think about knitting sleeves. in the round, eliminating that seam.. . But as Tina says, you have to figure out. where you're going to,. . if you're going to shape that sleeve,. where you're going to put the increases. . as you're knitting in the round.. . So I will put a link to that video, too.. Sleeve in the round.. . A lot of things you can do with knitting. in the round on the knitting machine,. . except for patterning.. . Remember, stitch patterning. only happens on the main bed.. . So if you want a beautiful ferrile pattern. in the round, you can do it on the main. . bed, but then you're going to hand. manipulate that ferrile pattern. . on the ribber because our machines do not. automatically select. . needles on the ribber.. . So that's just another limitation there.. . Joyce says, I do the neckbands. last on her top downs.. . Okay, so that's a whole other way.. I mean, there's just.... . Machine knitters are so clever,. and we're so resourceful to be able. . to do the things that we want to do.. . We come up with great ideas.. . So the next choice you have as far as. . knitting machine patterns is something. . that hand knitters probably. wouldn't even understand.. . It's using a charting device.. . A charting device is a visual way.. . They were called Knit Leader,. Knit Radar, Knit Contour.. . They had a lot of different names.. . Some of them were separate devices.. . Some of them were built. right into the machine.. . And they're a visual way of shaping,. of following a knitting. . pattern without numbers.. . So if you're an anti-number person like I. am, you might want to consider. . something like this.. . This is a KR,. and it's just a mylar sheet where. . I've drawn a shape and you can see.. . I don't know if you can see the lines.. . I'm not sure if you can see the lines,. but you would follow the lines.. . You would put a scale on the device,. . and that scale would tell you exactly what. . stitch numbers, what needle numbers. you would use to do your shaping.. . So if you were working your shaping. on left ,. . left , left , , , , ,. . to make a diagonal shape,. . the little scale would tell you. exactly where to do those decreases.. . So charting devices are. amazing, amazing devices.. . I wish they still made them.. . Unfortunately, they don't.. . And that's one of the bad. things about a charting device.. . It is an extra cost and. they're hard to come by.. . So if you have one,. I really suggest you try it because using. . a charting device is a really cool way. of knitting unusual shapes as well.. . So let's say you wanted to knit. a heart shape, for example.. . That would be really,. really hard to chart mathematically.. . You would need some software or something,. or have to just draw. . it out on graph paper.. . But using a charting device,. you could shape a heart shape,. . for example, using the charting device.. . Again, And it is an additional device.. . It is an additional cost.. . They're hard to come by,. and there is a learning curve.. . So pros and cons?. . Yeah, charting devices are great.. They're wonderful.. . If you have one, and you. can learn how to use it.. . Cynthia says, Charting device looks like. it would be harder for me to follow. . compared to Knit It Now patterns.. . It's just how you think.. . And like I said, I really I like. them because there are no numbers.. . There's no instructions like, Decrease. one stitch every other row times.. . Sometimes my brain just doesn't. compute that, or I get distracted. . And I do it only times, whatever.. . So a charting device keeps you on track.. . So Tina reminds us that for the Brother. machines, they're full size.. . These charting devices were quarter size.. . This one is quarter size, half size.. . And the Brother machines had. a full size charting device.. . So it's this big thing that fit. on the back of your machine,. . and you could trace a sewing pattern.. . So you're a seamstress, you sew,. you make yourself tank tops,. . for example, out of knit fabric.. . You could just take your tank top pattern. and trace it onto your knit leader. . material without the seam, of course,. and just be on the sewing lines,. . and then you could just follow. that and you would have your knitting be. . the exact same size as if you had taken. a piece of fabric and cut it. . out with a pair of scissors.. . So charting devices are very, very useful.. . Silvana. says, I have one of those old knit. . leaders, and it always intimidated me,. so I haven't used it yet.. . Silvana, let me know which one it is,. and maybe I can help.. . I think I've got samples of most of them.. . The biggest thing is setting it up. and understanding how these little scales,. . stitch scales work.. . Choose the stitch scale,. and there's some buttons and things. . that you have to check here and change.. . And so there's a learning curve to these.. . But once you get it,. light bulb comes on, man, you're good.. . You're golden.. . Pauline says, Try it.. . You'll be happily surprised.. . Can charting devices be used. with the Brother or ?. . No, the full-size charting device,. and I