Creating Knitting Patterns, Day 7: Your First Pattern Draft

Welcome to Day 7 of the Complete Guide to Creating Knitting Patterns series! Today, we are going to create our first pattern draft.

You’re Ready to Write a Pattern Draft

Well, that’s only one part of it.

The Anatomy of Knitting Patterns

Every knitting pattern consists of several elements: some are present in every pattern, like yarn and gauge information; others might only be present in certain types of patterns.

For instance, instructions for heels are certainly present in sock patterns, but not in a shawl knitting pattern.

Common Elements in Knitting Patterns

Each knitting pattern contains specific elements. In my recent post about Knitting Patterns Templates and the common elements to include you can find more information about these elements.

In general, knitting patterns include the following elements:

• Pattern name
• Yarn
• Gauge
• Needle size
• Size of the finished item
• Notions and additional materials used (like stitch markers, for example)
• Information about the pattern: pattern category, notes
• Abbreviations & used stitch patterns, with explanations
• Pattern Instructions
• Finishing instructions
• Picture(s) of the finished item
• Information about the author (you!)
• Copyright information

Additionally – if it’s a charted pattern – there might be charts and instructions on how to read them, or written instructions for the stitch patterns used.

Depending on the pattern category, there are certain elements that each category consists of.

For example, let’s look at a sock pattern: there you have the following sections:

• Toes
• Foot
• Heel
• Leg
• Cuff

This basically does not change, no matter which sock pattern you create. There’s similar sections for sweaters, cardigans, shawls … whatever pattern category item you are working on.

A Free Knitting Pattern Template For You

Feel free to use my knitting pattern template as a starting point. Download them below.

Knitting Pattern Template (PDF)

Knitting Pattern Template (DOCX)

Software Tools

I wrote about the tools of the trade in an earlier post, so please have a look there to learn – and decide what suits you best – about the tools to use. No matter what tools you chose, the result at the end should be a PDF file.

Exercise: Create Your First Pattern Draft

Create your first pattern draft including the common elements above, and the selected sections for your chosen pattern category. Let us know how it goes by leaving a comment below!