Usage

The basic process is: (assuming you have set up as described in 'setting up'):

1. Create a canvas to work on by clicking OK when the program opens.
2. Select a stitch from the Stitches pane.
3. Clicking on the canvas places the stitch. You can reposition/rotate/scale and recolor them.
4. Add more stitches until you have a diagram.
5. Add indicators and labels as required.
6. Save as a .pattern file.
7. Export as an svg file for further editing in Inkscape or vector drawing program of your choice to add any more elements you need.

Details:

Selecting a stitch from Stitches pane:

There are many stitches in the system to choose from. To make it easier to find any given stitch use the Filter line to limit your visible choices. E.g. type 'sc' into the filter line. Then you will only see stitches with the letters 'sc' in them somewhere. Hit the Clear (X) button to clear the filter and see all the stitches again.

Grouping some stitches into a group to move together:

Its useful to group stitches so you can copy/paste ('ctrl-c'/'ctrl-v') them to save time when working with a repeating pattern or complex stitch made of smaller stitches.

If you select some stitches you can collect them into a group by typing 'ctrl-g'. When you select anywhere in the group a box will be drawn around the outside and you can move/scale/etc as a group. Once selected you can ungroup them by typing 'ctrl-shift-g'.

Selecting on the canvas:

Selecting is by drawing while holding the left mouse button down on the canvas. There are three selecting modes - choose one from the top menu bar - rectangle, lasso, or line. Lasso is a good one to start with.

When drawing, if your shape crosses a stitch then it will be added to the current selection. Holding down 'ctrl-shift' when drawing will add to an existing selection. So you can collect a group of stitches together in several actions. You could then group them together perhaps to use as a repeating pattern.

Moving, rotating, scaling, coloring Stitches

There are 4 tools on the toolbar. Each tool defines what happens when you click on a stitch. The tools and their keyboard shortcuts) appear on the Mode menu as well. Learning the keyboard shortcuts will save you an amazing amount of time and there are only 4.

• EDit allows you to reposition a stitch or group.
  • If you type 'd' on the keyboard the tool will be immediately activated.
  • clicking on a stitch or group, then moving the mouse will drag the stitch around the canvas until you release the mouse button.
• Color means clicking on a stitch will change its color to the current one in the color pane (on the right).
  • keyboard shortcut is 'c'
• Rotate is used to rotate a stitch or group.
  • keyboard shortcut is 'r'
• Scale is used to make the stitch, or group, larger or smaller
  • keyboard shortcut is 's'