How to Design Your First Knitting Pattern
Designing your first knitting pattern can sometimes feel impossible. You’re fantastic at knitting from someone else’s knitting pattern, but when it comes to designing your own from scratch, where do you even start?!
As intimidating as it can initially seem, designing your first knitting pattern doesn’t have to be a struggle. In fact, it can be a lot of fun!
In this super in-depth guide, I’m going to show you how to break the design process down into simple, manageable steps that will help you to finally reach the finish line and publish your first knitting pattern design. Let’s get started!
Image Description: Close up of the hands of someone knitting. They are wearing a white fuzzy sweater and using chunky, burnt orange yarn. On top of the photo are the words, “How to Design Your First Knitting Pattern”.
Designing Your First Knitting Pattern
Choose a Pattern Category
The first thing you will need to consider when designing your first knitting pattern is what type of pattern you want to design. Do you want to design a hat or a shawl or something else entirely?
I highly recommend that you select a pattern category that you have knitted many times from other people’s patterns so that you feel totally confident with the construction of your design. So, if you confidently knit a lot of socks, design your first sock pattern!
I also suggest that you choose a pattern category that doesn’t require a ton of grading - if any. A simple accessory is ideal. Designing something that doesn’t need to be graded will allow you to focus on learning the knitting pattern design process, which is so valuable as a new knitting pattern designer.
If you do want to have a go at grading, choosing a pattern category that only needs to be graded to a very small number of sizes, such as a hat, is great to practice on a small scale before you move on to multi-size garments.
Set Your Vision
As a new knitting pattern designer, it’s easy to lose your focus, lose your confidence and even give up when you’re working on your first knitting pattern. Setting a crystal-clear vision for your design will help to keep you on track.
One of my favourite ways to get clear on my design is to create a moodboard. You can select images that inspire the silhouette, stitch, colourway, yarn and even “vibe” of your design so that you aren’t trying to come up with ideas from scratch. You can even be very specific and add keywords to your moodboard.
Once you have a moodboard for your design, you can start sketching out ideas on paper. Don’t worry if you aren’t much of an artist - your sketches are simply to get those abstract ideas out of your head and into a more tangible form. As long as you can tell what you’re trying to communicate through your drawing, you’re doing great!
If you’re having trouble getting started with sketching, the 15-minute timer method is a great way of breaking through any creative block you might be experiencing.
Sometimes, it can be tempting for new designers to throw everything but the kitchen sink at their sketches, drawing out highly complex designs that are honestly unachievable at this stage. It is much better to keep your first design simple.
Keeping things simple now means that you will actually be able to follow through on your design, building your confidence so that you can go on to design more and more ambitious pieces in the future.
Use a Stitch Dictionary
I absolutely love designing my own stitch patterns, and I highly recommend that you give it a go in the future, but for now, I recommend that you use a stitch from a stitch dictionary. You are already learning so many new things in the knitting pattern design process that it can be helpful to leave charting and writing up your own stitch pattern until later.
Of course, if you want to go even simpler (and I generally think simpler is better for your first design) and not use a decorative stitch or motif at all, go for it! Using something like stockinette or garter stitch in this design will allow you to focus on learning the more technical side of the design process.
Image Description: Hand of someone wearing lacy fingerless mittens in warm, variegated colours. They are holding a handful of wooden knitting needles.
Choose a Yarn
Once you have finalised your design, and know what stitch or motif it will feature, you are ready to choose your yarn.
This isn’t just about choosing a yarn you like. It’s about choosing a yarn that will bring out all of the best features in your design. Think about what your design needs and choose a yarn that fulfils all of that.
Perhaps you designed a lace shawl that is designed to drape elegantly around someone’s neck. For this design, you’ll need a yarn that has both drape and stitch definition to highlight that beautiful lace stitch.
Perhaps you designed a simple hat without too many fussy details. This is the perfect opportunity to select a fancy yarn that does all the talking, such as something hand-dyed or variegated. It should also have good memory and elasticity to avoid the hat losing its shape.
