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*** EasyKnit Manual *** ========================== Make your own Intarsia picture patterns and Punch Cards for your knitting machine. Turn sprite or drawfile pictures into patterns with stitch grids and textual readouts or create your own punch cards . *** About this Manual *** ============================= This manual is divided into three sections, one, describing the layout of the program’s windows, two, the menus and dialogue boxes, and three, the tutorials which make use of the files supplied in the Tutorials directory. If you are unfamiliar with this program or with your computer, then it is strongly recomended that after reading the introduction, you should skip the first two sections and work through tutorials 2, 3, 4 and 5. The first two sections can then be used for reference when you wish to know about the program in more detail. Where the manual is referring to specific parts of the program or menus, or a key to press, the name will be in Bold type. eg. The Tension area is a particular group of icons in the program's EasyKnit window. (see diag 1). A phrase such as: “Choose the EasyKnit/Units/Use inches option from the menu in the EasyKnit window.” means you should do the following: 1. Press the menu (middle) button on the mouse while the pointer is over any visible part of the program’s window which has the word “EasyKnit” in its title bar. 2. Move the pointer over the Units option (it will become highlighted). 3. Move the pointer off to the right of the arrow to open the Units submenu. 4. Click with the Select (left) mouse button on the Use inches option. (The effect of this particular example is to alter the way the program treats numbers typed into its icons from its default setting of using centimetres to treating them as inches.) The program can use either sprite files or draw files as the source of the picture used to create the pattern. These are referred to in the manual as Picture files to indicate that either a sprite or draw file is appropriate. Suitable types of file for use as Pictures are sprites with 4, 16 or 256 colours, or draw files. *** EasyKnit Introduction *** ================================= EasyKnit is a desktop program which requires Risc OS 3.1 or later in order to run. It has been designed to produce either: 1. Textual or Grid & Picture printouts of ‘Intarsia’ knitting patterns created from sprites or draw files. (Referred to as Grid and Picture mode). 2. Blank grids, either of the size and dimensions input to the grid control icons or, if the tension square information is available, to produce a grid of any overall dimensions but with the size of each grid cell the same size as a stitch. (Referred to as Grid Only mode). 3. Punch Card grids filled with symbols. Useful for creating any type of punch cards. You can use either the symbols already supplied or create your own set. (Referred to as Punchcard mode). The program does all calculations at a high degree of accuracy and then as a final step it rounds the answer to the nearest whole stitch or row. A vital step for accurate results is to knit a ‘Tension Square’ test- piece and measure it, then enter the results into the program. EasyKnit then allows you to specify what size on the garment the knitted picture will be, and produce the text pattern and/or gridded colour chart required to knit the picture. The stitch grids produced by EasyKnit can be saved as draw files (not available when used in Punchcard mode), or printed out to any scale, producing if necessary a set of overlapping tiles which can be trimmed and stuck together forming a picture larger than can be printed on a single sheet of paper. EasyKnit allows the textual pattern produced to be saved as a plain text file, or in a format which contains additional layout information, suitable for users of Acorn’s Advance word processor or those supplied by Computer Concepts. Experienced computer users should find the prompts supplied by the program to be enough to get started. If you need a bit more help, EasyKnit can provide it through the computer’s interactive help system. A click on the help button in the EasyKnit window will start it up for you. (see Diagram 1). *** Using !EasyKnit *** =========================== The basic steps in the use of EasyKnit are: 1. Prepare a Tension Square (a vital process to achieve accurate results). 2. Select the desired form of output required (ie. grid only, grid & picture or punchcard mode). 3. Select the units for use in all measurements (either inches or centimetres). 4. Enter your tension square information (unless using the punchcard option). 5. Drag in your picture (if appropriate). 6. Set the desired size of the picture or grid area on the garment when knitted. (the size of picture you can create may be limited by the amount of free memory available in your computer). 7. Open the Edit window. 8. Create a range of colours suitable for your picture and name them. 9. Trace a copy of your picture using the grid-filling tools to fill the grid with suitable colours or, when in punchcard mode, utilise the symbols (either those supplied or your own). 10. Save your Pattern as a text file, draw file, or printout as appropriate. The program also creates its own type of “Easyknit” file which saves all the information required to recreate your work and which can be reloaded at any time for further work to be carried out. You are advised to save your work frequently. *** EasyKnit’s Windows *** ============================== The EasyKnit window ------------------- Double click on !EasyKnit’s icon in a filer window to load it onto the icon bar and then click on it’s icon bar icon to open EasyKnit’s EasyKnit window. (see diagram 1.) The parts of the window which are initially greyed out will be ungreyed as it becomes appropriate for them to do so. < insert diagram 1.> Tension Square Area ------------------- Fill in the information in the ‘Tension Square’ area using the measurements taken from your knitted tension square. The program divides the width of the tension square measurement by the number of stitches entered in the How many stitches wide? icon to get an accurate value for the width of each stitch and a similar process gives an accurate value for the height of a row. The setting of the tension dial on your knitting machine used to produce the tension square should be entered into the ‘Tension dial setting’ icon and will be included at the top of the text output saved from the program as a reminder of the correct setting to use when knitting the pattern. Pressing Return cycles the cursor from one icon to the next while it is in this area. Picture Size Control Area (Grid & Picture Mode) ----------------------------------------------- If you are using the program in Grid & Picture mode, then once you have entered your tension square measurements, you will be prompted to drag into the window your Picture file. The result of dragging in the picture will be to ungrey the previously greyed out Picture Size area of the window and it will now be possible to set the desired size of the picture on the garment. Note: If your Picture is a draw file its recommended that you ensure that all its component parts are in one group. This can be done by loading the file into !Draw and choosing the Select/Select All option. If more than one dashed line bounding box appears then choose the Select/Group option and then resave the file. If only one bounding box is visible then nothing further needs to be done and the draw file is suitable for loading as a picture. Entering a value into any one of the icons in the Picture Size area will recalculate the values shown in each of the others. It is only possible to specify any one of the figures and let the program work out what the others will be as these values are dependant on the aspect ratio of the picture you are using. For example, when using the sprite file ‘Pic’ created in Tutorial 2. If you want the picture to be 70 rows tall then the picture will be 16.1cm high and will be16.1cm wide (54 stitches). If due to the restrictions of the garment you are knitting you decide you only have 50 stitches width available then reduce the value in the ‘Stitches’ box to 50 and the other measurements will be recalculated to suit the new size. Pressing the up or down cursor arrow keys or the Tab key will cause the cursor to move from box to box. Once a figure has been entered, the Edit button will become selectable. The effect of pressing the Return key or clicking on the Edit button is to confirm your choice of picture size and open EasyKnit’s Edit window. Grid Area (Grid Only mode) -------------------------- The Grid area of the EasyKnit window is used if you want to create and fill in a grid without an underlying picture, ie. a ‘blank’ grid. It is ungreyed by choosing EasyKnit/Function/Grid Only. Fill in the icons with figures describing the size of grid you require or, if you want to create a grid with each grid-cell the same width and height as a stitch, type the measurements from your tension square into the Tension Square area then click on the Use Tension Square Info. button. This will calculate the Cell Height and Cell Width values to be one stitch wide and one row high from the information supplied by the Tension Square area and link the measurement part of the Picture Size area to the Rows and Columns Required part of the Grid area. This link allows you to enter a measurement for the overall size of the area on the garment or grid, or to say how many rows and columns you want to produce and see what size of grid/picture this will create. Once you are happy that the figures in the Grid area are all correct a click on the Edit button will open the Edit window with a blank grid ready for you to create your own designs. Picture size control Area (Grid Only Mode) ------------------------------------------ When using the program in grid only mode, the Picture size area is unused and remains greyed out unless you opt to create a grid which has stitch-sized cells. (ie. Enter the measurements from your knitted tension square into the Tension Square area then click on the Use tension info. button). In this case the Height measurement and Width measurement icons become ungreyed, and are linked to the Rows required and Columns (sts.) required icons in the Grid area. Entering a number into the picture size icon will cause it’s grid area icon to be updated. The Cell height and Cell width icons are greyed out and their values are calculated from the information provided in the Tension Square area. Once all the icons have a value in them, pressing Return or clicking on the Edit button will open the Edit window. While there are still icons with no value entered, pressing Return will move the cursor to the next icon. Grid Area (Punchcard Mode) -------------------------- Punchcard mode is used when creating grids where each cell is filled by a symbol instead of a colour, eg. to make a lace pattern, and is selected by choosing EasyKnit/Function/Punchcard. The Rows required and Columns (sts) reqd icons are the only icons which are required to be active in this mode. Enter the