All Points Yarn
21921 Marine View Drive South
Des Moines, WA  98198
206-824-9276

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DesignaKnit Pattern Software for Knitting and Crochet

Computers are getting easier to use all the time.  Design software for the PC for hand and machine knitting and crochet brings together your creativity and the technology to transfer that to a knitting machine or to printed pattern.  Above all the separate packages available out there, DesignaKnit™ offers knitters original garment shape creation, a large garment shape library with thousands of garment designs for altering, and grading, smart stitch and fabric design software, flexible graphics import, and innovative "knit from screen" monitoring, tools for hand knitters and machine knitters alike.  Stitch patterns can be positioned into specific shapes for optimal design control.  Individual shapes or collections of shapes may be laid out for simultaneous viewing, comparison, and measuring.  Independent knitwear designers will enjoy saving hundreds of hours of time and money taking a completed garment design and grading it from a given size through several increments to another size in just a couple steps.  DesignaKnit™ costs only a small fraction of what the commercial versions of software that do the same thing cost, and All Points Yarn regularly answers questions of yarn company designers about the capabilities of DesignaKnit™ . 

DesignaKnit™ is not restricted to knitters, however.  Crocheters can design charts which correspond to the gauges of their stitch patterns, and those who embroider and needle point will find the cloth gauge switching almost instantaneous, being able to resize designs to and from delicate petit point to immense carpet scale. 

CLICK THUMBNAIL PICTURES BELOW FOR SAMPLE SCREEN SHOTS 

All Points Yarn offers DesignaKnit upgrades. 
Contact us for instructions.

DesignaKnit 7 - Professional Version - Knitwear Design Software

DesignaKnit 7 for Windows is a powerful, affordable CAD/CAM program for designing knitwear (and MORE!) available in Standard and Professional versions. The Professional version is the full-featured program, with an Original Garment Design module, inspiring greater creativity and control over the design process.  All Points Yarn sells only the Professional version.   If you would like more information about the pricing and availability of DesignaKnit 7 Standard version, please send us an email.

• Packed with features for

  • Machine and Hand Knitting

  • Crochet

  • Needlepoint

  • Cross Stitch

  • Beading

• Featuring new brush tools in Stitch Designer

• View Thumbnail File Images

• View Stitch Symbols on Screen

• Technical Support (English only) (206) 824-9276

• National Technical Support (E-mail) (816) 461-1248

System Requirements

If you would like to purchase DaK7 Professional, please call to order or use Paypal here:

What's New in DesignaKnit 7

• DesignaKnit Graphics Studio - A major new section of the program offers fine control over conversion of graphics files to stitch patterns. Generate your own graphics or use images imported from digital cameras and scanners.

• Painting with Stitch Textures - Paint knitting patterns in texture as well as color – a range of stitch fabric textures can be produced on screen as easily as painting in color.

• Painting with Stitch Symbols - Use the entire range of stitch texture symbols in DesignaKnit's Roosmalen font to paint directly on screen. Use the Stitch Type symbols in conjunction with the color palette to produce more complex hand-tooled patterns for the machine, or for hand-knitting.

• New Pattern and Birdseye Fill Tools - Use all the drawing and flood fill tools to paint with any saved pattern or use bird's-eye check to fill plain areas.

• New Kaleidoscope Tool - Do it with Mirrors! – create clever and accurate symmetrical patterns at the touch of a button using horizontal or vertical mirrors separately or use them together.   Add diagonal mirrors for more complex patterns.

• Stitch Pattern Thumbnails - Easy to see which file you want – use the DesignaKnit thumbnail browser to find your color pattern and graphics files.

• Improved options for yarn control - New simple selection of Main and Contrast colors for Fair Isle knitting.

• Automatic selection of Jacquard yarn sequences -  Insures the method for the fewest errors. Improved assignment of yarns to color changer positions

• Note Keeping Utility - Keep notes with your stitch patterns

• And much, much more...

DesignaKnit 7 Professional Version Demo

The DesignaKnit demo is will allow you to use the features of the Professional version program, but will not allow you to save anything you create. The demo will also not allow you to open Stitch Designer if you have a capture program running in the background.

