Have you ever wanted to design your own sweater?  Don’t use regular square graph paper.  Creative knitters and sweater designers use Leslye Solomon’s Design-A-Sweater, 10 Sheets of a large knitters' grid of 200 possible stitches and 330 possible rows appropriate for most knitting gauges.  Instead of designing garments on your computer where you might have to zoom in and out to work out the design, this large grid is easier to use, design, and follow.

With your gauge in mind, imagine being able to first draw the perimeter of a garment and then design within the boundary of that perimeter.  Notice each rectangular space.  It is not square.  It is rectangular… just like the proportion of stockinette stitch knitting.  You can illustrate an existing pattern you are following to be more visual for your individual size.   By using a colored pencil, map out every stitch and row of the pattern on the light gray grid lines that you want to follow, alter, or create yourself. 

Place your design in the center illustrating the number of stitches you need.  As an example, If you need 100 stitches, draw on the line under 50 stitches to the left and 50 to the right of the darker center line.  Draw on the vertical lines illustrating how long you are knitting until the armholes by multiplying your row gauge by the desired length.    Map out the shaping of the armholes.  Use the chart in the upper right corner (based on chest measurements )to know long to make the armholes and how wide to make the back of the necks for all sizes.

Just as the photo below shows of a sweater design, this can be the pattern you follow without a wall of wordy knitted instruction.  

Plan where stripes go, that adorable teddy bear design, the college letter, or any graphic.  Plan and place cables and other design details.  If you draw a butterfly, enjoy playing with colored pencils, but it won’t look like a distorted moth when knit as it would if you used regular square graph paper because this grid is in the proportion of knitting.  If you draw a snowman, it won’t look like it is melting when knit.  Your design won’t be illustrated in the same size (depending on your gauge), but it will show every stitch and row of where it starts and ends within your garment so it can be followed.   Extensive gauge information and sweater designing tips come with each package.  

The Design-A-Sweater is made in the U.S.A. of durable paper that measures 23” by 30”.  It can be folded or rolled up to travel with you.   We are always here to help and answer any questions.