number of rows you want the grid to have and the number of columns wide you want the grid to be then press the Return key or click on the Edit button to open the Edit window containing your grid. As the punchcard grid cells are numbered from zero at the centre, increasing both left and right, it is necessary that the value in the Columns (sts) reqd icon in the EasyKnit window is an even number. If you enter a number of columns less than 24, or an odd number of columns, the program will automatically increase the number to 24, and/or, add one more column to the width to ensure you have set an even number of columns which is 24 or greater when you click on the Edit button. Picture size control Area (Punchcard Mode) ------------------------------------------ When in Punchcard mode the Picture size area of the window is unused and remains greyed out. Prompt Area ----------- The ‘Prompt Message’ in the Prompt Area at the bottom of the window will alter as you make choices regarding which mode of operation you wish the program to operate in and will suggest the next step to take by displaying appropriate reminders. It initially assumes Grid and Picture mode. Edit button ----------- The Edit button remains greyed out until all the necessary information required to create the Edit window has been entered into the EasyKnit window. When this has been done, the button is ungreyed and thereafter a click on it with the mouse pointer or pressing the Return key will open EasyKnit’s Edit window. Specifically which information is required to ungrey the Edit button depends on the mode of operation selected from the Function menu in the EasyKnit window. (see the relevant section above for specific info). *** Edit window *** ======================= This is opened by clicking on the Edit button in the EasyKnit window, which becomes ungreyed once there is enough relevant information held in the icons of the EasyKnit window to create a meaningful grid. < insert diagram 2.> All the cells in the grid are initially transparent, allowing the Picture, (if any) to be seen with the grid on top. With the aid of the drawing tools, you trace over the picture filling the cells with appropriate colours to produce a knittable picture. This filled grid is then analysed to create the textual pattern file and/or printed out as a chart. The toolbar operates in the same way when the program is being used in Grid & Picture and Grid Only modes but when used in Punchcard mode some tools are different. The following descriptions apply to Grid & Picture and Grid Only modes. Toolbar(Grid & Picture & Grid Only modes) ----------------------------------------- The toolbar is the strip just below the Title Bar of the window. It contains icons which allow easy access to the main picture editing tools. When creating small patterns the Edit window may not be wide enough to display all the tool icons simultaneously. In this situation the visible portion of the toolbar will scroll towards the right when the mouse pointer is held near the right hand side of the toolbar and is scrolled left when the pointer is near the line separating the Row & Stitch display and the tool icons. Thus allowing access to all the tools. < insert diagram 3 > Editing Tools ------------- 1. This panel displays the row and stitch coordinates under the pointer while it is in the Grid. The coordinates of the bottom left of the grid are 1,1. 2. Click Select to toggle the gridlines between visible or invisible. The grid is still operational when invisible. 3. A ruler is provided to aid positioning and navigation. It is initially attached to the border of the grid but can be attached to the window instead. Click Select to toggle the ruler around the grid between its ‘fixed to the grid’ and ‘fixed to the window’, modes of operation. This latter option may be useful when editing large grids as it prevents the ruler from scrolling out of view. The ruler will always remain around the window showing the portion of itself applicable to the area of the grid visible in the window. The disadvantage of using this option is the reduced area of the grid visible for working on at any one time in the window. 4. If in grid and picture mode, this icon will be ungreyed. Click Select to toggle the Picture between visible and invisible. The icon will either show a representation of a sprite or a draw file depending on the type of Picture you are currently using. 5. Click Select to open the Select Colour window. (see diag 8). This is used to select the ‘current colour’ from the list of colours created and named for use in the grid. The drawing tools always fill the grid cells with the ‘current colour’. If the Rub out tool is chosen instead of a colour then clicking on a filled cell will remove the assigned colour. Click Adjust to open the Edit Colours window. This is used to add more colours to the list of those available (up to a maximum of 32) or to delete unused colours or to name or rename any colour in the list of those already created. Note: new colours are added to the list of colours available from the Edit Colours window by clicking on its New button.(see diagram 7) 6. Any cell or groups of cells in the grid can have a Mask applied to them as well as a colour. Once the mask has been applied, it can be toggled ON or OFF by clicking on this button in the tool bar. When the button is depressed the masking effect is switched ON and any stitches in the grid to which a mask has been applied will become temporarily transparent, allowing the underlying Picture to be seen. When the button is raised the masking effect is switched OFF and any filled stitches in the grid to which a mask has been applied will be visible. This may be useful when trying to choose the correct colours for detailed areas of your picture. As it will allow you to alternately see the area of picture under filled stitches and then the filled stitches themselves, in order to reproduce detailed areas as accurately as the size of the cells in the grid will allow. Masked stitches which are subsequently filled loose their mask and remain visible unless you reapply the mask to them. 7. Click Select or Menu to open a menu allowing control over the various masking operations. (see below for more info). Click Adjust to remove the mask from all stitches. 8. Click Select to open the Magnifier window. Diagram 4. Note: this does not alter the real size of the pattern, only the scale of the view displayed in the window. 9. Click Select to make the pencil the currently active drawing tool. This tool fills the individual stitches under the Pointer with the currently selected colour when you click Select on them. Clicking on a filled stitch with the Adjust button will make the colour of the stitch clicked on, the current colour. This is a short cut equivalent to clicking on the relevant colour panel in the Select Colour window. 10. Click Select to make the Block Fill tool the currently active tool. Move the pointer over the stitch at the edge of an area you wish to fill with the current colour and drag to enclose the area. When you release the drag, all of the area inside the dotted rubber box is filled with the current colour. Any stitches which previously had a different colour in them will be changed to the current colour. 11. Similar in method of operation to the Block Fill tool 10. but this tool will only fill stitches which are blank. Any stitches which are already coloured are not affected. This will prove useful in areas of your picture where some stitches form ‘chains’ through an underlying ‘solid’ colour. Trace over the stitches which form the ‘chain’ in one colour then switch to this tool and drag over the entire area with the solid colour as the currently selected colour. This will fill any unfilled stitches with the solid colour without changing the colour of the stitches which form the ‘chain’. This allows you to create the detail in areas first then to speedily fill in the area around the detail with the main colour. Toolbar (Punchcard Mode) ------------------------ <diagram 5.> 1. This displays the row and stitch coordinates under the pointer while it is in the Edit window. The bottom centre is 1,1 increasing left or right from the centre line. 2. This icon is unused and greyed out. 3. Click Select to toggle the ruler around the grid between its ‘fixed to the grid’ and ‘fixed to the window’, modes of operation. When the rulers are in the ‘fixed to the window’ mode of operation, pressing menu while the pointer is over the area of the window occupied by the ruler will open the Ruler menu, allowing you to choose a suitable colour for the background of the ruler areas from the list provided. 4. This icon is unused and greyed out. 5. Click Select to open the Symbol Selector window. (see diagram 6). To make a symbol the ‘current symbol’ which will be used by the drawing tools in the grid, click on it, or the radio button below it, with the mouse. The current symbol is indicated by the radio button below it being pressed inward instead of being raised. If you have supplied your own set of symbols then you can show different pages of symbols for selection by clicking on the Bump arrows at either side of the Symbol name display. (see below for more info on supplying your own symbols). 6. This icon is unused and greyed out. 7. This icon is unused and greyed out. 8. Click Select to open the Magnifier window. Adjust the figures to change the scale at which the Edit window is viewed. Note: this does not alter the real size of the pattern, only the scale of the view displayed in the window. (See diagram 4). 9. Click Select to make the pencil the currently active drawing tool. This tool fills the individual stitches under the Pointer with the currently selected symbol when you click Select on them. If you click on a cell containing a Symbol using the Adjust button, the “current symbol” will switch to become that of the cell clicked on. (this is instead of clicking in the Symbol selector window). 10. Click Select to make the Block Fill the currently active tool. Move the pointer over the cell at the edge of an area you wish to fill with the current symbol and drag to enclose the area. When you release the drag, all of the area inside the dotted box is filled with the current symbol. Any stitches which previously had a symbol in them will be changed to the current symbol. 