You may remember I've been working on the second level of the TKGA Master Hand Knitting Program . I'm learning to be a stickler for gauge (oh dear, I've become one of those people). In Level 2, we have to write instructions for our swatches, including gauge. A tool that I'm finding to be helpful is the Gaugefy app for Apple devices. It's very easy to calculate gauge, since it lets you enter any measurement for your swatch - you're not stuck with 4" x 4" for example. It then takes the stitches and rows in your swatch and calculates stitches per inch. You can then hit the "Create" button to go to a page that allows you to to use your stitches-per-inch calculation in a number of ways. I like using it to get the 4" gauge to put into the gauge section of my patterns. Or you can you can estimate the measurements that you'll get using a certain number of repeats. Or go the other way and figure out how many repeats you'll get in a given measurement. This handy app has a free version which I use all the time. For $1.99 you can get a version with even more features. It will store your gauges for you for future reference. As a designer, this is really handy. I can have at my fingertips the gauges for yarns I use in design work, or gauges for specific stitch patterns. Gaugefy seems like such a simple little app, yet is very handy! You can check it out for free in iTunes and upgrade to the paid (but still really inexpensive) version if you'd like to be able to save the results of your swatches, including yarn and needle size.

If you read my blog, you know that I recently knit a February Lady Sweater in a ridiculously short amount of time. I garter stitched my way into bleary-eyed mental exhaustion. So when I got to the instruction that called for working 41 increases evenly over 239 stitches...well, I almost cried. The few brain cells that were left knew that I could pull off the math if I had to, but I might well end up with 41 mistakes instead. Enter my favorite new sanity saver, the Knit Evenly Calculator app . Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and requiring iOS 4.0 or later, the app is an ingenious tool for figuring those tricky "knit evenly" instructions. It's very simple to tell the calculator whether you're working with increases or decreases, and whether you're knitting in the round or flat. You type in the number of stitches you're increasing/decreasing across, then tell it the number of increases/decreases you'll need... and it tells you the answer, in your choice of formats - a simple spacing out between two given stitch counts to either side, or the more complicated but also more evenly distributed : Being the stickler type, I favor Option 2, the more evenly distributed method. The calculator not only shows me the written instructions, but also gives me a way to keep track of which increase I'm on. I just set my iPhone or iPad next to me, and touch the little red squares each time I complete a step. See the little arrow above the third square? That indicates where I am in the instructions. As I finish a step, the little light turns red, and the pointer automatically advances to the next step. Very cool, and well worth the $1.99 price! Resources: Knit Evenly Calculator by JAKRO SOFT LLC

As you may know, we now have a part-time home near where I grew up in the Midwest. I'm not used to living in the suburbs where other people can see me. In California, the only people who might get weirded out by my photographing socks are the deer and foxes and newts . Well, and my husband at first, but he got over it after a while. Here in the suburbs, I can only guess at what my new neighbors might think as I diligently pose socks around the yard. They haven't come over to introduce themselves yet. Maybe this is why. ("The lady who used to live here was so.... normal", they lament to each other, peering into our yard.) Nonetheless, here are the socks I created using Sockotta Sock yarn and some leftover Regia 4-ply . I adore knitting with jacquard-patterned yarn like the Sockotta . The ever-changing colors keep the knitting entertaining. I find the Sock Wizard software a handy tool for making socks. Once I do a swatch, it's easy to plug the gauge into the software and come up with a pattern that is exactly the size I'm looking for. I've used it often enough to know that I always need to make the heel length longer. And I always put some sort of ribbing into the leg. Even with a good cuff, the legs fall down when I knit straight stockinette. I'm not sure I'm crazy about the afterthought heel. What is your favorite heel?

This is where it all started. I suppose I could have put an end to it at the first hint that I was going to get obsessed. Again. But I ignored that inner voice which cried “Stop while you can!” Three skeins of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock yarn. That’s all it took. (Plus a visit from my friend Mary, who has so much creativity that apparently she left some behind for me when she went back to Ohio.) I didn’t mean to design a sock. I certainly didn't mean to design anything in fair isle. But the shmooey yarn with bright spring colors drew me in and demanded I grab some needles. A design snuck into my mind as if it were a gremlin…. With the help of the Stitch & Motif Maker software, here’s how the swatching process evolved for Mary’s Garden Socks. A lot of trail and error, ripping out, starting over, and here is the final product: At a later date I'll post more on the Stitch & Motif Maker , but you can imagine how helpful it is to be able to plan this sort of design out on a just-the-right-proportion grid. If you like this sock you can find it my Original Designs in my Pattern Store. I find knitting it to be a nice dose of fair isle fun, and I hope you do to!

Software/Apps Archives

Gaugefy App

You may remember I've been working on the second level of the TKGA Master Hand Knitting Program. I'm learning to [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T20:01:35-05:00February 27th, 2014|Design Process, Favorite Things, Master Knitters Program, Reviews, Software/Apps|0 Comments

Knitting Evenly App

If you read my blog, you know that I recently knit a February Lady Sweater in a ridiculously short amount [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T20:05:55-05:00February 21st, 2012|Favorite Things, Software/Apps|5 Comments

Springtime Socks

As you may know, we now have a part-time home near where I grew up in the Midwest. I'm not used [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T20:07:48-05:00June 2nd, 2010|Design Process, Projects, Socks, Software/Apps, Yarn|0 Comments

Holey Procrastination

I've learned a lot from my first big lace project. It all started a couple of years ago. (Yep - [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T20:08:16-05:00January 28th, 2010|Charts, Favorite Things, How to knit, Projects, Shawls, Software/Apps, Techniques|8 Comments

Mary’s Garden Sock

This is where it all started. I suppose I could have put an end to it at the first hint [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T20:10:48-05:00October 30th, 2008|Design Process, Patterns, Socks, Software/Apps|1 Comment