Building on the theme of “what I find helpful in my knitting” – this week I’m sharing inexpensive tools and simple techniques for tracking your progress and modifications as you work through knitting patterns.
Whether it’s a colorwork sweater with multiple charts, or a simple accessory, you need to know where you are in a pattern, how many times you’ve repeated a specific instruction, and how you have modified a pattern to better suit yourself or your recipient.
While there are a lot of nifty stands, stitch counters, software programs, and other tools on the market, I find working off of a printed or photocopied pattern and using a pencil, highlighter marker, and occasionally, highlighter tape, is easy and affordable.
Before you cast on, first use the highlighter marker to note all the instructions for your size as you read through the pattern. The pencil is handy for tracking repeats in a pattern or making notes on modifications (so that, for example, both sleeves come out the same width and length). And the highlighter tape makes a great reusable guide for working your way through a chart.