11. This is the Block Copy tool. To initiate copying a block of filled cells to a different area of the grid, select this tool on the toolbar then move the pointer over the stitch at a corner of the area you wish to copy and drag to enclose the area you want to copy. When you release the drag, a small red crosshair will be attached to the mouse pointer. This crosshair represents the lower left corner of the block you defined for copying by dragging. Move the pointer until it is over the stitch where you want the lower left of the copied block to appear and click the Select button on the mouse. The block marked for copying will then be pasted into place and the crosshair will disappear. Another block can then be marked for copying by dragging to enclose it and repeating the pasting process. If you want to paste the same block into more than one place on the grid, click using the Adjust (right) button on the mouse instead of Select to place the block. The crosshair will remain attached to the pointer ready to paste the block again at the next position. This process can be repeated as often as required. If the block being copied extends beyond the grid, the grid will be correctly filled to its edge and any excess area of the block will be ignored. *** Symbol Selector Window *** ================================== < insert diagram 6 > When the program is being used in Punchcard mode, clicking with the Select mouse button on the palette button in the toolbar (see button No.5, diag 5) will open the symbol selector window. This shows the symbols which are provided with the program for use in the punchcard grid. The currently selected symbol is indicated by the radio button below the symbol being depressed and will be used by the drawing tools to fill the grid. To change to a different symbol, simply click on either the new symbol itself or on its associated radio icon. It is possible to create your own symbols which can be added to the list of those available, in which case, additional ‘pages’ containing your symbols are available in the symbol selector window. To view these additional pages, click on the one of the bump arrows at either side of the symbol name display area of the window. This will step through each pagefull available. There is no limit to the number of symbols you can have in addition to those already provided other than the amount of available memory in your computer. The extra symbols are draw files of a particular size and are made available to the program by storing them in a directory called “Symbols” along with a special text file named “Describe” giving, in a special format, a short descriptional name, for use in the Symbol name display, for each additional symbol. A copy of the ‘Symbols’ directory is placed in the same filer window as the !EasyKnit program itself and the program loads them from there and makes them available for use from the Symbol Selector window. Note : Before loading a previously saved Easyknit file which makes use of additional symbols provided in this manner, it is necessary to make sure that a copy of the relevant Symbols directory is placed in the same filer directory as the !EasyKnit program. Then you can load the Easyknit file and the symbols it needs will be available. For more specific details about creating your own groups of symbols for use in punchcard mode see tutorial 6. *** Edit Colour Window *** ============================== The Edit Colour window is opened by clicking with Adjust on the Palette button on the tool bar of the Edit window. (No.5 in diagram 3). <diagram 7 > This window is used to create and name a range of colours for use in filling the grid, to alter previously defined colours, and to change the name associated with the colour. A maximum of 32 colours can be created for use. The name given to each colour can be have a maximum of 12 characters which can include spaces and numbers and is used to produce the text pattern. The name given to each colour is used to create the text of the pattern eg. if you have created 3 colours and named them Red, Blue and Dk. Green, then a typical line in your text pattern could look like this:- Row 21: 5 Red 4 Dk.Green 4 Blue 3 Dk.Green 1. Click on the New button to add another colour panel and colour name, and open the Colour Picker window. The colour panel is initially grey and has a default name when created. It is set to the correct colour by clicking on the required colour in the Colour Picker window. (see diag 9). Delete the default name which appears in the name icon (no.3 in diag 7) and type in a suitable name for the colour (maximum of 12 characters). There is no need to press Return. 2. A click on the Remove button will delete the current colour from the list of those available and also from any grid cells which have been filled using it, leaving them blank. 3. Enter the name associated with the current colour in this box. This name is used in the text pattern and can be up to 12 characters long. The name can be altered at any time before saving the pattern, (as can the shade of the colour the name represents). 4. Click on the Alter button to open the colour picker window without creating a new colour. This is used if you decide to alter the shade of an existing colour. eg. If you initially created a light and a dark green and subsequently wanted to have a mid green as well, you could alter the shade of green used to represent light green to a very light shade thus leaving room for a mid range green shade to be visually different from the other two. Alter the shade used to represent a colour name simply by ensuring that the colour you wish to change is the current colour then click on the Alter button in the Edit Colours window to open the Colour Picker window then click on the new colour shade in the Colour Picker window. The grid in the Edit window is redrawn using the new colour to fill any stitches filled with the previous shade when you close the Edit colours window. *** Select Colour Window *** ================================ The Select Colour window is opened by clicking with Select on the Palette button on the tool bar of the Edit window. (No.5 in diagram 3). This window is used to alter which colour, (or the mask or eraser) is treated by the drawing tools in the Edit window as the current colour to be applied to cells in the grid. Each colour defined is shown as a panel in this area along with its name. (a maximum of 32 colours can be defined).You may need to scroll the panel or resize the window to see the colour you wish to select. < insert diagram 8 > 1. The Mask can be selected and applied in the same way as any colour. It can be applied to individual stitches or to areas in addition to colours. 2. Selecting this panel makes the eraser the current colour. This is applied in the same way as a colour but its effect is to permanently remove any previously applied colour leaving the stitch transparent. ie. it rubs out colours. 3. Each colour which has been created for use in the pattern is also named. The name given to each colour appears next to its corresponding colour panel. (max. 32 colours). Clicking on the panel of colour or on its name selects it as the current colour. The name given to each colour is used in the production of the text pattern. 4. Only one item in the Select Colour window can be the current colour. The current colour is shown by the tick between the colour panel and its name. The current colour is the one which will be applied by the drawing tools in the Edit window when filling in the grid. To make a different colour the current colour, click on either the panel showing the colour you wish to use or on its name. The tick will move to be beside this new colour. *** Colour Picker Window *** ================================ This window is opened automatically when you click on the New button in the Edit colours window to create a new colour. It allows you to choose the shade of the new colour, or, by clicking on the Alter button in the Edit colours window, you can alter the shade of an existing (current) colour. < insert diagram 9 > The large colour picker panel, displays all the colours available in 256 colour screen modes, eg. Mode 15 or Mode 40. If the computer is in a 16 colour mode, eg, Mode 13 or Mode 39, then this panel will not look right. It will appear to be made up of blocks of the same colour and should not be used. Use one of the colours from the smaller panel with 16 colours available at the right. This will ensure that only colours which are available in 16 colour screen modes are used. If you are using only a few colours then you may well find that the computer operates faster by using a 16 colour screen mode. (this can be done from the menu associated with the palette icon on the icon bar). If more colours are needed then change to a 256 colour screen mode and choose your colours from the large panel. *** Menus and Dialogue Boxes *** ==================================== This section of the manual provides a description of the various menus and dialogue boxes used by the program. Menu items with a rightward pointing arrow lead to sub-menus which have a range of options associated with the menu entry. Moving the pointer off to the right of an arrow will open that options sub-menu. A phrase such as: “Choose the EasyKnit/Units/Use inches option from the menu in the EasyKnit window.” means you should do the following: 1. Press the menu (middle) button on the mouse while the pointer is over any visible part of the program’s window which has the word “EasyKnit” in its title bar. (If necessary click on EasyKnit’s icon bar icon to open the window first). 2. Move the pointer over the Units option (it will become highlighted). 3. Move the pointer off to the right of the arrow to open the Units submenu. 4. Click with the Select (left) mouse button on the Use inches option. Icon bar menu ------------- This menu is associated with the program’s icon bar icon. The Icon bar/Info option leads to a standard information box giving details about the EasyKnit program. Icon bar/Clear provides a means to reduce the memory used to the minimum required to run the program. Choosing this option is the equivalent of quitting the program and then reloading it. All work currently held by the program is lost. You will be prompted if there is any unsaved work held by the program when you choose this option. This may be useful for freeing memory for use by other programs. Icon bar/Quit is the standard method of discarding the program from memory when no longer required. EasyKnit menu ------------- This menu is available from the EasyKnit window (see diag 1). Each option leads to a submenu containing further choices. Clicking on EasyKnit’s icon bar icon will open the EasyKnit window if the window is not on the screen. EasyKnit/Project Info --------------------- When altering the information in this dialogue box, any changes you make will only take permanent effect when you click on the OK button. If you click on Cancel or close the menu by clicking outside the box then any changes you have made are lost and the original contents are restored. < insert diagram 10 > 1. Enter a suitable name for your project eg. ‘Berty’s polo-neck cardigan’ into this icon. The project name can be up to a maximum of 100 characters long and is used in the textual information added to the output of the program. 2. Enter the row number on which you want the bottom row of your intarsia picture to be, into this icon. The row numbers in the pattern will then start from the specified number. This allows you to adjust the vertical position of the picture on the garment by defining which row number should be the bottom of the picture. The row counter on your knitting machine will then match the row numbers in the text pattern. 