Download the DesignaKnit 7 Demo

Standard Garment Styling

Start immediately with choosing one of the program's built in garment patterns and setting the knitting tensions to match your chosen yarn, then:

• select a garment type and add details of the wearer: specify adult, child or baby, male or female, and then choose from the range of standard sizes offered

• modify the garment by opting for one of four different kinds of ease  - none, classic, casual, or oversize - and see the effect on a body block

• decide what kind of sleeves you would like: raglan, set-in, drop-shoulder or saddle; then select the type of front and back neckline desired, and the program will work out the garment pattern for you

• alter styling details such as rib or welt depth, overlap on cardigans and jackets; change the width and depth of the neckline; turn an ordinary set-in sleeve into a puffed sleeve; change the length of the cuffs, and so on

• for skirts, choose the number of panels and make them symmetric or asymmetric and alter the curve of the hemline

If you want more control over the design, you can use measurements you have entered yourself - there is even a database where you can store all your friends' and family's or customers' measurement data, ready to be accessed and used any time you want them.

You can alter and adjust body measurements individually and you can modify the ease on each one: there are a whole host of features to help you to produce the perfect garment.

The Standard Garment Styling is a feature of both the Standard and the Professional versions of DesignaKnit 7.

Original Pattern Drafting

A powerful array of drafting tools in this section of the program assists you to start garments from scratch, or you can import the pieces from the Standard Garment Styling and use them as the basis for an original design.

Create original pattern blocks from a square piece by setting the maximum dimensions and adding, deleting and moving points until you achieve the shape you want:

• up to 16 pattern pieces per garment
• up to 150 points to define each piece
• display a grid in inches or centimeters, or in stitches and rows
• use the Piece Table to place points exactly
• add symmetrical and asymmetrical curves to create necklines, armholes and design features
• insert and remove fabric anywhere on the piece
• control the type of  gradient on vertical slopes
• measure around the perimeter between any two points
• measure in any direction from a single point
• re-scale the piece
• rotate pieces through any angle for bias or sideways knitting
• specify casting off or holding position for horizontal slopes
• add seam allowance
• add markers to points to match seams of place pockets, etc
• use the Grading feature to produce a range of sizes from your own designs

Especially for knitting

Other powerful features are there to help you prepare the pieces for knitting:

• cut pieces into separate sections for knitting
• join pieces into one section
• move pieces around against each other to match seams
• test the pieces against each other to match seams and markers
• try out the placement of pockets, collars, etc.
• experiment with layout plans for Cut-and-Sew

Stitch Designer

This section of DesignaKnit 7 looks similar to other Windows paint programs, but its tools and functions are specially adapted to designing stitch patterns for machine and hand knitting, as well as crochet, needlepoint, cross stitch, and beading.

This is where you can design a stitch pattern,  choose one of several printout formats, integrate the stitch pattern into the garment pieces and convert pieces ready for Cut-and-Sew knitting.

Designing Stitch Patterns

• Design stitch patterns in color, texture, or both, depending on the intended knitting method
• Patterns of up to 800 stitches and 1,130 rows may be designed, depending on the available memory
• Stitch-related grid adapts to match the knitting tensions you enter
• Draw your own designs with the pencil, paintbrushes, fill tools, color-replacer erasers, and filled and outline rectangle and ellipse tools
• Use these tools with color or texture, or both
• Use custom brushes
• Capture motifs with the selection box of the single and multicolor/stitch-type lassos
• Draw or paint in color and/or stitch type symbols
• Zoom in to work in close detail; zoom out for a wider view of your project
• View multiple repeats of your pattern, or just a single version
• Copy and cut to the Windows clipboard
• Paste any bitmap from the clipboard directly into your design
• Import graphics from the DesignaKnit Graphics Studio
• Experiment with symmetry using the Kaleidoscope tool
• Flip motifs horizontally or vertically
• Stamp motifs randomly or tile them across all or any part of the design
• Use any installed TrueType font to place text on your design, using color or texture, or both, or custom fills
• Use a Graphics Tablet to trace or draw a design directly into the program
• Allocate symbols to colors for black and white charts, especially for hand knitting or draw directly with symbols with or without color
• Check you do not have too many colors in a row, and check the length of floats and awkward color changes
• Separate up to six colors in a row for jacquard knitting, and check that there are no mistakes in the sequence
• Color-changers are fully supported - graphic display allows you to change the default yarn arrangement
• Integrate stitch pattern with garment piece

DesignaKnit Graphics Studio

Convert graphics from other sources into stitch patterns

The DesignaKnit Graphics Studio is a sophisticated program within DesignaKnit for processing graphics files, whether original computer-generated art or scanned images or digital photographs, and rendering them as stitch patterns.

