If you’ve read my previous posts you know that I use Excel a LOT in my pattern making and you also know that I tried very hard NOT to use Excel in my pattern making until I realized how versatile and easy it was to use.

I’ve had some requests from friends and local knitters to share some step-by-step instructions on how to set up and use Excel to design a pattern. So the following is my attempt to organize my scattered thoughts on the subject:

Firstly: Knitting stitches are, alas, not square, so you can’t use normal graph paper for sketching and by extension, you can’t have square excel cells if you want  an accurate idea of how the finished design will look.

After reading what others have done and fiddling around with it some myself a good setup for me seems to be a column width of 1 (which is the number of zeros that can fit in the cell) and a row height (measured in points) of either 8 or 9. (See picture to the right)

I set my fingering weight projects to a height of 9 pts, while my first worsted weight cowl seemed to work better at a height of 8 (looked closer to the finished product). You may find you need to adjust this depending on the yarn and needles you’re using, but using 8 or 9 for the height should be close.

Deciding on dimensions: I started out knowing the dimensions of the two double knitted scarves I had finished by Frivolite Handcrafts (850 rows x 46 columns, with lace weight yarn and size 0 needles.) When I made “Always”, I used similar column numbers but decreased the rows to 750. My yarn was also a heavier gauge so my overall dimensions increased, but my height to width ratio stayed close.  So this was my reference point going forward. If I wanted to design another scarf I could keep the same dimensions or adjust them accordingly

• Example- I’m thinking about doing a Jane Austen/ Regency themed scarf that I envision being shorter and buttoning together at the chest rather than wrapping around the neck. I figured out how long I wanted it to be by draping my Harry Potter scarf around my neck and noting where I’d want the new scarf to stop and checking to see how many rows of the HP pattern that ended up being ( ~430-450 rows long using the same yarn and needle sizes). You could also use simple algebra: length of HP scarf / number of rows in HP scarf = desired length of Regency scarf/ X number of rows in Regency scarf and solve for X….. Real life algebra usage! Huzzah!

When I started to create my first cowl pattern I decided I’d use similar yarn and needles to the HP scarf to remove as many unknowns as possible. I knew I could easily estimate the number of stitches around I’d need by deciding how long of a cowl I wanted and using the HP gauge (same as with Jane Austen above).

Ravelry is a great resource if you want to compare many patterns or want to see what other knitters and crocheters have done before you. I searched their database and I limited the advanced search options to Accessories>neck> cowl, fingering weight yarn, construction> double-knitting and free patterns. I could then compare their total stitch counts around with how long their cowls ended up being to see if they were similar to my estimates. I could also see how loose or tight around the neck their cowls were based on their photos. That’s how I ended up going with 200 stitch-pairs around for “Through the Stones”

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If you wanted to use a heavier weight yarn you can just change the search parameters accordingly to get an idea of how many stitches around and how many rows high your pattern should be.

• Note: after finishing “Through the Stones” I decided to try shortening my next cowl slightly to 180 stitch-pairs around as there would still be plenty of length left in the finished product and it would potentially allow me to knit a cowl using only two skeins  of Araucania Nuble (same yarn as the Harry Potter scarf), which is a beautiful, good-quality yarn that doesn’t break the bank.

I started “Through the Stones” just guessing how many rows high it should be, and ended up adding 10 rows of sky to the top after I was about a quarter of the way in. I was lucky that this was the first cowl I tried, since adding in extra sky wouldn’t skew the balance of the finished product and I wouldn’t have to start over.

So now to set up the pattern. We’ll assume a 200 stitch wide x 85 row tall fingering weight cowl (same dimensions as “Through the Stones”):

• Highlight your entire spreadsheet:
  • Change row height to 9 and column width to 1.
  • Remove all cell borders.

• Add row numbers along the right hand side of the pattern- (this will be Column GS which is the 201st column) and column numbers along the bottom (Row 86). Have the row numbers going from bottom to top, and column numbers along the bottom going from right to left- since this is how we read knitting charts.
  •  I add “all cell borders” to these numbered cells so that it forms a boundary for your work and makes them easier to see- see below.
  • Highlight your column numbers in Row 86 and change text direction to vertical so that you can read the numbers without changing the column width

• Now you’re all set up and ready to design! Click individual cells and select a dark color from the “Fill Color” drop down menu at the top. I choose a dark grey. You can also hold down the CTRL key while you individually click cells to highlight multiple, unconnected cells at the same time.
• I always leave the first and last rows free of color changes since they are so close to the cast on and bind off. I think it keeps the edges of the design from being obscured.
• Remember that a cowl in a continuous design, so to give yourself an idea of how it will look as a finished product, you can copy a large chunk from the left side of your cowl onto the right edge so that it’s more obvious how the designs flow into each other. (See below)

  

• You can even split  design elements across the edge to help you make sure you don’t have a strange gap or line down the middle of your cowl once it’s knitted (see blue circle above).

So that’s the basic setup to get started designing your own pattern. Stay tuned for tips and the magical tricks that Excel has up its whimsical sleeve!

To be continued…..