3. These icons are used to inform the program of the size of the text frame being used by Advance to print the pattern. (the sizes to use are available from the WIDTH icon in the COLUMNS section and by subtracting the TOP & BOTTOM margins values from the DEPTH icon in the Page Size area of !Advance’s Alter Pages dialogue box), and should be set to the height and width of the text frame. It is recommend that a ‘Landscape’ page orientation is used for the text pattern as this allows more of the information concerning each row of the pattern to be included on one line of the text. 4. Clicking on the Cancel button or clicking outside the menu structure will close the Project Information dialogue box without storing any changes you may have made. 5. Click on OK to confirm that the information in all the icons is correct and update the program with these values. Any changes made to the information held in these icons are not remembered by the program unless this button is used. 6. The Make Plan icon controls the analysis of the Edit window’s stitch grid while creating a text pattern. When this icon is selected, the text pattern created is suitable for use as a map for planting bulbs in the garden. The pattern produces a picture ‘as seen from the front’ and is not suitable for intarsia patterns but this option may allow the program to be useful for other purposes. 7. The Make Intarsia Pattern icon controls the analysis of the Edit window’s stitch grid while the program is creating a text pattern. When this icon is selected, the text pattern created is suitable for use as an Intarsia pattern. The pattern produced is the picture ‘as seen from the back’. EasyKnit/Mode ------------- The ticked choice in this menu tells the program what you want to use it for. Only one option can be used at a time. Grid Only produces a blank grid of cells ready to be filled with your own designs. Grid & Picture is the default choice and allows a grid to be created with a Picture behind it allowing you to fill the grid cells with a tracing of the picture. Punchcard is used when you want to create a grid using symbols instead of colours, such as a Lace pattern. The grid in Punchcard mode has a zero in the middle and the cell numbers increase to left and right from there. EasyKnit/Units -------------- Choose here whether you want the program to assume that all entered measurements are in inches (and tenths of inches), or in centimetres (and mm). This allows you to work with inches or cm measures as you prefer. EasyKnit/Save ------------- The save menu has options to open a Save as box giving options to allow you to save various kinds of information :- EasyKnit/Save/Draw ------------------ Save the grid/grid & picture as a draw file for loading into other programs. Alter the default filename Result, then drag the draw file icon from the top of the menu to the filer window you are saving your work in. Note : If your Picture is a draw file, it will not be included in the draw file saved, but can be combined manually. (see below for more info on this). EasyKnit/Save/Pattern --------------------- Use plain text format unless you have !Advance or another (CC compatible) word processor. Click on the button next to the format of the text you require, (a tick shows the current format). Alter the default filename Pattern, then drag the text file icon from the top of the menu to a suitable filer window. The Advance Text option saves additional layout information allowing Advance to perform most of the layout (on a landscape oriented A4 page) automatically. EasyKnit/Save/Easyknit ---------------------- Saves the work currently in progress in the program. Give the file a suitable name and then drag the icon to a filer window. Double clicking on an Easyknit file loads it into the program allowing you to continue work started at an earlier time. As a short cut, pressing the F3 function key opens this save box and if you have already saved your work once, (by dragging the icon to a filer window), then pressing the Return key or clicking on Save, while this window is on the screen, will save the file using the same name to the same place. It is strongly recommended that you save your work as you go, (about every 10 minutes), so that you always have a reasonably up to date copy of your work stored on disk in case of disaster striking. Note: The Picture file if any is stored inside the Easyknit file and reloading an Easyknit file will reload the Picture. However if you have supplied some symbols of your own for use in Punchcard mode these are not saved along with the Easyknit file. The Symbols directory used to provide the extra symbols must be placed in the same filer window as the !EasyKnit program before attempting to load EasyKnit or an Easyknit file or it will fail to load properly. It is suggested that the Easyknit file and its associated Symbols directory should both be stored, together with a short descriptive text file,(created in !Edit and saved to the same directory with the name “Read_Me”), on the same disc when not in use in order that you know in future which Symbols directory should be made available to !EasyKnit in order that the Easyknit file will load correctly. Remember to make the Symbols directory available to EasyKnit by placing it in the same filer directory as the EasyKnit program before loading EasyKnit or an Easyknit file which utilises the extra symbols. Edit menu --------- Available by pressing Menu over the Edit window. Edit/Save --------- Leads to the same Save menu as EasyKnit/Save. (see above). Edit/Zoom --------- Opens the Magnifier window. (see diagram 4). Edit/Gridlines -------------- Opens a list of colours, choosing one of which sets the colour of the gridlines in the Edit window to the chosen colour. This enables you to ensure that the colour the grid is drawn in provides a contrast with the colours used in the Picture. Selecting this option toggles the gridlines visible/invisible and is equivalent to clicking on the Grid button in the Edit window toolbar. (see No.2 diagram 3). Edit/Rulers ----------- A ruler is provided to aid positioning and navigation. It is initially attached to the border of the grid but can be attached to the window instead. Choosing this option toggles the ruler between its ‘fixed to the edge of the grid’ and ‘attached to the window’ modes. This latter option may be useful when editing large grids as it prevents the ruler from scrolling out of view. The ruler will always remain around the window showing the portion of itself applicable to the area of the grid visible in the window. The disadvantage of using this option is the reduced area of the grid visible for working on at any one time in the window. Choosing this option is equivalent to clicking on the Ruler button in the Edit window toolbar. (see No.3 diagram 3). Edit/Show Picture ----------------- If in Grid and Picture mode, this option will be ungreyed. Click Select to toggle the Picture between visible and invisible. Choosing this option is equivalent to clicking on the Picture button in the Edit window toolbar. (see No.4 diagram 3). Edit/Select Colour ------------------ Choose this option to open the Select Colour window, used to set the current colour for use by the drawing tools. (see diag 8). Edit/Edit Colours ----------------- Choose this option to open the Edit Colours window, it is used to create new colours, or alter the shade or name of existing colours, making them available for use by the drawing tools. Edit/Mask --------- Opens the Mask submenu. This menu can also be opened by clicking on button No.7 on the toolbar in the Edit window. (see diag 3) Edit/Mask/Show masked stitches ------------------------------ Toggles filled stitches in the Grid to which a mask has been applied between their visible and invisible states. When ticked, the Mask is turned OFF and the stitches to which a mask has been applied are visible. Edit/Mask/Remove Mask --------------------- When chosen, this option removes the mask from all stitches in the Grid to which it has previously been applied. (this is equivalent to clicking on button No.7 diag 3 with the Adjust button.) Edit/Mask/All except current ---------------------------- When chosen, a mask is applied to all the stitches in the grid with the exception of the current colour as specified in the Select Colour window. Use this option on a filled grid with the Gridlines and Show Picture options turned OFF to enable you to count how many individual blocks of the selected colour there are in the pattern, thus allowing you to pre-wind the correct number of balls of wool for use when knitting the garment. Repeat this process with each colour used in the pattern to build up a total for each colour. Edit/Mask/Only current ---------------------- Applies the mask to all stitches in the grid which are set to the current colour, and removes it from all others. Edit/Background ---------------- Opens a list of colours, choosing one of which sets the colour of the background of the Edit window to the chosen colour. This enables you to ensure that the background of the Edit window is drawn in a colour which provides a contrast with the colours used in the Picture. Edit/Project Info ----------------- Opens the Project Information dialogue box. Edit/Print ---------- Opens the EasyKnit Print dialogue box which controls how the contents of the Edit window are printed. Choose which items you want to print, set the scale then press the Return key or click on the Print button to initiate the printing process. < insert diagram 11 > 1. The name of the currently active printer driver will appear in this panel. 2. When ticked, the gridlines are included in the printout. Otherwise they are ignored. 3. When ticked, the filled in stitches of the grid are included in the printout. Otherwise they are ignored. 4. When ticked the Picture file if any is included in the printout. Otherwise it is ignored. 5. A tick in this box creates a printout which is a mirror image of the filled stitches if this option is ticked. This is required if you want to work from a chart of coloured stitches with gridlines superimposed rather than a text pattern, as this produces the correct orientation to knit with. 6. With some versions of the printer drivers there is a glitch in our program whereby when you print out the gridlines and the Picture, and the picture is a Sprite file, the sprite is printed upside down in relation to the grid. This does not happen with all printer drivers but if it does happen to you, then ticking this option will correct the problem. Try a printout of a small grid and sprite to find out if this will occur on your system and if it does then it will happen every time unless this switch is ticked before initiating the printing process. 7. Enter a number to alter the scale at which the printout of your grid is created. 100% is actual size, 50% is half size, 200% is double size etc. This will allow you to enlarge small grids so they are easier to see or to reduce the size of large grids to use less ink and paper. 8. Click on the bump arrows to alter the figure in the Scale box as an alternative to typing. 