actually have one,. . and I've tried it a number of times.. . It just doesn't fit.. . I don't know about the ,. but it does not fit on the .. . It fits in some slots on the machine.. . I suppose you could Jerry-rig something,. but I'm not really sure.. . It's designed to fit in the slots. on the machine, and the . doesn't have those slots.. . Cynthia says, I love when. the light bulb goes on.. . All All righty.. . All righty.. Okay, so let's move on here.. . So charting devices are another. way of getting knitting patterns.. . Big elephant in the room here is software.. . These days, we have access. to lots of software.. . These computers do everything for us.. . I've been talking to AI myself.. . I don't even type with AI anymore.. . I talk to AI and he answers my questions.. . It's just amazing.. . But without going there, and actually,. AI will write knitting patterns for you,. . too, just as a hint, but I won't go there.. . Software.. . The most common software that machine. knitters use is design a net.. . Scarmant Designer is also very popular.. . There's what I think. there was Sweater Wizard.. . There are a number of different packages. out there and online software. . charting programs.. . Let the machine I'll do the math for you.. . I think charting, hand charting.... . Did I miss hand charting?. . I guess that was next.. . Charting is a skill that everybody should. have, no matter whether you're a crocheter. . or a knitter or a hand knitter or. a machine knitter,. . you should know a little bit about. charting, but software. . takes the tedium out of it.. . So you're going to.... . There's a lot of math involved. in charting your own patterns.. . I was thinking about this earlier.. . I don't know if you guys remember remember. this, but years ago when you had a yarn. . store, and this was my very first sweater. pattern came from a yarn store,. . the owner of the yarn store or somebody. who worked in the yarn store. . knew how to chart patterns.. . And you would go in and you would say,. I want a pullover sweater. . with a round neck, set in sleeves.. . I want it long sleeves, I want it this. length, and I want pockets on the front.. . And that person would then say,. Okay, here, and I want this yarn.. . Here's the yarn.. . They would gather up all the yarn for you.. . They would They would hand you the yarn,. and a couple of days later,. . they would hand you a piece of paper. that had your pattern on it.. . They would literally manually. calculate out how to knit that pattern.. . A lot of problems with that?. Errors.. . Errors are number one.. . Software does away with that.. . Let the machine tell you how much at your. gage, how wide inches,. . how many stitches you need. to cast on for inches.. . So software is a great. option for getting patterns.. . You can get custom sizing.. . I have very narrow shoulders that don't. match the rest of me,. . so I always have to make my shoulders. narrower on all my patterns.. . Software does that very easily for me.. . You can do any custom. sizing that you like.. . You can knit at any gage with software.. . Software, again,. will take into consideration what. . that gage is that you knit in your swatch,. and it will chart the thing out for you. . without you even picking up. a calculator or a pencil.. . Problem with software is. there's a learning curve.. . Designinit has, I have to be honest,. Designinit has a huge learning curve.. . It's such a learning curve that I created. a whole website to help people. . learn how to use Designinit.. . It's called learndesigninit.. . Com if you're not familiar with it.. . Not impossible, not hard, but you do. . have to learn how to use the software.. . And there is a cost, yet another cost.. . People complain that machine. knitting is expensive.. . Well, most hobbies are expensive,. let's be honest here.. . But the cost of software and the learning. costs of software may be something. . that you're not interested in investing.. . Speaking of software and charting devices,. I always tell a little story about how. . years ago I attended a live workshop.. Do you remember those?. . Live workshop where people got together?. . Anyways, the focus of that live workshop. were charting devices,. . and the instructor was determined. to get us to use our charting devices.. . Well, as arrogant as I am,. and I was then and probably still am now,. . I wasn't going to use a charting device.. . I was going to use design in it.. . So I packed up my machine. that had a charting device in it.. . Singer , I think is the one that I. took, took it with me, took my computer. . with me with design in it on it as well.. . About an hour into the workshop,. a lot of the knitters were knitting.. . They had drawn out their design on their. charting device, and they were knitting.. . Well, guess what?. . I was still sitting there. playing with software.. . Wasn't the software's fault?. . It was the fact that I didn't. understand the software.. . I wasn't familiar enough with it. to do what I wanted to do with it.. . So needless to say, I threw in the towel,. I picked up a sheet, drew