Stitch Diagrams

I guess a nice second post would be to write about stitch diagrams.

I use Inkscape for my drawings.  I've tried other software, but Inkscape just seems to be the best fit for me.  It was a pretty steep learning curve and boy was I excited when I found a tutorial on radial clones!  But now that I've gotten the hang of most of the features (I still learn new things from time to time), it's pretty straightforward to create a nice drawing.  Sometimes those radial clones go a bit wonky after saving the file, but I work around that bug by opening a new document and that straightens things out, then I just overwrite the file (save with the same name) and all is fine.

There are a number of ways to create shapes/stitches around a curve in Inkscape and most tutorials like the "stamp" method.  I didn't prefer this method because it is done by eyeing the placement of each st around the circle.  This might be fine for one or maybe two rounds, but little differences tend to cause problems as more rounds are added. Radial clones allow for an exact placement around a circle (exactly spaced).  The issue I haven't yet found a solution for is placing the center of rotation exactly for each round, I still need to eye it by placing the center on a little circle that is kept at the center of the drawing (never rotating, never moved).  I enlarge the drawing so that the tiny circle is very big and then it is easier to place the center of rotation just where I want it. 

This is an example of a doodle I made today.  Normally each round would be a different color (usually blue alternating with black), but since it was just a doodle, I chose to not do that.  I also didn't add the turning chains or a sl st to join.  We can pretend each row is a different color and a standing st is used to begin the round and an invisible join (duplicate st) is used to close it so that it doesn't need those things.

Begin with a magic ring.

Round 1:  [Dc, ch 1] 10 times into magic ring.

Round 2:  [2 sc in ch-1 sp, ch 1] 10 times.

Round 3:  [(dc in BLO of next sc) twice, ch 2] 10 times.

Pretty simple, maybe a little flower petal or the beginning of a dishcloth, or..?

This is the procedure I followed

Round 1: I started with my center dot and a circle to have the dc go around (the center dot is in the exact center of the circle, I deleted these 2 things when the drawing was complete).  I randomly chose 10 sts.  I set up the radial clones to be placed every 36˚ (360 ÷ 10) and moved the rotation center of the dc being cloned to be even with the central dot, then clicked "create" and my dc appeared in a lovely perfect circle, with each st evenly spaced.  Then I set up the ch st in the same way, making sure it was evenly spaced between two dc before cloning (I grouped and then rotated the dc sts). 

Round 2:  I wanted to place both sc at the same time, so I set up one sc to clone itself only once (giving me 2 sc, choose "2 clones" from the tiled clones box) and 10˚ apart, which was a trial and error thing.  Once I had them spaced in the ch-sp nicely, I grouped the 2 sc, set the center of rotation, changed my radial clones back to 36˚ and 10 clones and clicked "create".  Then I set up the ch st in the same way as I did for the previous round.

Round 3:  I wondered if it would be just as simple to have the dc done separately over the sc.  But first I decided that the dc should be in the BLO (because I had the st but haven't used it much).  I placed the BLO symbol over the first sc and used the same settings as when I was creating the second sc (to be grouped with the first sc and then those two were copied around).  It turns out my BLO symbol was a bit too wide, so I shrank it a bit (by eyeing it with my mouse, not scaling it down via transformation).  That worked nicely, so I duplicated it (radially, 10˚ one clone), and grouped those two symbols and cloned it around (10 times).  I centered the dc over one st, set the center of rotation and duplicated it 10 times, then I did the same thing for a second dc and called it a day.

Notes on the procedure

Each time I placed a new st to be cloned around the drawing, I rotated the drawing to get the new st positioned properly, sometimes by 5˚ and sometimes by 0.5˚; this was always done by eyeballing it since I didn't want to risk messing up the st placement with the automatic alignment. (LOL, I said I didn't like eyeballing earlier, but sometimes it just works out better for a particular application.)

Also, I always delete the original st (which is directly on top of the first clone) because it tends to be annoying and it also creates a darker st since there are two sts directly on top of each other.  It would be good to keep the original st (and delete the clone underneath) if you wanted all the other sts to be a clone to the first.  This would allow you to move or color only the original and all the clones would behave the same way.  This usually causes problems for me, so I get rid of it.

I draw each st myself based on the "standard" sts used in most U.S. books and magazines as well as Japanese patterns.  I just drew that "magic ring" symbol today and am very happy with it.  I don't draw new sts for each drawing, I have a little collection that I add to as I need something new, and some of the sts (the dc for example) have evolved into a nicer shape.  I always start with that collection when I open Inkscape and copy the few sts I need to a new file and go from there.

PRICING

So, what do I charge for stitch diagrams?

That depends on the diagram.  Flat drawings are easier than curved and circular drawings, so they cost a bit less.  

Each diagram begins with $5 (or $10 if I wasn't the technical editor).

Each unique row is $4 ($5 for curved drawings).

Each copied row is $1 ($2 for curved drawings).

The drawing on this page would be $20.

3 unique curved rows: 3 X $5 = $15

The beginning $5: 1 X $5 = $5

$15 + $5 = $20.
Unless I wasn't the editor, then it would be $25.

I draw primarily for patterns that I have edited.  Feel free to ask me, though, if you only want drawings, since I like drawing st diagrams and if I have the time, I'm happy to do it.

If I don't edit the pattern, the beginning/set-up fee is $10 instead of $5.  If a drawing is super super simple (no corners, no curves, although complete circles, as the doodle above, may fit into this super super simple category) and had no technical errors, I'd be open to charging the $5 set up without an edit. 

CONUNDRUM

One of the reasons that I prefer to do drawings primarily for my technical-editing clients is that I find errors/typos as I read the pattern.  So, since a drawing-only client isn't paying me to edit, what's my responsibility to that client?  I would definitely mention that there is a problem with certain rows if the pattern would be undoable for somebody that needs help to work a pattern (errors may cause beginning crocheters to give up). Plus I'd need to know how to proceed since if it can't be crocheted as written, it probably can't be drawn.  Typos (Roow 2: cH 3,...) aren't a death knell for a pattern (but they do look less professional) so, if they aren't pervasive, I'd probably not mention them beyond letting them know they need to go in and reread the pattern for typos and give an example or two.  Also, I'm less likely to see typos when working on the drawing, since I'm concentrating on the sts, not the words.


Make sense?

Feel free to leave a comment if you have any great Inkscape tips, or if you want to solve a problem drawing your own crochet stitch diagrams (YouTube has some great videos, oftentimes the Illustrator videos are helpful, too).

Another good way to get in touch with me is through Ravelry, my username is Amerz.