Last month I asked if knitters would like a “Just check the knitspeak” button at Stitch-Maps.com. The answer was a resounding, “Yes!” And I’d love to say that I’ve added that feature.

But I got distracted.

irishlacenet asked, “Can ‘The number of non-repeated stitches isn’t quite right’ error message be made more specific?” Whoops. That’s a really interesting question. And, as it turns out, a rather tricky one to answer.

The good news is that, after a month of slowly chipping away at the problem, I think I might have a solution. The bad news is that this solution doesn’t yet know how to handle short rows, which complicate matters terribly. So more chipping away is required. Still... it’ll be cool when I get it working! Just imagine being able to receive useful error messages like, “Row 3 can’t be worked on top of the previous rows. It’s not possible work a multiple of 2 stitches plus 5 over a multiple of 6 stitches plus 2.”

And, don’t worry, I still plan to add a “Just check the knitspeak” button too.

Stitch-Maps.com has been part of several discussions on Ravelry this past month – usually, in the context of “I’m looking for software that will let me do [whatever].” Discussions like these remind me that a lot of knitters don’t yet know basic facts about the site. So, at risk of boring those of you that do, here’s a quick run-down of the facts shared recently on Ravelry:

• You create a stitch map by entering written instructions. The site then draws the stitch map for you, and it “can be easy to see if the motif is correct or if you did a typo and everything is shifted.”

• Stitch-Maps.com “is a great way to chart and visualize cable or lace patterns. I use it to sanity check my ideas since it won’t let you create charts that don’t work (i.e. wrong number of stitches).”
• “With practice you’ll be able to get a feel for a pattern by looking at its stitch map – especially for lace patterns, which aren’t well-served by grid-based charts anyway.”
• Want to work offline? “Yes, stitch maps can be downloaded.”
• If you need to contact the knitter who contributed a stitch pattern, go to that stitch pattern’s detail page, then “look for ‘Contributor’ in the ‘Details’ box. Next to the designer’s name, click the icon.”
• With a subscription, “you can keep your chart private, which honors the designer’s copyright.”
• Courtesy of Laura Nelkin: “Stitch Maps is awesome!!!” Thanks, Laura! :-)

 

I’m bummed that I have some really awesome events in the works that I can’t tell you about yet. That said, the events already on my schedule are pretty awesome too:

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