out my design,. . and I was knitting probably. an hour and a half later after.. . Before everybody else started.. . I hate to admit that, but it's the truth.. . So some things work for you,. and it's a matter of attitude.. . It's a matter of just. trying it and get familiar. . with the tools that you have available.. . So software is fabulous,. and I'm a total software nerd.. . And if you ever want to talk about this,. whether this software will work for you,. . which one, design in it, garment designer. or something else, please let me know.. . I love to talk about it with you and help. you make a decision about how software. . could help you create. patterns of your own.. . Create that vintage pattern.. . Grab this vintage book and find something. in this vintage book and then. . recreate it using software.. . Tina says, If you're using sewing. patterns, patterns for jersey or stretch. . material are easier to build. than normal sewing patterns.. . Sewing patterns that are made for. fabric that isn't stretchy, woven fabric,. . I guess, is what I wanted to say.. . Some of them are useful. for the knitting devices.. . Karen says, Somehow I collected about. three of these separate devices. . for Brother and never used it.. . Anyone around German. anybody who needs one?. . I've been told that charting. devices are amazing for intarsia.. . Free-hand draw on your art onto. the garment piece and then follow it.. . Elaine, that's another use. for the charting devices,. . and I hadn't considered that.. . I had forgotten about that.. . But yeah, think about that.. . If this is my sweater and I've got a V-net. going here and I want to put a heart right. . over here in the yoke of this,. right near the arm hole of this sweater,. . I could literally draw the heart. shape on this piece of paper,. . and then my little. scale here will tell me which needles. . to pull in order to work the intarsia.. Great suggestion.. . I've forgotten that.. Thank you.. . Sue said, I would love a machine to use. my extensive, lightweight yarn stash. . and use software to combine. the machine with my charting.. . I'm geeky and love the math and editing.. . Even if you use software,. you're still going to need some math,. . and you're going to need to double check. the software, and you're going to.... . You'll still be using some math.. . And if somebody like me doesn't. like math, can machine knit.. . Anybody can machine knit using. any of these options for patterns.. . You aren't limited to knitting, making. your own patterns with software otherwise.. . Pauline wants a course on learning to. chart patterns, certainly we can do that.. . Pauline, get in touch with me after.. . If you would, just send me a reminder. and tell me what it was you had in mind,. . what style or design or whatever. you would like me to start with.. . We'd like to keep it somewhat simple.. . Early, early, early, early on,. probably in , I do have some charting,. . some Charting videos.. . I can put those in the show notes. about charting.. . Absolutely.. . I think it's called. Pencil and Paper Charting.. . It was a whole series.. . So I will put that in. the show notes for you.. . But get in touch with me, Pauline.. . We'll be happy to do something.. . Does anyone use knitCompanies. in with their machine to follow charts,. . or are most people using. computerized machines?. . I'm not familiar with KnitCompanion,. and no, most people are not. . using computerized machines.. . Some of them are, but there's a lot of us. out here who use punch card machines. . or or even the manual machines,. not just computerized.. . Marie-jo says, Unfortunately, these. softwares aren't compatible with Linux.. . No, most of them are.... . Well, design in it is Windows only,. and Cotianil's garment designer is both. . Mac and Windows,. but I don't know about Linux.. . Kim would love to see. . a live about designing it.. . Okay, Kim, remind me.. . Let me put that on my list.. . Let me get my blue pencil here, a deck.. . We can do that.. . Would you like me to do a comparison. between designing it or. . just designing it in itself?. We can do that.. . Nicole says, For the holidays,. I'd like to give myself design in it,. . but I have no experience with it,. and it's all over my head.. . Go to learndesigninit.. Com.. . Learndesigninit.. Com.. . And there is a free course there,. and it's a getting started course.. . And what it does is it gives you. an overview of the five. . modules of Designinit.. . Designinit will allow you to chart. sweater patterns using their library.. . It'll allow you to edit those sweater. patterns or start with a blank piece. . of paper and design your. own sweater patterns.. . It'll allow you to create stitch. patterns or modify stitch patterns.. . It'll allow you to copy stitch. patterns from a book like this.. . If you found a book like this and you find. stitch patterns in it, you can use design. . in it to translate those stitch patterns.. . And what's the last thing that it can do?. . Oh, interactive knitting.. . It's got an electronic. built-in charting device.. . So it's the same concept