From sketch to chart

Translating elements from sketches into a chart pattern for knitting

Sketches from my sketchbook and knitting chart ©Aleks Byrd 2017.

Feeling really inspired after my weekend in Nottingham at the Nottingham Yarn Expo to get into making! I started looking at two of my sketches that consist of patterned lines/ stripes and how to take that into a pattern on a grid to start knitting (I'm thinking of double knitting to continue practicing the technique but also to play with the color reversibility). My chart is growing organically as I started to take the structure of the changing diagonal lines from the sketch on the right beginning with a large center band/stripe and then growing it horizontally and vertically as I go. Translating a free flowing sketch to a chart is challenge because you are going from the freedom of a blank page to a rigid structure. It is a fun but challenging puzzle! I like the chart that I have come up with and look forward to trying to make another version to see about making some more curved lines like in the sketches.