It offers fine control over the area of the image to be converted.  Decide how many stitches and rows you want in the final result and set up the grid accordingly.   The grid can have independent corners, so you can correct any skewing in the original, or use it to advantage to grab any part of the image at any angle.

The Graphics Studio gives the user complete control over how the colors in an image are converted to yarn colors - allowing the user assign image colors to yarns or yarns to image colors up to a maximum of 48 different yarns.

You can trial the conversion at any stage, and for automatic pattern selection on the knitting machine, can preview the effect of reducing the colors to a manageable number per row.  For machine intarsia, hand-knitting, Swiss darning or other types of surface embellishment, you can work with up to 16 colors per row.

Take the converted image into DesignaKnit's Stitch Designer screen to continue work - perhaps by adding texture - and to prepare for knitting, whether by machine or by hand.

Print

A variety of charts, diagrams and templates

DesignaKnit offers a range of diagrams and charts for garment shaping and stitch pattern instructions for both hand and machine knitting

Use your color printer to produce full-color scale charts, or take advantage of the facility to use symbols instead of colors

Print templates for punch cards, reader cards and mylar sheets

Print templates for Knitleader and Knit radar

Save printouts to bitmap files for use in other applications

Integrating stitch patterns with garment designs

Show the pieces singly or, by having more pattern repeats on screen, all the pieces of a garment at the same time 

Move pieces around and place with precision

Place pieces exactly to position motifs and patterns

Match side seams, sleeves to bodies and cardigan fronts

For downloading to a knitting machine, DesignaKnit will make certain that the stitch pattern is placed centrally for each individual piece

Cut out the spare fabric so that you can see exactly how the pieces will look when they come off the knitting machine.  For fine adjustment of position, you can move the pieces around in cut-out mode

Adapt for Cut-and-Sew

Experiment with layout plans, making sure that the pieces are correctly placed on the fabric

Use the cut-and-sew command to weld the shape to the stitch pattern

Fill necklines and armholes with a variety of stitch patterns - stripes, bird's eye, solid color or outline

Transfer stitch patterns

Electronic Knitting Machines

DesignaKnit has the ability to transfer your stitch patterns to an electronic knitting machine, via the appropriate cable link.  Some knitting machines and programming devices will also allow you to upload patterns into DesignaKnit.

To find out which Link is the one for your machine, read CABLE LINKS below.

CABLE LINKS: Linking Electronic Knitting Machines and DesignaKnit

Cable Links are the means by which DesignaKnit can download stitch pattern data to an electronic knitting machine.   

All types of knitting machine, even non-electronic manual ones, may be linked to DesignaKnit for Interactive Knitting.  The cable link allows the knitter to have row by row instructions for shaping and color changing.   With each pass of the carriage the screen updates to show details of the progress of the work.

DesignaKnit has cable links for the following types of machine:

Brother/Knitking

The following cables are available - please consult the table below to see which one(s) are appropriate for your knitting machine(s) or electronic pattern device(s).

Silver Reed/Knitmaster/Studio/Singer

The following cables are available - please consult the table below to see which one (s) are appropriate for your knitting machine (s) or electronic pattern devices.

Pfaff/Passap

The following cables are available - please consult the table below to see which one (s) are appropriate for your knitting machine (s) or electronic pattern devices.

Punchcard and Other Non-Electronic Knitting Machines

DesignaKnit can prepare a template for the punchcard, reader card or mylar sheet for your machine - simply print it out on your desktop printer and transfer the pattern to the appropriate card or sheet. To find out how to knit interactively with a punchcard or other non-electronic knitting machine, use the SCREEN LINK, see below.

SCREEN LINK: The Non-Electronic Cable

The function of this cable is to synchronize the shaping and color changing instructions with the carriage movement of a knitting machine; it will not enable you to transfer stitch patterns directly into the knitting machine.

