How I Created My First Pattern

Someone asked me how I created my first pattern, so I thought I would share the response here for anyone else who might be interested. ;)

First, I downloaded some grid paper that is made especially for knitting. I found it at

http://www.sweaterscapes.com/grafpap-134.htm.

I decided to make my design 35 stitches wide and 60 stitches high. I lightly drew the football in pencil first, and then went in and filled it in with Xs where I wanted the pattern to show. I also drew in the border.

When I converted it to text format, the tricky thing was remembering that odd rows are read from left to right, but even rows are read from right to left. Also, remember that on odd rows, the Xs would be knits and the blanks would be purls. On the even rows, the Xs are purls and the blanks are knits.

It was very confusing for me at first. LOL I would say it took me an hour to convert it from the grid paper to the text format. I am sure it gets easier with practice.

When I created the cloth, I checked each row on the grid and on the paper as I knitted it so I could find my mistakes. I did find 2 in the text version, so it was a good thing I had done that. I kept track of my progress by using a highlighter to color each row as I started it (on the text and grid versions simultaneously).

If you have designed things before and have any advice for me, please feel free to contact me. I am always open to learning new "tricks."