Striped or color block blankets are some of my favorite items to design. Especially when I am trying to use up yarn that I have on hand. I find it difficult figuring out what order to do the colors in, and what it might look like.
This is an example of one blanket. I had enough of these colors to make a blanket, just needed to figure out how to do the stripes.
There are a couple of sites that I use to help me work out the color scheme on large projects.
1) Biscuits and Jam: You can add the colors you are using, & the number of rows and it will generate a random stripe pattern for you. If you don't like it, just refresh the page and it will create a new one. Refresh until you have the one you want.
2) Stitch Fiddle: You can create all kinds of charts on Stitch Fiddle, even a crochet diagram (tried it.... not for me lol). I have used it often to create a stripe pattern with the colors I'm going to use. On my diagrams, each square is an inch.
For the blanket above I ended up using Stitch Fiddle for my pattern.
When testers are working on one of my patterns I start a chat on FB where everyone can show their progress & discuss any issues with the pattern, or problems they may be having.
For this pattern one of the discussions was about the fact that the colors don't always change on the same row repeat, so how do you keep track of the color changes?
Kim (one of my group moderators) is testing the pattern as well and shared how she kept track of the row repeats and color changes. I asked her if she would be willing to share what she does on a blog post and she agreed!
So.... without further adieu..... here is Kim!
Quite a few patterns have repeating instructions, especially when the pattern is a row-by-row one. Add to it multiple color changes and my brain goes “what! How am I going to remember all that?!?!” The solution: simple row by row charts (not graphs) that can help you stay on track. The charts can be a simple handwritten list such as -
Markers, colored pencils, and crayons can be great tools when charting out the pattern. (they are also a great tool for determining colors when you’re trying to decide on color or color order in a pattern.
Another method is to use technology to create a chart in a spreadsheet or even tables in a word processing document. Again, they can be simple rows with the repeated row listed next to the row
number. Or more complex with color changes also indicated by a simple color letter indicator. Or even more complex with the rows highlighted with the color. Here are some examples with a real pattern.
Pattern instructions:
Rows 12 - 161: Repeat rows 2 - 11 with the following color changes.
Row 25: Color B
Row 29: Color C
Row 33: Color B
Row 53: Color D
Row 57: Color B
Row 61: Color C
Row 93: Color B
Row 97: Color A
Row 101: Color B
Row 129: Color C
Row 133: Color B
Row 137: Color D
The possibilities are endless on how you can use these tools to keep you on track. How do YOU keep track?
Thank you Kim for this great information and help! We both hope that this post will make your striped crochet projects less daunting.
If you would like to discuss it further with Kim, she is willing to help anyone figure out charting patterns. Just message me on FB and I will put you in contact with her.
Do you have a suggestion/tip for keeping track of rows & colors? Please comment below and share :)
If you would be interested in testing crochet patterns, join my FB Tester Group! It doesn't matter what skill level you are, all testers are welcome :)
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I've used Stitch Fiddle and like it. I'll have to try Biscuits and Jam. I've never heard of them.
Thank you.
Thank you for the information.
Love these hints for keeping track of colors.
Thanks for sharing this information. I have been trying to create a pattern for my next project and this will help immensely!