9. This panel shows how many sheets of paper will be required to print out your grid at the chosen scale. If the grid is too large to fit on a single A4 sheet of paper then it will be split into tiles with a 2 stitch overlap at the sides to aid piecing them together after they have beenrinted. The number of tiles created is shown in this panel. Note: it may be possible to significantly reduce the number of tiles created by slightly reducing the scale at which you create the printout. eg. if when printed at 100% the grid requires 2 by 3 tiles because it is only a bit wider than the width of a page and slightly longer than 2 pages, then reducing the scale of the printout to 95% or 90% may well mean your printout will now fit on one page width and 2 page depths thus needing only 2 pages to print out on instead of 6. 10. Clicking on this button will calculate and set the scale factor required to ensure the printout of the grid will fill one page. If you use this option on a very large grid, particularly if the gridlines are included, then the resulting printout may be too dense to see any detail. Trial and error is required. 11. Clicking on the Cancel button closes the Print dialogue box without any further action taking place. 12. Clicking on the Print button, or pressing the Return key starts the printing process. *** Tutorials *** ===================== The files used in this section can be found in the Tutorials directory supplied with the EasyKnit program. The tutorials are provided to help guide you through the process of using the facilities provided by !EasyKnit thereby enabling you to achieve familiarity with the program and to produce consistent results in the shortest time. Tutorial 1 - To create a Tension Square. Tutorial 2 - To create an intarsia pattern from a sprite. Tutorial 3 - To create an Intarsia pattern from a draw file. Tutorial 4 - To create your own design on a blank grid. Tutorial 5 - To create a Punchcard using Symbols. Tutorial 6 - To create your own Symbols for use in Punchcard Mode. Each tutorial makes use of some of the files which are stored in the Tutorials directory supplied with the program. Before embarking on a tutorial you should first create a new directory on a blank disc with a suitable name which will be used to hold all the files needed by each project. I’ll call it “WorkDir”. At the start of each tutorial there is a list of the files required for use. You should consult the list and place a copy of all the relevant files (from the Tutorials directory), into your WorkDir directory, then use these copies for the tutorial. The WorkDir directory can also be used to store the output from the program, and the Easyknit file, which is used to save your work as you progress. Tutorial 1 ----------- Files Required: None. To Create a Tension Square -------------------------- Before starting to use the program it is important for accurate end results that you create a tension square using the yarn and machine settings (eg. the tension dial setting), you intend to use for your garment. (see diagram 12) I suggest you cast on 60 stitches with waste yarn and knit 10 rows. Choose 3 different colours from the yarn intended for use in the garment and over 3 blocks of 20 needles using the Intarsia carriage knit 25 rows. Then knit in by hand a piece of contrast yarn on needle No.26 either side of centre. Knit a further 25 rows with the Intarsia carriage then join in some waste yarn and knit another 10 rows. Remove the tension square from the machine. Treat the tension square as per the yarn manufacturers instructions for a finished garment (eg. if using pure wool wash, press and leave to settle for a minimum of 2 hours or preferably overnight). Then: Measure the 50 stitches between the 2 marked stitches (this is the Width of the tension square). Measure the 50 rows between the waste yarn (this is the Height of the tension square). < insert diagram 12 > Tutorial 2 ---------- Files Required: Testpic Testpic2 (identical to, and can be substituted for, the file Pic created below). Before embarking on this tutorial it is important that if you intend to actually knit and measure the test picture, you create and measure a tension square using the yarn and machine settings you will be using to knit the pattern when it’s created. If you only want to try out the program then use the figures supplied. (see Tutorial 1 for more info.) I also recommend that you use a 256 colour screen mode (eg. mode 15, or 21 or 40) while working on this tutorial as this will provide a better range of colours to work with. For the purposes of this tutorial I’m going to use the following as the results of measuring a Tension Square:- Width of tension square 15.00 cm Height of tension square 11.50 cm Stitches wide 50 Rows high 50 Machine tension dial setting 6 When you are working through the tutorial, substitute your own measurements and settings from your knitted tension square for those I’m using and, provided that you specify the same Picture Size as used in the tutorial, the completed picture will fit the measurements as shown in diagram 13, even although the number of rows and stitches in the grid may be different from those specified using the tension square measurements I have used. To prepare a sprite for use in EasyKnit --------------------------------------- Before using a sprite as a Picture in EasyKnit it is important for the production of accurate results that the sprite is trimmed to size in such a way that there is no border of unnecessary pixels surrounding the area of the sprite you want to use as your knitted picture. In this tutorial we will be using a copy of the sprite file named ‘TestPic’. It has a border (coloured grey), of pixels surrounding the part we will be using as the basis of this tutorial. (see diagram 13). < insert diagram 13 > To remove the unwanted area so that the sprite contains only the area of the picture we need:- Load the file TestPic from the WorkDir directory window into !Paint by double clicking on it. A sprite file window showing a small version of the sprite will appear. Press menu over this picture and choose Display/Full Info. Resize the window and you will see that the sprite TestPic is 364 by 182 pixels in size. Double click on this small version of the sprite in the sprite file window to open the Sprite window containing the full size sprite, Paint's toolbox will also open. Arrange the windows on the screen so that you can see the whole sprite and the WorkDir window. Click on the Camera tool then click on the Export button. Move the pointer to the top left of the yellow rectangle and drag to the bottom right of the yellow area. When you release the drag a Save box will pop open. Drag the icon to the WorkDir window. Close the sprite file window containing the small version of the file TestPic then double click on the file Export to load it into Paint. Then resize the sprite file window so that you can see the size information. If you have successfully copied the whole of the yellow block then the sprite will now be 300 by 150 pixels in size. If you find that you have a different size from this either repeat the above process until its right or use !Paint’s Remove/Add Columns or Rows (from Paint’s Edit menu option) to adjust the size until it is correct. Alternatively, you can use the sprite file called TestPic2 from the WorkDir directory as this is already the correct size. Note: Paint will remove or add columns or rows at the position which is under the pointer when you press the menu button. Use this facility in conjunction with a large Zoom to ensure that you remove/add the correct extra rows or columns. If you have added extra rows or columns they will need to be set to the correct colour by clicking on the Paint Pot tool, selecting the appropriate colour from the Colours window then clicking on the required area. When you have achieved the correct size for the sprite, use the menu available from the sprite file window (the window with the small version of the sprite) to rename the sprite as Pic then go off the Save option, delete the name Export and type in Pic then click on OK. You will now have a new sprite file called Pic in the WorkDir directory ready for use later. The reason for doing this trimming is to ensure that the top, sides and bottom of the sprite you are going to use as your Picture file exactly enclose the area you want to knit. If you leave some unwanted rows of pixels along the top say, then when you set the Picture Size in EasyKnit and the sprite is scaled up, you may well find that the top two or three rows of your pattern are actually all in background colour and therefore the final size of the picture will be a few rows shorter than expected thus messing up the accuracy with which you can define the size of the finished result. Creating an Intarsia pattern from a sprite ------------------------------------------ Load EasyKnit onto the icon bar by double clicking on its icon in a filer window. Click on EasyKnit’s icon bar icon to open the EasyKnit window and enter your tension square measurements into the relevant icons in the Tension Square area. Press Menu over the EasyKnit window and go off the Project Info option to open the Project Information window. Alter the Project name from its default Project to “Tutorial 2 Test Picture.”, and ensure that the Make Intarsia Pattern option is selected. Alter the figure in the Start row numbers from icon to be 11. (this allows you to knit a border [of 10 rows] using waste yarn around the picture in order to represent the garment the picture is being placed in and makes the measurement of the finished article easier). Click on the OK button to confirm these changes and simultaneously close the menu. Drag the sprite file ‘Pic’ from the WorkDir directory into the EasyKnit window. This will ungrey the Picture size area of the window. We want to create a picture which is 20cm high so type the figure 20 into the Height measurement icon. The other values are calculated according to the aspect ratio (ie shape) of the Picture used and the tension square information. Note: We are using a sprite which is defined as 300pixels wide by 150 pixels tall in screen mode 12, which is a “rectangular pixel” screen mode where each pixel is twice as high as it is wide. This means that the shape of our sprite is a square and the width measurement is therefore also calculated to be 20cm. Rectangular shaped sprites used as Picture files will be scaled appropriately and their height and width sizes will not be identical to each other as they happen to be in this case. Click on the Edit button (or press Return) to open EasyKnit’s Edit window. Press the F3 function key to open the Save box and drag the Easyknit file icon into the WorkDir directory window. Using the Adjust button, click on the palette icon in the tool bar (no.5 diagram 3), to open the Edit Colours window. Click on the grey colour panel named Colour 1 to select it then click on the Alter button to open the Colour Picker window. Note: we are about to alter the default grey colour of Colour 1 to a shade which will represent the Yellow in the Picture, however, if we simply choose the same shade of yellow as that already used in the Picture then it will be difficult to distinguish between the grid cells which we will soon be filling in our chosen colour, and the yellow of the underlying