as those. mechanical charting devices,. . but it's on screen and you just follow. the line and you don't have to think about. . decrease one stitch. every two rows times.. . You just follow the lines.. . Linux.. . How do the charting devices. take into account the gage?. . You make an adjustment. on the device itself.. . On this one, it would be these buttons.. . You would tell it using these buttons what. your gage is,. . and And it knows somehow magically,. . it knows as you're knitting, the sheet. . advances through the device.. . And I don't have the right stitch scale. here, but we have a stitch scale here.. . So you're looking at the stitch scale. that's got the stitch counts,. . the needle numbers, for example.. . So this might be saying I'm going. to decrease a needle number left to .. . After I knit over and back,. the little piece of paper is going. . to advance,. and then it's going to be left number ,. . for example, something like that.. . So this is going to advance, and the. advancing is controlled by your gage.. . So it tells you you choose your gage. by your stitch scale,. . and your stitch gage by your stitch scale,. and your row gage by the device itself.. . It's magic.. . It's absolute magic how this little. machine, that silly little machine. . that on a D battery, or I think it's. a D battery, an old-fashioned D battery,. . knows what to do based. on your stitch and row gage.. . They're really fascinating devices.. . Karen says, On Linux,. you can emulate a Windows environment,. . install design in it,. but it's not easy to do.. . I have to tell you that I do know knitters. who have purchased an inexpensive. . laptop that you can.... . Now, these days,. you can get laptops pretty cheap,. . a Windows laptop, and just install,. and then that is your. . design in it computer,. and you keep it by your machine,. . and that's all you use it for.. . You don't go out on the web with it. at all, and just use that for Windows.. . And then you can use your Mac for all. the other fun stuff that you do.. . Chromebook, that's true.. . I do not believe a Chromebook will use.... . Any of the software can. be used on a Chromebook.. . So use NetItNow patterns.. . We're going to do that.. . It's learndesigninit.. . Com, and actually learndack.. . Com works as well.. . Cynthia, now, what was. that machine called, Sue?. . I'm not sure which machine. you're talking about.. . It's That gave us the link. to learndesigninit.. . Com.. . Okay, so there's a lot. of interest in software.. . We can talk about software more.. . Again, I'm a software nerd.. . Problem with software is you do have to,. number one, buy it, number two,. . install it, number three, maintain it,. number four, learn it,. . and learn any changes that they make.. . So you have to really be dedicated. to your machine knitting.. . I found early, early on,. one of the reasons that Knit It Now is. . called Knit It Now is Matt and I were. burning the midnight oil one time.. . And forgive me if I've. told this story before.. . We were just building something.. . We're doing something. in the middle of the night.. . And he said, Okay, this is really cool.. . So what we're building here,. but what are we going to call this thing?. . And we went down like,. one, two, three, knitting.. . What are we going to call this thing?. . And I finally just said to him,. I am so tired of messing around. . with software, charting devices, manual. calculations,. . and having my calculator out.. . All I want to do is sit down. on my machine and knit it now.. . And that's how Net It Now got started.. . So just a little piece. of Trivia there for you.. . The beige one I just held up,. this is called a KR.. . It's a Silver Reed.. . It was a Silver Reed.. Kr-.. . I think they had a KR-, maybe 9,. , and , if you can get them.. . There are a couple of hundred dollars now,. and getting the mylars for them, I think,. . is getting to be a little bit tricky.. . But you can use these with your LK,. . as a matter of fact.. . Yeah, it's KR, KR, KR9.. . Okay, so we got hung up a little bit. on software here,. . but software is of interest.. . We can talk more about software,. and I'll put some of the things we talked. . about in the show notes as well,. so you can refer back to them.. . I touched on this a little bit.. . The last way here that I want to talk. about is creating your own patterns.. . And we can.... . I actually can put together a little. course Everybody needs to know. . a little bit about charting.. . Nothing hurts my feelings more than if I. sit down with a hand knitting pattern,. . and I did test knitting for years,. hand test knitting,. . and I would get a brand new pattern. from a designer, and I would. . go to cast on,. and I would look at the cast on count,. . and the cast on would be incorrect.. . Get out my calculator,. it's like, Oh, my gosh.. . She said that that body is going to be . inches across, but she's only. . telling me to cast on stitches.. . This doesn't make any sense.. . I'd get my calculator. out and it was wrong.. . So in there, I created,. I prevented a lot of disasters just. . by