Holistic Editing

Any portion of a pattern needs to be edited with a holistic view. Every part of a pattern affects and is affected by the surrounding instructions.”

Let me paint a picture for you!

A knitwear designer has written up a new knitting pattern for a sock. This designer is knitting a sample sock before sending the pattern to be tech edited.

Let’s pretend it has a lovely cable stitch pattern that runs along the top of the leg and down the foot, stopping right before the toe. Can you picture this?

The designer notices that to fit the correct foot length listed in her size chart, she will stop knitting the cable pattern in the middle of a cable.

The partial cable looks odd and incomplete.

Since she only needs to work 3 more rounds to complete the cable, she decides to change the pattern to work those 3 cable pattern rounds for the foot before beginning the toe.

By adding 3 more rounds to the foot instructions, the surrounding pattern has been affected and needs to be updated accordingly.

There are a few spots within the pattern to update or check that they are still correct:

• Foot Length in Finished Measurements
• Foot Length in Any Schematics
• Length (Customary and Metric) to Work Foot
• Number of Rounds and Length (Customary and Metric) to Work Toe

At times, making changes to a design can affect estimates of yarn quantities, charts, stitch counts in other areas of the garment, and more.

To design or tech edit a knitting pattern that will be correct, consistent, and clear when presented to other knitters, we must remember the smallest stitch count or the most minor measurement needs to work harmoniously with the seemingly bigger details.