knitting - tetris weaving

Hi wonderful people! 

In this tutorial I am going to show you how to create your own pattern on squared paper.  So if you sit at a desk and pre plan your weave project, or do it from your machine you can pretty much follow this. 

It is important to include all your information on your pattern, from tension, amount of needles, rows, and last but definitely not least all your yarns and their ply, colour and brand.  You don't want to finish a wonderful design and realise you don't have any of the above at hand. You will be very cross with yourself! I've been there :( 

So, first of all you need some squared paper.  Mine is A4 graph ruled, so the squares are tiny. 

 Next, you need to write down how many selected needles you have for your knitting and how many rows you have.  I am designing my tetris weave on a selection of 60 needles and 70 rows.  Simple!

If you are knitting as you go, just keep a note as you go along.

Go ahead and start drawing random blocks on your graph.  You can cover your whole knitting area like I will be doing, or you can show your knitting yarn more with small gaps.  So creating more negative space between your design.

Sometimes you might want to number your rows and needles within the design shape like below.  It might help you or your production team recreate your design.

Bet carried away now with the fun and enjoy designing your own weave.  You can use this type of design for intarsia, weaving on a domestic machine and fringing so check out my videos below for tips and extra help and hope you've enjoyed.