Falling In Love with Knitware
Jocelyn and I were among those who attended Saturday’s demonstration of Knitware, Ada Lai’s knitting design software. Many of our customers may recognize Ada from her sock classes, but now she’s very busy at knitting shows where she shows the many great features of her software. Jocelyn bought the Sweaters module on Saturday, and here’s her report on her experience so far.
Some of you may have noticed that I am a little obsessed with the computer. Since I am similarly obsessed with knitting, I had considered buying knitting software several times. I had put it off (mostly because I thought I could figure most things out on my own or I could just come and ask Sudha or Dolores for help). Nonetheless, I was intrigued by Ada’s product, and I came to see the demo. I have to admit that I was pretty well blown away. Here some of the features:
- Comprehensive list of design elements: this is a Chinese menu of sorts. You can pick your sweater style, type of collar, sleeve shape, etc.
- Infinite size options: the program has pre-set standards for a number of common sizes (for men, women, and children), but you can also make custom sizes.
- Yarn estimator: this is perhaps my favorite feature of all. You can make a swatch, weigh it ( we have a scale here at the store that weighs in 1 gram increments), then based on your gauge, and stitch and row count from your swatch, the program tells you how much yarn you will need to complete your project. No more running short or having tons of yarn left over.
My first project was to convert the Knitty pattern Monica into what my daughter wanted – a short-sleeved sweater with a lace border and sleeves and no ruffle. I was able to do that in (way) less than 5 minutes. Next up is doing something with the three skeins of Tilli Thomas Pure & Simple that have been sitting in my stash since Stitches of 2006 (cough, cough). Now I’ll just have to find the stitch pattern I like and create something perfect! I’m sure I’ll be buying the shawls module soon. It does blankets and scarves too. Fantastic.
Both programs are available at the store, so come by to check them out. They are available for the PC only and will run on Vista. Apple does have software that you can buy for Macs that will allow you to run your Windows software on it. At our store the Knitware modules retail for $54 per module.
1 comment June 27th, 2007
