Note: Because of the improved graphics, please use OpenOffice 3.1 or higher. For further information, see this post.

I love designing my own knitwear, and I obsessively chart everything. Unfortunately, my illegible hand writing gets in the way of my knitting, and that lace pattern I'm inventing... Well, let's just say that after a few revisions, it is no longer legible. A few of my friends have asked about my knitting charts and graphs, and several of them rave about their special knitting software.

Now when I hear "specialized software", my mind conjures up images of clunky packages that are mimicking some functionality that a more complete program I already have can and will do. Hence, my "knitting software" of choice is an office suite, a few specialized fonts, and spreadsheets. (In dream land, I have all my formulas in macros that automatically generate these for me, but not yet.) Here's how you can create your very own knitting charts that are compatible regardless of the operating system and are easily edited.

Software Requirements:

• OpenOffice 2.4 or higher (I'm using OpenOffice 3 on an Ubuntu 8.04 LTS system.) (http://www.openoffice.org)
• Knitting Symbols by CET font (http://home.earthlink.net/~ardesign/knitfont.htm)
• The attached knittinggraph.ods file.
  

Directions:

1. Download the knittinggraph.ods file. (You could start with a clean slate, but this has all the calculations and formulas you will need).
2. Use the following chart (see the Gauge sheet) to set your row height and column width:

   Gauge (sts/in)*	Row Height	Column Width
   Base Ratio	2	3
   3	0.222	0.333
   4	0.167	0.250
   4.5	0.148	0.222
   5	0.133	0.200
   5.5	0.121	0.182
   6	0.111	0.167
   6.5	0.103	0.154
   7	0.095	0.143
   7.5	0.089	0.133
   8	0.083	0.125
   8.5	0.078	0.118
   9	0.074	0.111
   10	0.067	0.100
   11	0.061	0.091
   12	0.056	0.083
   13	0.051	0.077
   *Gauge is in stockinette stitch measured horizontally.

   For hand charting, use a row height of 0.1" and column width of 0.15". I'm an American, so all the measurements (including row height and column width) are in inches.
3. Use the Size Sheet in the knittinggraph.ods file to calculate the total size for your knit.
4. Note your RANGE value and select the My Knitting Graph sheet.
5. Press ctrl + a (alternative, Edit > Select All) to select the entire sheet.
6. Click Format > Row > Row Height and change it to the row height number from the gauge chart.
7. Click Format > Column > Column Width and change it to the column width number from the gauge chart.
8. Next, we will add grid lines. You can add these to the main document or as something you only see when you print things out. I prefer adding them to the main document. A darker grid helps me see what I'm doing.

9. Take the RANGE from step 4 and input it into the range box on your My Knitting Graph sheet

   

   Hit enter.

10. Click Format > Cells. Inside the format box, click the Borders tab. Click the set outer order and all inner lines box (third from the left, circled in red) and select your line weight. (I normally use either 0.05 pt or 0.5 pt.) Click Okay.

    

11. With your range still selected, change the font for the range only to Knitting Symbols by CET.

All questions, comments, and corrections are welcome!