Picture. For this reason we will choose a lighter shade of yellow from the 256 colour panel, similarly we should try to avoid choosing identical matches for the other colours, use something similar but with a slight contrast. Click on a yellow square in the 256 colour area of the Colour Picker window. (diagram 9). Then delete the text “Colour 1” from the name icon at the bottom of the Edit Colours window and type in “Yellow”. (there is no need to press Return) Now we need to make a blue colour panel available for use. To do this:- Click on the New button in the Edit Colours window to create another colour panel, it will be grey in colour and have a default colour name. Choose a shade of blue from the Colour Picker window then delete the colour name Colour 2 and type in “Blue”. Repeat the above process to create a “Green” and a “Black” colour panel, then close the Edit colours window. Press the F3 function key to open the Save box and click on OK to save your updated work. (This will only work if the Edit window has the input focus, ie its Title bar will be cream. If it's grey then click in the window to turn it cream). Click on the palette tool (no.5 diagram 3), using the Select button to open the Select Colour window (diagram 8) ready for use. You may well find it useful to click on the Magnifier tool (No.8 diagram 3) and increase the magnification in order to get a better view of the contents of the Edit window. Click on the Block Fill tool (No.10 diagram 3). Click on the Yellow colour panel in the Select Colour window to ensure that it is the current colour. Drag a box across the top of the grid enclosing the area of the grid showing the yellow part of the Picture. This will fill the grid with your chosen shade of yellow. Note: you may have to scroll your view of the window in order to fill all of the top area. If there are two Picture colours contained within one row of grid cells you will have to decide which colour to use for that particular row of the grid. In general choose the colour which covers the largest portion of the area of a grid cell. (This general rule may occasionally need to be overridden in order to incorporate important details which would otherwise be lost altogether). Repeat the dragging process down the two sides of the grid and across the bottom. Save your progress. (Press the F3 function key and click on Save). Drag fill the three yellow rectangles in the centre of the Picture. (ensure that each rectangle occupies the same number of stitches and rows in order to preserve the symmetry of the design). Click on the black colour panel in the Select Colour window and drag fill the black cross in the centre of the Picture. If you now click on the Picture tool (No.4 diagram 3), the Picture will become invisible and your grid will look like diagram 14. < insert diagram 14 > Click on the Picture tool to make the Picture visible again. Make Green the current colour by selecting it in the Select Colour window. Click on the Pencil tool (No.9 diagram 3), and scroll your view of the grid so that the top left portion of the green circle is visible. You now have to utilise your artistic creativity to create the curve by filling the individual stitches which will form the boundary between the outer part of the green, and the blue areas. This process is somewhat simplified if, as a first step, you work your way around the curve boundary initially filling only those stitches which are mostly green with only a small portion of blue, then when this has been done, go back over the area again making decisions about those stitches where the proportions of green and blue are more evenly balanced. Work your way around the outside of the entire circle until you are reasonably happy with the curve you have created. (remember that you can use the Rub Out tool instead of a colour to remove the green from cells which you have filled then change your mind about). Remember to save your work as you progress When you have completed the outer boundary to your own satisfaction, change to the Block Fill tool and complete the rest of the green area by dragging a series of boxes to cover the required grid cells. If you now make the Picture invisible by clicking on the Picture tool, (No.4 diagram 3), your grid should look similar to diagram 15. < insert diagram 15 > Click on the Picture tool to make the Picture visible again. Click on the empty cell block filling tool (No.11 diagram 3), then click on the blue panel in the Select colour window. Adjust the ratio in the Zoom tool so that the entire grid can be seen in the Edit window then, starting inside the yellow area at the top left, drag a box which is large enough to enclose the grid, then release the drag. The empty grid cells overlaying the blue areas of the Picture will all be filled with your chosen shade of blue while the grid cells which have already been filled will remain unchanged. Remember to save your work It is now worth spending some time using the pencil tool and making adjustments to individual cells to ensure that the grid is reasonably symmetrical. For example if you find that there are 11 rows of the green circle separating the top and bottom blue corners at the left of the diagram but 13 or 14 rows of green on the right then alter the colour of the cells to produce a balanced grid. Note: Remember that you can alter which colour is the current one by clicking with the Adjust button on a cell which has been filled with the colour you want to change to. You will find this facility eases the frequent need to change colours while making these final adjustments to the grid. When you are satisfied with your work save it. In order to check that all the grid cells have been filled and that none have been missed out:- Make the Picture invisible by clicking on the Picture tool (No.4 diagram 3) Press Menu, go off the Background option and choose a strongly contrasting colour which has not been used as a cell filling colour. (in this case I’ll use Red). Any unfilled stitches should now stand out from the others, enabling you to find and fill them with the appropriate colour. If you have done a good job of filling the grid and there are no unfilled cells to be seen, switch to the Rub out tool in the Select colour window and using the pencil tool, click on a few cells at random to remove the colour from them temporarily so that you can see how easily any unfilled cells stand out. (Don’t forget to refill them appropriately again afterwards). Counting how many blocks of each colour --------------------------------------- Although in this particular case doing so by eye would be quite straight forward, if you want to know how many individual blocks of each colour are present in the pattern in order that you can pre-wind sufficient balls of each colour before starting to knit the garment then :- Ensure that the Picture is set to be invisible. (button No.4 diagram 3 should appear raised). Turn off the gridlines by clicking on button No.2 diagram 3. Click on the top panel of colour in the Select colour window, (in this case Yellow). Click on the Mask tool (No.7 diagram 3), to open the Mask menu and choose the All except current option. This will mask out all the stitches except the yellow ones allowing the red background to show through and making it easy to count the number of individual blocks of yellow in the pattern. Click on the next colour in the list in the Colour selector window (in this case Blue). Then open the mask menu and choose the All except current option again. This will show the individual blocks of blue. Repeat this process with each colour in turn until you have counted how many balls of each colour you need for the pattern. When you have finished counting the colours, open the mask menu by clicking on the Mask tool (No.7 diagram 3), and choose the Remove mask option. Press Menu over the grid, go off the Background option and click on the White colour option to reset the background to white. To work from a chart showing the filled grid cells. --------------------------------------------------- Make sure you have a colour printer driver active on the icon bar and that the printer is switched on and has paper available. Note: if you are short of free memory in your computer then once you have Run !Printers and activated the colour driver you can regain some memory to help speed up the printing process by Quitting !Printers from the icon bar. The modules required to operate the printer will remain installed in memory and the printing process will still work. Press the Print key on the keyboard to open the Print dialogue box, select the Grid, Stitches and Mirror buttons, (each of these should then have a Tick). In this case you can click on the Fit to page button and you should produce a readable chart, though when creating your own (larger) patterns this may not always be so and you may need produce a set of tiles then trim and fix them together. The Tiles information icon in the Scale area of the Print dialogue box will tell you how many tiles will be necessary to produce the complete chart at the current Scale setting, and clicking on the Print button will automatically produce the tiles, (with a 2 stitch overlap), for you. Click on the Print button to start the printing process. To make a pattern. ------------------ Press Menu over the Edit window and go off the Save, then off the Pattern options. If you own a copy of !Advance or one of the word processors produced by Computer Concepts Ltd. then ensure that the Advance text option is ticked, otherwise click on the Plain text button then drag the text file icon to the WorkDir filer window. This will generate the text pattern in the required format and store it in the WorkDir directory, ready for loading into your preferred word processor for printing. When you knit the pattern cast on 20 more stitches than the pattern requires and knit 10 rows with waste yarn then centre the Picture between 10 stitches of waste yarn at each side. Finnish off with 10 rows of waste yarn at the top of the Picture before removing the garment from the machine and treating as per the yarn manufacturers instructions for a finished garment. Allow to stand then measure your garment and compare with the expected results as shown in diagram 13. *** Tutorial 3 *** ====================== Files Required: Clown. This process is essentially the same as creating a pattern from a sprite as discussed in tutorial 2. You can refer back for detailed information on how to produce colours etc. The only real difference is that you are dragging in a draw file instead of a sprite for use as your picture. To prepare a draw file for use in EasyKnit. ------------------------------------------- Before using a draw file as a picture it is best to ensure that all the constituent parts of the file are grouped together into one main group. 