Now with resize handles

Posted 31 Jan 2014 by JC

See that little icon in the bottom-right corner of the stitch map?

That’s a resize handle. Drag it around, and you can resize the “viewport” through which you see the stitch map. Make the viewport bigger, and you just might be able to see the entire stitch map at once. If not, you can always scroll the viewport, or click on the stitch map to see it as a full-screen display.

Caveat: As with last week’s fancy-pants tags, you’ll only see this resize handle if you have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Questions? Comments? If this resize handle doesn’t work for you, please let me know!

Improved tagging

Posted 26 Jan 2014 by JC

As what I hope to be the first in a series of user-interface enhancements, allow me to present improved tagging features. On the Browse page, typing a portion of a tag into the “Tags” box will prompt a drop-down list of suggestions:

Just click on a suggestion (or down-arrow to a suggestion and press your “enter” key), and it’ll show up in the “Tags” box:

The search results shown on the Browse page will update automatically.

When you want to delete a tag from your current set of search options, click the “x” to the right of the tag. Again, the search results will update automatically.

For your tagging convenience, this “Tags” box appears on the Contribute page too, and on the Edit page for each stitch pattern.

To use this fancy-pants “Tags” box, you’ll need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser; otherwise, you’ll see a clunky list of tags. (Hesitant to enable JavaScript, for reasons of security? Fear not! Stitch-Maps.com takes all recommended steps to protect itself and its visitors. For example, it uses hidden fields to prevent CSRF attacks. It validates form input on the server side, and never allows form input to appear unescaped on any page. And it uses Stripe – wonderful technology, really! – to protect credit card data.)

Questions? Comments? Let me know!

Lifted increases

Posted 10 Dec 2013 by JC

Hey all you stitch-mappers out there! You now have lifted increases at your disposal:

• incL on RS, incRp on WS
• incR on RS, incLp on WS
• incLp on RS, incR on WS
• incRp on RS, incL on WS

This version of the Dragonskin pattern shows ’em in action:

Need a complete description of how to work a lifted increase? Check out the Abbreviations page.

A few more increases

Posted 8 Oct 2013 by JC

By special request, Stitch-Maps.com now supports a few more increases:

• (K1, p1) in next st on RS and on WS
• (P1, k1) in next st on RS and on WS
• (K1, yo, k1) in next st on RS, (p1, yo, p1) in next st on WS
• (P1, yo, p1) in next st on RS, (k1, yo, k1) in next st on WS
• (K1, p1, k1) in next st on RS, (p1, k1, p1) in next st on WS
• (P1, k1, p1) in next st on RS, (k1, p1, k1) in next st on WS

You can place these symbols within your stitch maps by entering knitspeak like (k1, p1) in next st or (k1, yo, k1) in next st. See the “Tips” sidebar on the Contribute page for a complete list of recognized abbreviations.

Wanna see an example? Check out Chevron Welts:

Enjoy!

Vertical repeats

Posted 2 Oct 2013 by JC

When working multiple vertical repeats of a stitch pattern, which rows should Stitch-Maps.com repeat? Up until now, it’s repeated all of them. That’s not always appropriate, which is why Stitch-Maps.com now accepts knitspeak like Repeat rows 1-2:

• Row 1 (RS): *Yo, k3, sl1-k2tog-psso, k3, yo, k1, repeat from *, yo, k3, sl1-k2tog-psso, k3, yo.
• Row 2: Purl.
• Row 3: *Yo, k9, yo, k1, repeat from *, yo, k9, yo.
• Repeat rows 1-2.

That’s how stitch maps for Point Edging show rows 1 and 2 being worked multiple times – in the example below, four times – while row 3 gets worked just once:

Why might you want to repeat just a portion of a stitch pattern’s rows? Maybe a few set-up rows are necessary to ensure that the stitch maps are balanced vertically as well as horizontally:

Or – and this is my favorite use of Repeat rows x-y – you might have a lace “wedge” that you want to use in a top-down shawl. Such wedges often begin with several set-up rows, then repeat and grow wider with the remaining rows. Split Leaf wedge is an excellent example.

Want to read more about vertical repeats? Check out the updated knitspeak guide.

Enjoy!