Cochenille s Garment Designer and Softbyte s DesignaKnit: Can These Two Programs Be Used in Tandem? Cathie Sanders Both Cochenille s Garment Designer and Softbyte s DesignaKnit are powerful computer programs used by machine knitters. Although both programs can be incorporated into other handcraft and fabric uses, the main concept of this experiment was for use with knitting machines. Both of these programs can easily stand on their own. Each has elements of similarity such as the ability to enter custom sizes, show a body block, change a shape by manipulating points, change from inches to centimeters or the reverse, qualify ease, produce a printed pattern in half or full size as well as an instructions page, and add or remove hems and bands. Both programs have their own strengths. Garment Designer has many standard shapes with various options for the knitter to work with, including basic, contoured, princess and empire in the pullover alone. This standard shaping program also contains skirts, pants, and dresses, and additional shapes may be purchased separately. Bust and waist darts, even double darts, may be added automatically. Various neckline treatments, including various collars, and sleeve types are available at the click of a mouse. Measurements for each part of the pattern may be shown in inches or centimeters. With another mouse click, actual stitch and row counts are shown. The mode may also be changed from knitting to sewing. This feature would definitely appeal to the knitter who also sews. DesignaKnit has Original Pattern Drafting which allows the knitter to create totally new shapes or change standard shapes at will. Manipulation of shapes or creation of new shapes is easy. Shapes may be created from various sources other than standard designs, including sewing patterns or sketches. The designer may indicate various ways to knit slopes. Designaknit also has a powerful Graphics Studio, which allows the machine knitter to import various files, changing them into color patterns, including.bmp,.jpg,.gif,.pcx,.png, and.tif. The knitter may use a resource such as the internet to find thousands of free graphics for use with fairisle, intarsia, and double jacquard. Designaknit also has Interactive Knitting, perhaps its most popular feature By using a specific cable, knitters may download their own patterns into electronic machines. Then, using the same feature, the knitter may use the computer screen as a pattern source while knitting the shape or the shape integrated with the color pattern, following instructions indicated by a tone or a voice. Punchcard users may print out patterns for their cards and then use the interactive feature. Manual machine owners may hand select needles while using the interactive feature. No paper pattern needs to be generated. Directions are given directly on the screen for stitch increases, decreases, cast on and cast off, and stitches to be put into hold DesignaKnit s Interactive Knitting feature has caused a question has been raised: Is there a way for a shape to be produced in Garment Designer and then imported into DesignaKnit so the Interactive Knitting Feature can be used. If so, the ease of creating shapes in Garment Designer combined with DesignaKnit s Knit from Screen feature would give the machine knitter many more choices and opportunities to knit unique items. My first step was to create two different shapes in Garment Designer. The first was a very simple basic shape with a round neckline and tapered sleeves. The second shape was a more complicated princess shape with a scoop neckline and semi-flared sleeves. For both shapes, a standard gauge of 8 spi and 11 rpi was used, and a standard size 12 was chosen. Although I had been told that previous success had been attained by bringing the shape into Cochneille s Stitch Painter and from there into DesignaKnit, I decided to try skipping the step involving Stitch Painter by bringing the Garment Designer shape into the DesignaKnit
Graphic Studio. I began at that point, starting with the basic shape. I input the necessary information in for this shape, excluding any band treatment. I ended up with three pieces: front, back, and sleeve. Then, using the drop-down menu, I clicked on Front L. Sleev e Back Generate: Pattern Pixel Per Stitch Graphics. I now had a new shape, indicated by a change in color. From this graphic, I clicked on the Front piece and then clicked on Edit: Copy. Next, I opened the DesignaKnit Graphic Studio. I could have saved the front as a graphic file and then imported it into Graphics Studio. However saving the shape to the clipboard was very easy and quick. I opened it by clicking on Edit, Paste. I then manipulated the size and the colors so I would end up with a knitable, two-color graphic. Because I had been able to use Pixel Per Stitch, I did not have to adjust anything to come out with the stitch and row gauge I had specific for this garment. The shape was then opened in Stitch Designer as a new color pattern of 182 stitches by 283 rows. Using my original gauge of 8 spi, I have 22.75 inches. My row gauge of 11 rpi give me 25.7 inches. The total width of the garment would be 45.5 inches, only ½ inch larger than DesignaKnit s standard size 40, the equivalent to a size 12. I could have specified a longer or shorter garment in Garment Designer, but I chose the default length. I then took this pattern into Interactive Knitting. I did have to treat it as a two-color fairisle color pattern, not a shape. However, because only the white color showed from the sides and bottom of the pattern, DesignaKnit saw the cast on and beginning rows as a single color. DesignaKnit told me to add the second color in on row count 172, the shaping row for the right armhole. However, I was not given the usual prompt of number of stitches to bind off for this shaping because DesignaKnit cannot see this as a shape. I changed the needle bed view so I could see exactly which needles are to be knitted with the black color, knowing these stitches are the ones I needed to bind off for the shaping. The same held true for the back and tapered sleeves. Although the Interactive