The Power of Charts

If you have followed us for very long, you know that both Kellie and I are a fan of charts. It is one of the ways that we are “the same.” Charts can be a great way to visualize what is happening with you knitting without investing rows of knitting time.

It is also a great way to make minor changes to patterns to make them work in a new and slightly different manner. Although I mostly use them for the former, I have recently been using them for the latter.

I have been working on a design that I want to have transitional feel, much like some of MC Escher’s work, an example of which is below.

Needless to say, my idea is significantly less complex. But the concept of one image (or lace pattern) flowing into another was the gist of it.

As I found patterns that I thought would work, what I discovered is they rarely started in the “right” spot to make them flow nicely. Instead I would have to change the point from which I would begin to get the holes to line up correctly.

Now as I begin working back through the patterns I have discovered that at least one of them needs to be inverted (flipped on its head). But because of the nature of lace, particularly the flow of the decreases, I am going to have to re-chart the pattern to make the adjustment.

I am not completely confident it is going to work, but I do know that I will be able to get a reasonable idea with just a few marks on a sheet of paper as opposed to many minutes if not a few hours of knitting. If not, I will figure out another alternative.

Quite honestly, the time saved makes me really happy.

How do you use charts in your knitting?