If you’re interested in learning more about yarn choice, I recommend reading this blog post about How to Choose What Yarn to Use in Your Knitting Pattern Design.
Swatch thoroughly
Swatching thoroughly is one of the best ways to ensure that your design comes out just as you imagined, particularly if you are a beginner knitting pattern designer.
For a start, a nice big gauge swatch will ensure that you get a more accurate gauge reading and as a result, your design will work up to your desired measurements.
It’s not just about gauge though. Swatches are also about problem-solving and finessing your design ideas until you feel fully confident in your design and pattern construction. The more swatches you make, the more you will learn about your design and the better results you will have!
Write a Construction Summary
When you’re designing your first knitting pattern, it can be difficult to figure out which stitch/row counts and shaping you will need to calculate for your pattern in advance. By writing a simple, step-by-step summary of how you will construct your design, it helps you to identify the numbers you need to calculate in your spreadsheet.
For example, if you are designing a hat and you’re knitting it from the bottom up, the first step in your construction summary would be to cast on the stitches for the ribbing. Based on this step, you now know that you need to calculate how many stitches to cast on in your pattern spreadsheet.
Whilst no one else will read your construction summary, it will make your life so much easier when you come to writing your knitting pattern, especially as a newbie.
Create a Simple Pattern Spreadsheet
Whilst you could totally work out a simple, beginner’s pattern without a spreadsheet, they are essential to more complex patterns, especially those that are graded. That’s why I encourage you to get an early start with pattern spreadsheets, even on the simplest of designs, so that you can build confidence and proficiency before you start working on something more complex.
Your pattern spreadsheet should include the intended finished measurements of your design, whether it’s a single size or you are doing some simple grading for a small number of sizes. You should also include your gauge. Then, you can refer to your construction summary to help you methodically calculate the pattern numbers for every step in your design using the intended finished measurements and your gauge.
If you want to see how I set up my own pattern spreadsheets, I shared more about it in my blog post about How to Grade Knitting Patterns Using a Spreadsheet.
Returning to my previous example, if I needed to calculate the number of stitches to cast on at the ribbing, I would use the finished circumference of my hat as well as my main stitch gauge (not the ribbing’s stitch gauge) to work out the number of stitches in the cast-on.
In case you are wondering why I don’t use the ribbing’s stitch gauge, I base my hat’s stitch count on the main fabric’s gauge so that the main part of the hat fits comfortably on the head and then the ribbing pulls it in nicely so it’s a little more snug around the ears and doesn’t slip off.
If I want the finished hat circumference to be approximately 52 cm (20.5 in) and my main stitch gauge is 2.2 sts per cm, I need to cast on approximately 114 sts (52 x 2.2 = 114.4) to achieve that measurement. This stitch count can be adjusted to accommodate a stitch repeat, such as a 2x2 rib which has a pattern repeat of 4 sts. In that case, I’d just round 114.4 to the nearest multiple of 4, which is 116 sts.
Image Description: Image of a knitted blanket, teddy, hats and some booties. Underneath, it says: Knitting Pattern Design. How to Design Your First Knitting Pattern. www.sistermountain.com
Write a First Draft
At this stage in the design process, you will have all of the information you need to write your first draft.
I’d like to preface this step by saying DON’T expect perfection from yourself at this stage. This will definitely be a “sh*tty first draft” and that’s perfectly okay.
As a guide, take a look at knitting patterns you own and enjoy working from for an idea of the structure and types of information you need to include in your pattern, as well as the language that other designers typically use to communicate their pattern instructions.
You’ll notice that every designer has their own way of pattern writing, even though they might follow a similar structure. Choose an informative pattern writing style that feels most natural to you.
Try not to get too fixated on writing perfect instructions right now; just do your very best and move on to the next step!
If you are having an extremely difficult time writing your instructions, you could try knitting and writing at the same time for this pattern, but avoid this if you can as you will miss out on the valuable opportunity to “test-knit” the sample from your own pattern later on.
Knit the Sample
Before you start knitting your sample, weigh your yarn. If you are using different colourways or yarns in the same design, weigh each of them separately. This information will help you to work out the pattern’s yarn requirements later on.