Knitting process was not as fast as when I work with a shape generated by DesignaKnit, my experiment with the basic shape showed it could be knitted using this feature. Of course, my interest was not in the basic shape, but in those shapes which DesignaKnit does not contain, such as the Princess shaping I chose for the next step. The Princess shape with a scoop neck shows the internal shape that must be knitted to achieve this look. Unlike DesignaKnit, Garment Designer has the ability to show internal darts and shaping. With the current fashion trends toward Front Left Sleeve more fitted garments, this ability is a real plus for the knitter. The machine knitter has two options in knitting this shape. One, she may move stitches in from both sides to form a type of knitted dart. Two, she may mark these stitches and sew in a dart after the piece is knitted. My personal preference would be the first method. Using the same method as I described with the basic shape, I generated the Pixel Per Back
I ended up with a color pattern made up of 188 by 288. As this shape suggests, there will be internal and external shaping, making a fitted core. Stitch Graphic and brought the front piece into Graphic Studio and then into Stitch Designer. In Interactive Knitting, this design would have only a very limited number of rows when the black was not shown in the second feeder. This second feeder carries the contrasting yarn, which would knit on the selected needles. If the knitter took care to push the needles back to working position, she could allow them to be selected row by row if she were working on a Brother/Knitking machine. She might then be able to see which stitches needed to be transferred for shaping. If she is using a Studio/Silver Reed machine, however, the needles for the second color are not brought to upper working position, so those stitches would drop off the needles. Of course, she could knit in two colors, letting the second color knit. Then she could remove the second color, transferring those stitches as necessary. Frankly, I think both of these methods would be tedious. I would prefer to check the screen, row by row, for shaping. Since the needle bed is showing in its largest mode, I would find it easier to use the needle bed graphic to see which stitches needed to be moved by either increasing or decreasing. This style is complex, and even a printed pattern would need to be followed on a row by row basis. As with the basic shape, DesignaKnit did not give its usual sounds to notify the knitter of neckline shaping. Neither was the hem rounding or the shoulder slope given. Although the bottom could be rounded by shortrowing, DesignaKnit did not give instructions for that method. Instead stitches were added by casting on until row count 4, when all needles necessary were in work. Shoulder stitches were not shown as being placed in hold. The flared sleeve had basically the same problem as the body. Both colors are shown from the beginning since the sleeve bottom may either be shortrowed or cast on in sections. Shaping would need to be done using the same method as the body: checking the screen row by row. On the plus side of this experiment was the ability to knit a shape not generated by DesignaKnit. Since DesignaKnit does not have an internal dart available, using Garment Designer for shapes with darts would save time otherwise spent figuring out dart needles as well as the length and width of the dart. On the negative side is the fact that DesignaKnit does not treat this pattern as a shape, but tries to knit it as a color pattern. My conclusion is that, by using both programs, one could have many more opportunities than by using either one alone. But, I would not recommend that a beginning knitter attempt to try this experiment. The knitter should be familiar with various techniques such as making a dart, shortrowing a shoulder or the bottom of a garment, and understanding the more complex shapes before embarking on working with both these programs at once.. As I explored Garment Designer more, I found that perhaps a better answer may not be using the Stitch Designer as the point that brings these programs together. Garment Designer will print out a pattern that gives shaping by measurement and row count. For example, on row count 100 the outside decrease shaping is done. Dimensions or actual measurements in inches may also be generated for each section. For example, with the gauge I used, the outside
decrease is finished at 9 inches into the knitted body. By printing out these instructions and a copy of the shape file, I believe it would be easy to draw the shape in DesignaKnit in Original Pattern Drafting. Then the shape could be used as a shape in Interactive Knitting. Such care as is needed when a color pattern is used would not be necessary when a shape pattern is used. DesignaKnit would readily alert the knitter when transfers or shaping had to be made. The exception to this would be those shapes with internal darts. DesignaKnit is not capable of drawing an internal dart. In one method, markers could be added to the shape to alert the knitter of those rows which require a dart treatment. Knowledge of such shaping would be needed before such a shape could be knit using this method. But for a knitter with this knowledge, adding markers would be an easy thing to do. Another method would be to split the front into three pieces, each shaped to simulate both the outside curve and the inside dart. Taking less than 10 minutes, I quickly split a front piece and added the curves for the outside shaping and the inside dart. I also added the beginning of the shoulder shaping. If I intended to use this piece as a shape piece, I definitely would have spent more time on it, tweaking the actual dart lengths. But my goal at this time was to see if I could recreate the shape in Original Pattern Drafting. However, when I joined the three pieces, all the internal shaping was lost. DesignaKnit automatically filled in the darts in the center of the shape. I can take one section of the front piece into Interactive Knitting. The default for DesignaKnit is to center the piece