Knitting patterns

I think that most knitting & crochet patterns are hard to understand. I'm not alone in this!

They are obviously written in a format which keeps the extraneous info to a minimum, and which just gives the detail of the stitches which are to be done; k27, p52, do a back flip, k2tog, psso, etc!

What I really would like, the first time I encounter a pattern especially, is a little preamble about each section, and what it is you are trying to achieve...

'...this next section will shape the armhole for the sleeve...'

Nothing too over complicated but just a small light in the darkness. Sometimes when you're knitting or crocheting a pattern, you are literally blindly following the instructions without realising you're making the edge, cuff or the 'fiddly bit which joins 2 pieces together'. It would be nice to know.

I understand that in the past, with paper patterns this would have resulted in the pattern for a simple object being turned into a book because it would have had so many pages, but with the computer age, I think we're missing a trick.

Let me explain.

I'm a tester. This means that I basically write instructions for a living. In my job, I have to write 'testcases'. These are lists of instructions which detail how things should happen in a computer system. They are based on the customer requirements, and we use them to make sure that the system has been written correctly.

I am good at writing them! About 5 years after leaving a project, I had an email from a friend who had had to run one of my testcases and she called it 'beautifully crafted'!

I try and understand the 'user' or the person who is reading the instructions and following them. I know that the 1st or second time they run through the actions, they need alot of information about why they're doing this step, why in this order, and why several outcomes might be correct (depends where you started from, the time of day, the settings on the system etc). The next few times they might only need the extra info if something unexpected happens, and eventually, they just use the instructions as a memory jogger but only need to refer to it occasionally.

I manage to write instructions which suit all of these stages of learning.

How?

With technology!

With the advent of sophisticated text editors, we now have the ability to create 'collapsible text'. This means you can expand and collapse a list of instructions to reveal the level of detail which you need at that point. So...something which starts off looking like this...

Log on to the till
Perform Start of Day
Perform a sale transaction

Can be expanded to this...

Log on to the till

• Select 'unlock till'

• Select 'assistant sign on'

• Type in POS logon ID & hit enter

• Type in password and hit enter 

Perform Start of Day

• On the back office, type in POS logon id

• type in password

• Click on EPOS Activities

• Select Start of Day

And you can go into more and more detail as needed.

So, back to the knitting patterns.

Ladies, I think we're missing a trick! Most online knitting patterns are just reproductions of old-fashioned paper patterns. What we need is something which takes into account the new technology, and which might allow you to view a pattern as a mere list of steps...or to expand it out into detailed explanations, pictures and hep text.

Let's start a revolution!