It can be used in conjunction with punchcard machines or electronic machines without a computer interface for pattern input, or any other kind of machine without a pattern reading facility.

The cable functions by updating the Interactive Knitting screen with each row knitted, and will work for all kinds of stitch techniques as well as plain knitting.

The layout of the console of some knitting machines may mean that a special support is required to attach the KnitLink box to the yarn tension mast - if in doubt, please consult Soft Byte Ltd. or your country's importer.

You should use only a cable which has been designed for your make and model of knitting equipment.  Make sure that the label on the cable shows that it is the correct cable for your machine. 

Some Cable Links can now be connected via a USB adapter:

After exhaustive testing of many types of Serial to USB conversion kits, Soft Byte have at last been able to source a reliable one, which they or their national importer can supply to you.

The following cables may be used with this device:

BrotherLinks 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5, E6000Links 1 & 2, E8000Link, ScreenLink and SilverLink 3

If you have a serial SilverLink 4 which you wish to change to USB, please ask for the special SilverLink 4 conversion unit.

Do not connect a cable to a disk drive or to anything other than an IBM-compatible PC RS232 serial port, or to a USB port, except via an approved adapter, and the appropriate knitting machine or pattern device.

Soft Byte Ltd. and its agents cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever for any damage howsoever caused.

Interactive Knitting

for electronic and non-electronic knitting machines

This is the ultimate shaping stitch pattern control tool which obviates the need for mechanical charting and electronic patterning devices.

In order to knit interactively, you must have an appropriate cable link.

• Instructions for Swatch Only, Garment Shape Only or Integrated Stitch Pattern and Garment Piece
• Follow row-by row instructions for garment shaping and color changing, updated with each pass of the knitting carriage
• Needle bed window shows layout for current row, the last few knitted and the next few rows
• Progress window shows scale representation of knitted piece, with current position of knitting carriage
• Countdown window shows rows knitted and countdown to next action
• Yarn window shows yarns in actual colors of the design.   It shows when to change and to what color, which yarn feeder for each and is fully compatible with color-changers
• Visual and audible warnings of actions - you can configure your own sounds
• Spoken Instructions are available if you have a sound card.
• Neckline shaping includes full instructions on how to reset for the second side
• Unravelling is easy because Interactive Knitting will give you instructions on how to reset your machine so that you pick up the pattern in the correct place
• Simulate or check knitting instructions with Mouse or Keyboard controls

Lace Tool Add-on

The Lace Tool is a special add-on for Stitch Designer.  Click on the tool and you can draw lace patterns instantly, as they will look when knitted, leaving DesignaKnit to work out the lace carriage passes and settings.  You can design lace for Brother and Silver Reed electronic machines, Brother and Silver Reed punch card machines and Toyota Machines. The Lace Tool is great for hand-knitted patterns too as it allows the designer complete freedom.

Brother Electronic Machines

With the Lace Tool you can draw both Lace and Fine Lace - and you can mix the two.  You can design stitch patterns with bands of lace, Fair Isle and stitch texture in the same pattern, and you can even have lace and Fair Isle or texture in the same row.  When you follow the pattern in Interactive Knitting, DesignaKnit will tell you when to change to the lace carriage, when to change the carriage settings from fine lace to normal lace and vice versa and when to change back to the knitting carriage, and when to change the knitting technique.

Silver Reed Electronic Machines

You can prepare lace patterns for both Simple and Fashion lace knitting and you can combine Fashion Lace with bands of Fair Isle or textured knitting. When you follow the pattern in Interactive Knitting, DesignaKnit will tell you when to change from Fashion to Simple lace settings and, if you are combining with other knitting techniques, when to change the carriage.

Toyota and other Punch Card Machines

If you have a Toyota machine you can design the lace as it will look when knitted, and DesignaKnit will automatically separate the lace selection to produce a template for the punchcard. Then, when you link to Interactive Knitting, via the ScreenLink, DesignaKnit will tell you which carriage to use and when to change.

Download July - August 2010's List of Classes

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DesignaKnit 7
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All Points Yarn
21921 Marine View Drive South
Des Moines, WA  98198
(206) 824 - 9276
allpointsyarn@aol.com
 

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Copyright © 2009 All Points Yarn   Last modified: 06/27/10