on the knitting bed, so if I wanted the shape for this piece while I am knitting the entire front, I would need to bypass the needle numbers. I do know that each of the three sections have the same number of needles in work at the beginning, but the center section has the neckline shaping. On the plus side, however, I now have the sounds signaling various shape changes. Also, by using the Original Pattern Drafting section, I would be able to stipulate the type of shaping I prefer: stitches in hold, decreasing, or binding off; although I do intend to pursue this avenue more fully. My goal is to use the princess shape from Garment Designer and find the best way to knit it using DesignaKnit s Interactive Knitting. That will be my next experiment: to see how such a complex shape can best be brought into DesignaKnit from Garment Designer so the Interactive Knitting feature can be best used. But then, at the end of my own experiment, another accomplished knitter, DAK and GD user, Naomi Schofield of Brussels, Belgium, found what may be the best way to bring a shape from Garment Designer into DesignaKnit Original Drafting. When she shared her findings with me, I was delighted with her success and immediately asked her if I could share the findings with you. Method A: Using tracing paper. Naomi used screen tracing design software from Screen Tracing Paper (www.iconico.com/tracingpaper). Please read the Help section in their website to familiarise yourself with the toolbars. They do have a free trial program you could download, and the actual program is very inexpensive. First, draft your pattern in GD and scale your final design to either 1/4 or 1/6. A more accurate result is obtained using these scales compared to scale to fit. Keep using chosen scale throughout this exercise. Click on your drawing as shown below to activate the points used in shaping the garment. We will use the pattern collar style, princess shoulder fit template. The pattern can also serve as your facing should you decide to knit one.
Activate your Tracing Paper. Click on GD square points to trace them. Going clockwise from lower left corner around the shape may be easier than starting anywhere at random. Note: Square Pins easier to use when tracing the pattern. Of course, you are free to use any pins you want. The goal is get as close as possible to your pattern. Open DAK s original pattern drafting section. Create new piece. Turn off all symmetry toolbars. This being the only piece, it will be centered. Note: Of course if you are reconstructing a piece which has a symmetrical shape, you can turn on symmetry. You only have to reconstruct half the side and the other side is automatically done for you. I will trace the front side panel first. Here is the completed front panel. Optional: you may further control the points if they need moving by using Iconico s Magnifier software, available at the same website as the tracing paper. Open Screen Tracing Paper. Note the number of points you will need in reconstructing your pattern. Here we need a minimum of 3 points on the left, 2 on top, and 4 at the bottom. Click on DAK s + sign to add them on the appropriate sides of the piece. Screen tracing paper tools Important note: The traced image disappears when you activate your DAK window. No panic you can put it back on again by clicking ALT+TAB. It helps if you place your left hand on these two keys when retracing. Start reconstructing your pattern by dragging points as close as possible to the traced design. You may want to control further the points by using Magnifier. Refer to your GD pattern and take note of the height and width of the piece. Enter these in DAK using the Length and Width tools.
Next, following the same steps and starting with a new block, trace your front side panel. Now we have two finished pieces. Your DAK pattern may need further work: removing unwanted points, straightening lines, and comparing measured segments to that of GD. You can adjust your piece either by using the Table of Xs and Ys or just by dragging the points. Close up of collar area with exact measurements. Don t be alarmed if your copy is off by a few millimetres. That s one of the wonderful things about knits: they are forgiving! Now, if you have decided that you don t want to use the extra software, there is a way around that. Since we are, after all, tracing, you could print out your copy of the Garment Designer garment on tracing paper or a transparency sheet. Then, using a non-abrasive tape such as masking tape, fix the paper to your monitor. Then move the points in Original Drafting to match the image you have taped to the screen. The positive side of this method is you now have pieces in Original Drafting that you can transfer to Interactive Knitting. Because of the nature of the princess seam, you would need to knit these pieces separately and then sew them together. But you would definitely end up with a
garment design that is not currently available in DesignaKnit. While I would not use this method for a basic shape, I do like it for the more complicated shapes. Whether you use the tracing paper software or simply use your monitor as a light box, I believe this method is much easier than the method I was originally using. Thank you, Naomi! Since both these programs have their own strengths, using them together would definitely open up many more opportunities for the machine knitter. However, the machine knitter would have to decide which transfer method would work best for her. Information about Garment Designer by Cochenille, a California company, may be found on their website: http://www.cochenille.com. Also on the site is a list of events where the program will be demoed as well as a list of dealers, both in North America and internationally, at http://www.cochenille.com/ dist.html. Twice a year, the company offers special package pricing. DesignaKnit is produced by Softbyte, an English company with a web site at http:// www.softbyte.com, and can be purchased from Northtipton. If you have questions about either of these programs, please send them to me. Happy Knitting! Cathie Sanders Northtipton Creations