DesignaKnit

A group of ladies from Taunton and Tiverton Clubs asked for a DesignaKnit workshop in April. I worked out a programme covering all basic aspects of DK6 and DK7 which I thought should take a day to cover. The club leader at Taunton M K Club had organised the use of a hall for the day and had arranged, additionally, for equipment to be made available that would allow my laptop computer screen to be displayed on a large slide screen so everyone taking part was able to see what I was doing. Those who could brought their own computers and were able to carry out the exercises as I went through them. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day though I think everyone was exhausted at the end of it. Brain strain and stiff wrists from lots of mouse activity.

Step 1. Right click the picture above and save picture to a file on your computer.
Step 2. Print a copy of the design.
Step 3. Open DK and set up a new grid 30 sts X 30 rows
Step 4. Draw the design as shown on the picture in the left hand 15 stitch columns
Step 5. Highlight the pattern you have drawn using the “selection Box” tool
Step 6. Copy the pattern using the Copy button (camera icon)
Step 7. Paste the pattern into the remaining 15 stitch columns as yet unused
Step 8. Highlight the right hand half of the pattern again
Step 9. Go to Modify Menu and Click: DK6 Reflect Horizontal & DK7 Flip Vertical
Step 10. Go to View > repeats and enter figure 2 in each box.
Step 11. Go to Check > floats enter 6 as Max no of stitches allowable for float length
Step 12. Add a three stitch by three row orange block in the centre of blue diamond
Step 13. Add another stitch centrally above and below block to break long floats
Step 14. Add another stitch centrally to left and right to balance design
Step 15. Make a similar alteration of your own to pink square to reduce float length
Step 16. Go to Options > Method of knitting and check fair isle
Step 17. Go to Check > Colours in Row and enter figure 2
Step 18. Alter pattern to make it two colours only

Note: If you make the alterations while still looking at the 2x2 view, only half of the blue squares will adjust to your corrections. You will need to carry out the same exercise on one of the remaining blue squares to ensure that you have the same length floats all over.
The purpose of the above exercise is to get you used to using the facilities that allow you to look at a pattern not just as you are designing it, but as it will look in large piece (view repeats), to assess your knitting method while you are designing by checking floats and knitting methods. Experiment with this and similar patterns and learn how many ways they can be used or how much you have to alter them to make them work in a particular application. Have fun with Your DesignaKnit.

I hope the participants in the workshop felt it helped them - I know that preparing the notes for the event refreshed my memory on parts of DK that I don’t use that often! Everything we covered was written in table format and converted for use in Internet Explorer. I have tried to add it to this web site, but the number of pictures involved makes it far too cumbersome. Instead, here is a simple stitch pattern for you to add to your DK stitch Pattern Library. The text below gives you several exercises to try using the stitch pattern.