knowing in my head that I needed. to take inches, time my gage. . to find out what my stitch count was.. . Now, that sounds really basic,. but as you're going in your knitting. . sweaters or you want to alter a sleeve. length, for example, you really. . should know more about how to chart.. . You can use Knit It Now tools.. Let me go there.. . We try and make it easier for you.. . Go to Pattyrn, Charting Tools,. and I haven't counted I've. . wanted them lately, Matt.. Do you know how many there are here?. . There's a lot, anyways.. . Let's say you want to just. put darts in a garment.. . So it'd be a little bit of math here. to figure out what the darts were,. . but why bother?. Just use one of our tools.. . Let's say we want to do a. half-inch deep bust art.. . My stitch gage is and .. . I'm going to set my row counter to zero,. zero, zero, and it's going to give me. . my instructions of place six needles. and hold every other row twice.. . So your instructions would be right here.. . You don't have to get your calculator out.. . You don't have to get your pencil out.. . You don't have to do anything.. . If we go back to patterns,. let's say we want to.... . Maybe even if this is one of There. are more complicated ones.. . You want to put a hood on your garment.. . We give you a number of hood styles.. . You enter your gage,. you enter your neck depth,. . how big your neck. opening is on your sweater,. . how deep you want your hood, and it'll. calculate your hood's pattern for you.. . So you can chart your own.. . You can use some of our. tools here to help you.. . And every knitter should. . know how to do some charting,. . just some basic charting, if nothing else,. to check a pattern and make. . sure that it's right.. . Sue says, As I'm a large person,. I always have to do math to edit.. . It's a gift to learn no. matter how we are knitting.. . Absolutely.. It's a gift to know what charting is.. . I'm not saying you have to do anything. from start to finish,. . but just to understand the basics.. . What if you want to make. a sloped shoulder?. . And what do you want to do?. . You just want to lower. that shoulder a little bit.. . Come to the Knit It Now. tools, and we do have a slope tool. . that will help you with that math.. . So you might. short row five stitches every other row. . three times and get yourself a nice slope. on your shoulder, which will really. . improve the fit of your sweater.. . And it doesn't have to change. anything else on your pattern.. . Just that.. . Tina says, If you're interested. in Designinit, thank you, Tina.. . It's a huge learning curve.. . And you find some videos over on the web,. but the best tip after learning. . A Little Trial and error is. to purchase a learndesigninit.. . Com course.. . Thank you.. Got her along.. . And that's what they're there for.. . And if you have any questions, there's.... . Designinit is huge.. Learndesigninit.. . Com is huge.. . There is so much to cover.. . If you're worried, wonder about where to. start, please contact me and let me know.. . Tell me what it is you want to do.. . My only advice on learning design in it or. any software or machine knitting is to. . stay focused on what it is you want to do.. . Designing it will allow. you to do the world, right?. . You can start with this blank piece. of paper and design it and design a.... . Somebody wanted to design a cape,. like a hooded cape, like you might. . see in Game of Thrones, right?. . She wanted to knit one of those.. . Like, no problem.. You can do that.. . But should she start. from a blank piece of paper?. . Probably not.. . So I really suggested her starting. from a sewing pattern and then taking. . that into design it, which is. another option in design it.. . We can go there.. . Stay focused on what you want to learn. in designing it, and don't try. . to absorb it all at one time.. . Lionel Richie wrote a song. called All Night Long.. . He stayed up all night wondering what. to call his song,. . and a friend said to him,. Are you going to stay up all night long?. . And that's it.. He said, All night long?. . Knit it now.. . Don't mess around with the software. and pencils and all that stuff.. . Cynthia says, She's. in love with the tools.. . Good, good, good.. I'm so glad.. . We share them, we use the tools for our. pattern, and then we actually put them up. . here for you to use as. well to make things easier.. . And I use them all the time.. . Truthfully, I don't even bother with math.. . Well, I never bother with math.. That's another subject.. . All right, so the last thing I want. to talk about Just briefly,. . our Knit It Now patterns.. . If you have not used Knit It Now patterns,. please, please, please give them a try.. . You should have a free. one in your library.. . If you don't, let me know,. or if there's one that you're. . interested in, just let me know.. . I'm happy to help you out with it.. . Our whole goal with Knit It Now patterns. was that you could use any yarn,. . any knitting machine,. any stitch pattern, any gage.. . Do your own thing.. . Nothing to learn, nothing to install,. nothing