1. Double click on the draw file named Clown to load it into !Draw. 2. Press menu inside the draw window containing the clown diagram and choose Select/Select All. In this case you will see that the file contains 4 component parts, each bounded by a red dotted outline. To combine these into one group press menu in the window and choose Select/Group. Then press the F3 function key to open the Save box and click on OK. This will save the file with all the components in one group ready for use as a Picture in EasyKnit. If when using your own draw files you find, at step 2 above, that there is only one bounding box enclosing the whole diagram then there is no need to do anything further and the file can be used without modification. To create a pattern from a Draw file ------------------------------------ Run !EasyKnit by double clicking on its icon in a filer window, then open the EasyKnit window by clicking on EasyKnit’s icon bar icon. Use Menu/Project Info to fill in the relevant information (project name etc.) Enter your tension square measurements then drag into the EasyKnit window the draw file you want to use as a Picture. (in this case the draw file Clown). Set the required size of the picture when knitted. (I would suggest a width of 15cm). Click on the Edit button to open the Edit window. Create a suitable range of colours then use the grid filling tools to fill the grid cells with the appropriate colours. Fill in the detailed areas of the clown first then when the whole clown and the text have been done, create a new colour and call it Bkgnd. Use the empty cell filling tool with the bkgnd colour to drag over the entire grid. This will fill all the empty stitches around the outline of the clown with a colour called bkgnd, which in the pattern, represents the main yarn colour used to knit the garment. (refer to tutorial 2 for more info if necessary). Note: If you use the Edit/Save/Draw menu option to save your Grid and Picture as a draw file for use in other applications and your Picture file is a draw file, then due to the complexity of resizing each constituent part of the Picture file, the program will not include the Picture draw file as part of its output. The draw file saved from the program will consist of the grid, text and rulers only. To create a draw file containing a grid overlaid on top of a Picture when the Picture file is also a draw file it is necessary to do the following:- 1. Fill in the appropriate measurements in the EasyKnit window and drag in your Picture file. Set the required picture size and open the Edit window. 2. Press Menu over the Edit window and go off the Save then Draw options to open the Draw file save dialogue box. 3. Drag the draw file icon to a filer window 4. Load the saved draw file into !Draw by double clicking on it, A Draw window will open containing the grid. 5. Drag the Picture draw file into the Draw window containing the grid. 6. Choose the Select/Back menu option to place the Picture behind the grid. 7. Move the Picture, by dragging it while it is selected, so that the outline box has its top left corner in line with the top left of the grid. (see diag 16). Diagram 16 8. Now scroll the Draw window so that you can see the lower right area of the grid and drag the Picture by the Ear in the bottom right of its bounding box until it is aligned with the lower right of the grid. (see diag 17). < insert diagram 17 > 10. Choose Select/Select all using the Adjust button then choose Group to combine all the constituent parts of the file into one group, then save the file. The draw file now has the grid and picture combined for use in other software packages. A printout of the draw file and grid combined in this way may well prove useful when filling in the stitch grid by helping you to decide which stitches to use to provide detail in complex areas. *** Tutorial 4 *** ====================== Files Required : None To create your own design on a blank Grid. ------------------------------------------ Run !EasyKnit by double clicking on its icon in a filer window, then open the EasyKnit window by clicking on EasyKnit’s icon bar icon. Use Menu/Project Info to fill in the relevant information (project name etc.) Choose Menu/Mode/Grid only to inform the program that you want to create a grid without supplying a Picture file. If you want to create a grid with stitch-sized cells then you must enter the tension square measurements into the Tension Square area then click on the Use tension square info button in the Grid area (diag 1). This will calculate the cell height and width for you, and fill in the appropriate icons. If you are not creating a stitch-sized grid, then enter the sizes for the height and width of each cell. (If you just want a grid to play with and are unsure what size to use for each cell a sensible value is 0.25cm). Type in the number of rows high, and the number of columns (stitches) wide you want to have in the grid. When all of the icons in the Grid area have a value in them, click on the Edit button or press Return to open the Edit window. As before, create a range of suitable colours for use in your design then create it by filling in the grid. When you have completed the grid save your pattern by pressing Menu over the Edit window then going off Save/Pattern set the appropriate choices as to the format in which you want to save the pattern and drag the text file icon to the WorkDir window. You can then load it into your wordprocessor for printing. *** Tutorial 5 *** ====================== Files Required : Punch To create a punch card using Symbols. ------------------------------------- Run !EasyKnit by double clicking on its icon in a filer window, then open the EasyKnit window by clicking on EasyKnit’s icon bar icon. Use Menu/Project Info to fill in the relevant information (project name etc.) Choose Menu/Mode/Punchcard to inform the program that you want to create a Punchcard grid. Enter the number of stitches wide and the number of rows you want in the grid then click on the Edit button to open the Edit window containing your punchcard grid. Click on the palette tool (No.5 diagram 3) to open the Symbol selector window which allows you to select which symbol the drawing tools will use to fill the grid. It is not possible to save the Punchcard grid as a draw file as can be done when in Grid only or Grid & Picture modes as the attempt to do so would create exceedingly large files. The grid can be saved as an Easyknit file and printed out from within EasyKnit. Double click on the Easyknit file Punch to load it into EasyKnit as an example of what can be achieved in the generation of Punchcards. The file is a Lace pattern designed for a Jones & Brother machine. If a Knitmaster/Silver Reed or a Toyota machine is to be used, then the pattern must be adapted accordingly. To knit the pattern, lock the pattern on row 7 to select. Note If you have loaded an Easyknit file and wish to print it out, then the Print dialogue box can be accessed from the Edit window’s Menu. If you click inside the Edit window to give it the input focus then the Print box will appear if you press the Print key on the keyboard. If you do click inside the window, make sure you don’t click over the grid or you will add the current symbol to the pattern, click on the tool bar or over the ruler area of the window to avoid corrupting the grid. *** Tutorial 6 *** ====================== Files Required : BlueStar Green To create your own symbols for Punchcard Mode. ---------------------------------------------- Creating your own set of symbols for use with the EasyKnit program may allow you to extend the usefulness of the EasyKnit program into other areas of endeavour than it was planned for. eg. To plan a flower bed planted to create a picture. Each new symbol is created as a Draw file, and collections of symbols created for specific projects are stored in their own directory (this directory must be given the name Symbols). As well as the draw files, a text file can be created and stored in the Symbols directory. (The text file must be given the name Describe). The purpose of the Describe file is to allow you to associate a descriptive text string with each draw file containing the new symbol you have created. The text string appears in the Symbol name display area of the Symbol Selector window (see diag 6) when that particular symbol is the currently selected symbol. The Symbol’s filename will be used if there is no line in the describe file giving the text to be used, or, if the Describe file is not included in the Symbols directory. The describe file must have the text in a very specific format in order for the program to use it. Any line of text in the file which begins with a # character is ignored by the program and this means that you can add comments to the file which will serve as reminders for yourself later. The format of the Describe file is as follows: <filename>:<description> where <filename> stands for, and is to be replaced by, the filename of one of the draw files containing a symbol. (spelt exactly as it appears in the Symbols directory window). Note that there are no spaces between the end of the <filename> and the colon (:) or between the colon and the <description>. <description> stands for, and is to be replaced by, the text, (max 40 characters), you wish to appear in the Symbol name display area of the Symbol Selector window (see diag 6) when the symbol is the currently selected one. Each <filename>:<description> line is separated from the next by a Return character. (Press the Return key to start the next line). It is also important that the last line of text in the file also has a Return character at the end of it so that if you place the cursor at the end of the document, it appears at the start of the new line immediately below the last line of text. To see what a Describe file should look like, open the directory called Symbols supplied with the !EasyKnit program and double click on the text file Describe to load it into Edit. You will see that after a few comment lines (those lines which start with a # character) there is one <filename>:<description> line for each of the draw files stored in the Symbols directory. (see diag 18) < insert diagram 18 > Note: These extra symbols have been supplied for demonstration purposes to show the method of making your own created symbols available for use in the program. In order that any extra symbols you wish to supply are recognised by the program, you should place a copy of the Symbols directory containing the symbols in the same filer directory window as the !EasyKnit program before running !EasyKnit by double clicking on its filer icon. The program checks for the existence of a Symbols directory when Punchcard mode is selected. If you have !EasyKnit already loaded onto the icon bar and then decide you need a specific symbol directory available, save any work you have created, copy the relevant symbols directory into the same filer window as the program, and then choose Punchcard from the EasyKnit/Mode menu to make the new symbols available. You will find that the symbols included in the Symbols directory are now available by clicking on the Next page/Previous page bump arrows in the Symbol selector window (see diag 6). It is also possible to add another draw file to an existing Symbols directory by placing a copy of the symbol draw file in the directory and adding an extra line to the Describe file. Creating a Symbol draw file. ---------------------------- Open