If you have followed my recommendations and written your pattern before you start knitting the sample, you will essentially be your first test knitter. This is brilliant, as you will have the opportunity to spot any errors or areas of confusion that you encounter as you’re knitting. Make sure you update and edit the pattern as you go so that you don’t forget any adjustments you want to make.
Once you have knitted your sample, weigh your yarn again and you will know exactly how much yarn was used in your sample. You can then use this information to work out the yarn requirements.
You will find that, after knitting your sample from your draft, your pattern instructions are already a little better! And of course, they will only continue to improve as you go through tech editing and test knitting.
Get Your Pattern Tech Edited
Tech editing is the best way to check your pattern for mathematical errors, missing pattern instructions or any areas of confusion.
Tech Editors are wonderful humans who thrive on going through your pattern with a fine-tooth comb. They will point out any parts of the pattern that need correcting, updating or improving - and honestly, there will probably be a fair amount of parts to adjust at this stage. This is normal!
You will then send the pattern back to them once you have updated it and usually, they will do one final check. After that, the pattern is ready for test knitting!
For more information about tech editing, I recommend you check out my Beginner’s Guide to Working with Tech Editors.
Get Your Pattern Test Knitted
Test knitting is exciting, as you will get to see your pattern come to life in the hands of other knitters!
The main purpose of test knitting is not to find mistakes in the pattern (although that may happen) but to get feedback on what it’s like to knit from. This process helps you to ensure that your knitting pattern is as user-friendly as possible. You will also get feedback on the fit, which is very helpful.
If your pattern has more than one size, try to find two test knitters per size. This is because a test knitter may have to drop out of the test knit, so this way, you will usually have someone to provide feedback on that size.
I’ve been experimenting with Yarn Pond for test knitting recently, and I’ve had a great experience! If you’d like help finding test knitters and structuring your test knitting process, I highly recommend checking them out, particularly as a new designer. They take a lot of the stress out of the test knitting process.
Take Simple, Attractive Photos
Pattern photos can be a major stumbling block for new designers releasing their first knitting pattern. Let me reassure you: you don’t need to be an amazing photographer or have a fancy camera to take your pattern photos. All you need is a willing model (this could be you or a loved one), a willing photo-taker (again, you or a loved one), a smartphone and some natural daylight.
Choose a simple, uncluttered and attractive background and take front, back and side shots of your design. Take extra photos of any details that you’d like to highlight. And that’s it! You’ve got your pattern photos.
Don’t be tempted to skip photographing your design on a model. Knitters want to see how something looks on the body, as it helps them to visualise how they might look in it. Sure, you can include un-modelled photos in your pattern, but most of the images should be taken on a model as that will help you to sell the pattern.
Get it Out There!
This is your first knitting pattern, so I imagine you might be dealing with a little bit of self-doubt. Maybe a bit of imposter syndrome, even? If you have followed every step of this design process, I want to reassure you that you are ready.
You’ve put the time and effort into making this knitting pattern the best it can be. Now it’s time to share it with the world!
Places you can consider selling are Etsy, Ravelry, LoveCrafts and your own online shop. The beauty of digital knitting patterns is that, once you’ve put the work in, you can continue to sell the pattern PDF over and over again for as long as you have it up for sale.
Make sure you start talking about your new pattern release as often as you can. If you don’t share it with your community, how will anyone know to buy it? Sure, people might encounter it in searches on Ravelry etc, but you will be directly competing with other designers that way and essentially, relying on chance. By telling your community about it regularly, you will definitely sell more patterns.
well done!
Designing and releasing your first knitting pattern can be hard. Not only is there a lot to learn about the design process, but you are likely to fight all of your insecurities along the way. By pushing through and finally getting that knitting pattern out of your head and into the world, you have already done the hardest part. Well done!
Now you can use everything you have learned this time and apply it to your next pattern. There is always something to be learned from every design process.
I wish you all of the success in the world with your new knitting pattern design. There is no better feeling than bringing your design ideas to life!
