The Knitting Fiend

Some of you have noticed the advertisement for Smartpatterns in my sidebar; many likely wonder what the product is. Well, Smartpatterns is a new Canadian based company that is developing a new type of knitting software.

Ok, so what is the product? “Smartpatterns”, which is not yet available for purchase, will be a pattern software product sold on DVD. Like my sockulators, Smartpatterns will merge features of knitting software and static knitting patterns found in magazines. Knitters will be able to select features for the item they wish to knit, click a few things, and with the final click “Voila, a pattern!” You print it and knit.

Now, I suspect some people are wondering, “Will this software have features other software doesn’t have?”

The answer is yes; I’ll discuss one. When you visit the Smartpatterns blog, I’d like you to look at the screen shot of the design page. Near the top you will find icons used to create your pattern. I cut these icons out of the screen shot, and circled the “yarn” icon.

What is this? Well, one unique features of Smartpatterns will be this: When you click yarn, you will be able to select a commercially available type of yarn and also the color of that yarn. Then, the program will recommend the appropriate stitch gauge and needle size for that specific yarn. The program will also display the sweater image as it will appear using your stitch gauge and color choices.

This means the knitter will gain the flexibility of knitting software without losing the extra guidance about gauge, needle sizes and color choices they get with traditional static patterns. For many, this will be like Mama Bear’s bed, which Goldilock’s found “Just right”.

The company plans to update its blog and explain more about Smartpatterns over time. If you’d like to learn more, visit Smartpatterns Inc.’s Blog and read more. Or, if you’d like to get announcements visit Smartpatterns web site and sign up for their newsletter. And guess what? The company would like feedback; so if there is some knitting software product you’d really like to see, drop them a line. If it turns out zillions of other knitters want the same feature, who knows, the company might decide to create that product.