Intwined Pattern Studio

A couple weeks ago Heatherly of Intwined Pattern Studio sent me a link to download her stitch pattern software. It's as if she had sensed my need. I have stitch pattern software that I use for creating charts for my patterns, which I had been happy with until I realized I couldn't add color. I needed to be able to add color to the chart for Shane.

I installed it and got to work. So nice! I don't like reading documentation for software. I prefer learning by just clicking on things. It is very user-friendly. It took me a few tries to figure out how to write out certain instructions. For example, something like "slip 3 wyib" has to be written as "slip wyib3". Once I got the hang of it, entering the pattern moved right along. I wasn't able to figure out how to enter an instruction that is worked for a multiple of times; (k2, p2) 3 times has to be typed out as k2, p2, k2, p2, k2, p2. This is a bit cumbersome, but maybe I just need to actually read the help.

Aside from being able to add color, some of my favorite features are the document tab for entering notes, switching between flat, round and skipping rows with ease and being able to rotate, flip and mirror parts of a chart. But my absolutely favorite part, which made me geek out a bit, is the ability to add stitches to the stitch library. There always seems to be at least one rare stitch that I need in a chart, but there isn't a symbol for it in the program. Intwined Pattern Studio lets you import symbols, add a description and abbreviation. Fabulous!