extra to purchase.. . You don't have to maintain it.. . We just maintain the thing for you.. . As a matter of fact,. we just updated a couple of patterns just. . the last couple of days,. a hat pattern and something else.. . I've forgotten what the other one was.. And again, no abbreviations.. . So I've taken all the negatives from these. other methods and tried. . to eliminate them with our patterns.. . And I like to think of our. patterns as blueprints.. . Excuse me.. . Patterns as blueprints.. . So often I'll get a request and someone. will say, Oh, I found. . this pattern on Ravelry.. Do you have a pattern for that?. . Well, No, I don't have a pattern. for that specific thing.. . However,. I do have blueprints, and in my mind,. . a blueprint are the math,. the stitches and rows to knit.. . And this takes to something. that I want to.... . All right, I'm going to just. jump right into this here.. . I'm going to make a confession here.. . I've been talking to a lot of Knitters. recently, and I've been talking to a lot. . of people, a lot of marketing people,. a lot of business people,. . and just going through my head as to what. we can do better to help you be a better. . machine knitter, how we can help you as. machine knitters,. . and how can we reach that goal?. . And I have to confess that for years,. my whole thing has been,. . I'm going to teach you how to do X, Y, Z.. . I'm going to teach you how to knit iCord.. . Here's a video on how to knit. iCord on your machine.. . Here's another video to teach you how. to put that iCord around. . the edge of something.. . Here's another video that teaches you how. to make button holes out of iCord, right?. . We've got this learning library, and. some videos of techniques that you need.. . In my mind, if you call yourself a machine. knitter, you need these techniques.. . On the other side, we have patterns.. . And I'm going to go right here on camera. because I really, really want to. . say this out loud here.. . On the other hand, we have. patterns, our blueprints.. . In my mind, a blueprint is. cast on X number of stitches,. . X number of rows, work the shaping.. . I will give you the numbers. and how to do it.. . I will never say you. must do a chain cast on.. . I will never say you must put ribbing. at the bottom of this sweater.. . I will never say,. Shape your neckline using short rows.. . I prefer short rows.. . You may not prefer short rows.. . I will never say,. You must shape your shoulders.. . I will say, Do your thing.. . Use whatever techniques you want.. . So again, I've provided. you the blueprints.. . I provide you the knitting instructions.. . And I've always said,. Use the techniques you want.. . But in these conversations with folks. recently, I've had one of those wake up. . moments of, like a light bulb moment of,. this may be what you want, Sue,. . but this isn't what other people want.. . Taking it even one step further,. we recently released something. . called the Skill Builder Challenges.. . Again, in my mind,. skills are what you need.. . You need all four of those. options for iCord.. . You need to know all different cast. on methods, and then you can. . choose which one you like best.. . You need to know. the difference between automatic wrap and. . manual wrap when you're doing short rows.. . In my brain, that is what. a machine knitter needs.. . I've had to have this big. epiphany about that because I've had more. . than one person say,. I don't want to practice.. . I don't want to knit swatches.. . I don't want to have a whole box full. of things over here or keep a notebook. . of the things that I've tried.. . I want to make something.. . Just tell me what to knit.. . So I'm coming around.. . It's taking me a while.. . It's been painful because. this is just not how I think.. . But we have now started to create a series. . of something called Make & Master.. . I'm going to put my confetti on because. I'm really, really,. . really excited about our Make & Masters.. . And they go along with this whole idea of,. Tell me what to make. . and tell me how to make it.. . So instead of my saying, Cast on ,. stitches, I'm going to say,. . Use an E-wrap cast on,. and this is what an E-wrap cast on is.. . I'm going to make the decision for you.. . I'm going to say, Knit rows. . and place a marker.. . This is how you place a marker.. . If you're working in pattern,. maybe you might want to put in a lifeline.. . This is what a lifeline is.. . Stop right now, put in a lifeline. before you do anything else.. . So again, this was a light bulb moment. for me, and I hope that this. . will be useful for some knitters.. . They don't want to swatch.. . You're going to swatch.. I don't care.. . I'm not going to stop at that.. . You are going to swatch, but you. don't want to do a lot of practicing.. . You want to make something.. . And again, this was. something for me to really hard to get. . my head around, but the make and masters. are what we're moving forward with.. . Our Our first Make and Master. is going to be this scarf.. . Actually, it's this. scarf that I'm wearing.. . It's