your WorkDir directory and create a new directory called “Symbols” in it. Open the newly created Symbols directory and close the WorkDir directory window. Double click on !Draw to load it onto the icon bar, then click on the icon bar icon to open a new draw file window. Click inside the draw file window to ensure it has the input focus. (its title bar will be cream coloured). Then press the F3 function key to open the Save box, alter the name of the file to be “Blank” and drag the draw file icon to the Symbols directory window. Press menu over the Draw window then go off the Misc/Paper limits options. Using the Adjust button, and if it has a tick, click on the Show option to remove the tick. If the Reset option does not have a tick then using Adjust, click on it to give it a tick. Click on the A5 option to set the paper size to be an A5 sheet. Go off the Grid option and ensure that the Show and Lock options are ticked. Using Adjust ensure that the Auto adjust option is ticked, then, ensuring that the cm option is ticked, go off it, then off the Spacing option and alter the figure in the writable box to be 0.35 and press Return. Reopen the menu and go off the Grid/cm/Subdivision options and set the number of subdivisions to 2. Go off the Zoom menu option and set the zoom to 8:1. Press the F3 function key and click on OK to save the updated file. Drag the bottom scroll bar to the extreme left and the vertical scroll bar to the extreme bottom so that you are working in the bottom left corner of the window. Select Draw’s Rectangle tool from the tool bar and drag out a square which has a corner on each of 4 adjacent major grid points. (see diagram 19). < insert diagram 19 > Save the updated Blank file by pressing the F3 function key and clicking on OK. This rectangle is the correct size to fit inside a punchcard grid cell and will be used as a guide. You should draw your new symbol inside the rectangle, then delete the rectangle as its purpose has been served. < insert diagram 20 > Click on the Circle tool in Draw’s tool box then click on the minor grid point in the centre of the guide square, then move the pointer to one of the corners and double click to create the circle which should just touch the boundaries. Change to the Select tool and click inside the circle to select it. a dotted bounding box will appear . Press menu in the window and go off the Style/Line colour options and choose a shade of green then click on the OK button. Go off the Style/Fill colour option and set the fill colour to the same shade of green. Go off the Style/Line colour option and set the fill colour to black then go off the Style/Line width option and click on the 0.5 option. Click on the Straight line tool then click once over the centre top of the circle to start the vertical line, move the pointer to the bottom centre and double click to complete the line then repeat to draw the horizontal line. Switch back to the Select tool and click in a blank area of the draw window to deselect everything, then click on the line of the guide square to select it and move it a few grid squares clear of the rest of the diagram. (if instead of the guide square you move the green circle then drop it out of the way and try again to select the square. Move it out of the way then provided you still have the grid lock active you can move the circle back into place and it should line up correctly with the cross). Click in a blank area of the draw window to deselect everything then select the guide square then press the Delete key to remove it from the diagram. Using the Pointer tool, drag a box which encompasses the circle and cross and when you release the drag, all the components will be selected. (equivalent to choosing Select/Select All from the menu). Press menu and choose the Select/Group option to combine all the constituent parts into one group. Ensure that the draw window is scrolled to its extreme bottom left and then drag the symbol group down to the bottom left corner. (see < insert diagram 21 > Press the F3 function key to open the Save box but before clicking on the OK button, replace the word ‘Blank’ at the end of the text with a suitable name. eg I’ll use ‘GreenCross’ then click on OK. A new draw file named GreenCross will appear beside the file named Blank in the Symbols directory window. Close the draw file window containing the GreenCross diagram and if you want to create another symbol, double click on the file called Blank to load a new copy of it ready for the next symbol to be drawn. Create the symbol, delete the guide square, group all the components of the symbol together and move the symbol to the lower left corner then save the file replacing the Blank with a more suitable name. When you have created all the new symbols you require, you can delete the file called Blank from the Symbols directory as it is no longer required. Note : The files Green and BlueStar are provided in the Tutorials directory as examples of some symbols you could create. The file called Green is an exact replica of the file GreenCross created above and is provided only for reference. The file BlueStar has been deliberately misplaced up and right of the bottom left corner of the draw file. If you copy the file BlueStar into your Symbols directory for use along with the GreenCross file then you will see that the blue cross symbol is not drawn in the correct place in the Symbol Selector window or in the grid. To remedy this it is necessary to load the offending file (BlueStar in this case) into !Draw and reposition it in the lower left corner of the window then save the file. If you then Quit and reload EasyKnit, it will use the updated symbol file and it should now be in the correct place. You can make minor adjustments to the size and position of each symbol in this way until they are all of the correct size and in the correct position for use in the grid. When you have drawn all your extra symbols and saved them in the Symbols directory created to hold them, you need to create the Describe file supplying the text you want to appear in the Name Display panel of the Symbol selector window. To do this :- Load Edit onto the icon bar by clicking on its icon in the Apps folder on the icon bar. Add a # symbol at the start of the first line then type in ‘Tutorial 6 additional symbols’. Press return to start a new line then type in BlueStar:This text is for the Blue Star symbol Press the Return key to complete the line and start the next one and type in GreenCross:This text is for the Green Cross symbol Press the Return key to complete the line. Now press the F3 function key to open the save box, alter the name of the file to be Describe and drag the text file icon into the Symbols directory window. The Symbols directory in your WorkDir should now contain the files named :- GreenCross BlueStar Describe To make the new symbols available --------------------------------- Open the Directory window containing the !EasyKnit program. If there is already a directory called ‘Symbols’ in the window then you should press menu over its icon and use the Rename option to change its name to something else. (eg add a ‘1’ to the end of the name making it ‘Symbols1’). Now drag a copy of the Symbols directory from the Workdir directory to the window containing the EasyKnit program. If EasyKnit is already on the icon bar then Quit it and double click on the EasyKnit program’s filer window icon to load the program then click on its icon bar icon to open the EasyKnit window. Press menu over the window and choose Mode/Punchcard. Set the value in the Rows reqd icon to 25 and the Columns reqd to 30 then click on the Edit button to create a punchcard grid. Click on the palette button on the tool bar (no.5 diagram 3), to open the Symbol selector window, then click on the bump arrow at the right of the Name display (diagram 6), to show the next page of symbols. The two new symbols are shown and can be selected as the current symbol for use in the grid. It is clear that the blue star is not positioned correctly. To remedy this you have to open the Symbols directory and load the file BlueStar into Draw, reposition the star and save the amended file. Quit the EasyKnit program from the icon bar then reload it. Open a punchcard grid and the Symbol selector window and you should see that the star is now being drawn in the correct place. You may find that by setting the Zoom of the grid to 3:1 and placing a sample of each symbol in the grid, that small adjustments of position or size are needed to get each symbol centered in the cell. Make any adjustments needed by loading the symbol file into Draw, altering as necessary, and saving the modified file. Then quit and reload the EasyKnit program to monitor the success of the alterations. Note: The Picture file (if present), is stored inside the Easyknit file and reloading an Easyknit file will reload the Picture. However if you have supplied some symbols of your own for use in Punchcard mode these are not saved along with the Easyknit file. The Symbols directory used to provide the extra symbols must be placed in the same filer window as the !EasyKnit program before attempting to load EasyKnit or an Easyknit file which uses your own symbols or it will fail to load properly. I suggest that the Easyknit file and its associated Symbols directory should both be stored, together with a short descriptive text file,(created in !Edit and saved to the same directory with the name “Read_Me”), on the same disc when not in use in order that you know in future which Symbols directory should be made available to !EasyKnit in order that the Easyknit file will load correctly. Remember to make the Symbols directory available to EasyKnit by placing it in the same filer directory as the EasyKnit program before loading EasyKnit or an Easyknit file which utilises the extra symbols. *** Glossary *** ==================== Cell- The grid created in the Edit window is made up of a number of squares called Cells, each of which represents one stitch. Cursor- Also known as a caret, is a flashing vertical bar which shows where any text typed in will apear in the program’s window. Directory- This is a storage area represented by a blue folder inside which you can keep files together. Drawfile- The type of graphics file made by the !Draw program. EasyKnit File- A file created by the !EasyKnit program when you save your work. The file stores all the information needed to recreate your work and which can be reloaded at any time for further work to be carried out. Filer window- Window that displays the contents of a directory. Double click on a Directory folder to see its filer window. Icon- Small picture representing devices, files, directories, applications, etc, or a box into which you can type a number or text. Picture- The Draw file or Sprite file used to create an Intarsia pattern when dragged into the program. Title bar- The bar along the top of a window that contains the name of that window. Sprite File- The type of graphics file created by the !Paint program. Symbol- A shape used to represent a knitting action when filling the cells in Punchcard mode. The End