Friday Finds: Stitch Mapping

I'm not sure if I've ever expressed my dislike for knitting charts but I'll confess it now. Considering that I'm a pretty visual person, it's counter-intuitive that I would find charts so confusing but, I do. Cassandra has knit from charts and (I think) likes them well enough. All I see is a jumble of confusing symbols.

The other day, Cassandra discovered Stitch Maps.

A new kind of charting, Stitch Maps show you the chart in the "shape" that the final object will take. They describe it like this:

knitting charts drawn without grids so you can see how the fabric flows

Here's an example from their site:

Here's what Feather & Fan looks like knit up

Here's a classic chart for Feather & Fan

Here's a Stitch Map for Feather & Fan

So, it's different and, for whatever reason, it makes more sense to my eyes. Anyone can submit patterns to be "stitch mapped" (written patterns are made into these new charts). If you want access to the Stitch Map library, you must subscribe. There's a basic subscription for personal, non-commerical use and a "pro" subscription for knitwear designers.

Check it out! You may start seeing Stitch Maps associated with our patterns!

- Alex