just a triangle scarf.. . What's cool about this one is. that the decreases,. . the triangle is made with decreases.. . The decreases are knit in such a way. that you don't have to finish this edge.. . They curl under and the edge is finished. beautifully and you probably can't see it,. . but you'll be able to see. it in the Make a Master.. . A technique that I think you need to know,. It's a technique that you can apply. . to other things,. but it's not just a technique where you're. . going to end up with a piece of fabric. that you're going to end up tossing.. . It's going to be made with something. that you can wear or use or give away.. . Okay, So that was my confession today.. . It's knititnow.. . Com/make.. . I really encourage you. to go and visit, please.. . The Make & Masters will be available. for our premium members. . for included with your membership.. . They will also be for sale. and discounted for basic members.. . They will include, hopefully,. everything you need to know,. . start to finish with no decisions.. . I'm going to make the decision for you.. . Use this decrease.. . If you want to use a different decrease,. God bless you, go ahead,. . do whatever you want.. . But for the make and master,. I want you to use my method because. . there's a reason I'm using this method,. because I want you to learn a skill.. . All righty.. . Let's see what others have said.. . The scarf that I'm wearing. is in that make and master.. . And Matt, I think this triangle. scarf is a pattern itself, is it not?. . A triangle.. . If I spelled it right, it would be right.. . Just tell me, Matt, if you would,. if we did that as a separate pattern. . or if it's just in the make and master.. . Darlene. says, I like when you give finishing. . touches or suggestions. on the side of the pattern.. . In the past, some of our patterns do have. some suggestions,. . and I've touched on this, but it's. just not the way my brain was working.. . So we will do more of that, give you. more and make more decisions for you.. . So there isn't that like,. What do I do next?. . Sherry. says, A great way I found to learn is. . to knit an identical sweater right after. the first one in a different color to help. . cement the skills you. learned at the first sweater.. . Absolutely, Sherry.. . Or maybe make it a little longer or. a little bit shorter or make one. . small change, but repetition.. . And using the same yarn,. I've always I've breached that as well.. . Use the same yarn.. . So again, you're not making more decisions. about what the gage is or how it's. . going to wash or any of those things.. . You know what the yarn is going to do,. and you knit it more than once.. . You really got it in here. that that's how it works.. . You like my confetti, Sue?. . Let's put my confetti on.. I love it.. . I hadn't had it for a long time,. and so I've been playing with it.. . You'll probably see more confetti as well.. . All righty.. Make and master.. . It sounds like folks are liking it.. . Let me know, please.. . I put a listing up in our Harpee. community as a matter of fact.. . There's a place to talk about this, and I. would love any feedback you can give me.. . This is all brand,. brand, brand, brand new.. . Burning the midnight oil.. . Brand new as to how we're laying these. things out and how they're going to look. . and how they're going to help you.. . So in conclusion here,. I've kept you a long time.. . Thank you for sticking with me.. . I have a new attitude.. . Knit It Now has a new focus.. . We're going to be coming out with some new. patterns, updating some old patterns,. . and turning them into make and masters.. . We're going to take some of our quick. wins, just really fast projects so. . that you can start and finish something. and walk away with something's finished. . and some new skills or some. newly practiced skills.. . I want to remind you that our goal is. to help you be a better machine knitter.. . We're trying to do anything we can to help. you do that, whatever we need to do.. . So please give me feedback.. . Let me know what you think. about making masters.. . Let me know what you think. about skill builders.. . I still think skill builders are a good. idea, but it's okay if you disagree.. . If you don't want to practice,. that's fine.. . I get it.. This was my new attitude.. . Elaine says, May I give a shout. out to the ribber workshop?. . I was okay with no specific garment. because I have this amazing strip.. . I can choose my rib.. . I can use my rib.. . I can use my ribber,. I guess, is what she is.. . Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous, fabulous.. Great.. . Okay.. Helping you be a better machine knitter.. . Let's take that, run with it.. . Let's also think about how you can get. really, really good at machine knitting.. . What is it going to take to get you. really, really good at machine knitting?. . Let me know.. . Until next time.. . Happy holidays, everyone.. . We'll see you in the new year, .. . Oh, my gosh, it's coming up quick.. . Thank you for joining me,. and we'll see you next time.. . Bye-bye..