If you have used our color chart maker you have probably drawn at least one chart that just didn't work out. You looked around for a delete button and after a few minutes realized that the idiot who made the program didn't include a delete button. Well, the idiot was me (Charles, not Megan) and now, at long last, I've added one.

I'm hijacking Megan's blog today because yesterday I finally sat down and worked out how to make an Android app, and it was awesome. 

Hey everyone, Happy Year of the Dragon! May your coming year be full of yarn and auspicious knitting.

Last time it was Year of the Dragon (2000), our first son was born, so hurrah for dragons! Yes we are a family of one dragon, one rat, one monkey, and one sheep. There, enough clues for you to figure out my exact age. 

I knew we were getting a mention in a fall issue of Vogue, but since the sun just came out the day before yesterday, I'm still in early spring mode. But Early Fall Vogue is out, and we're in it! And DH Charles gets top billing. 

King Charles I by Van Dyck

There seems to be a British theme this week, what with Knit Your Own Dog and Knit Your Own Royal Wedding, and now, a little tidbit about knitting and King Charles. King Charles Brocade stitch that is, not Charles MDH, however kingly he might be. 

I was writing a little article about simple knit-purl combinations, and their usefulness, and wanted to include King Charles Brocade. King Charles Brocade stitch is a very attractive stitch of interlocking stocking stitch diamonds bordered by seed stitch. In her first Treasury, Barbara Walker notes that this stitch is so named because it was used in the vest (waistcoat) worn by King Charles I on his execution day in 1649. The garment is in the Museum of London collection.

Being a little nerdy, I like to open up my knitting charts on Charles' iPad. It means I don't have go down to my cold office and print them. But with a paper chart, I can draw a line under the row I'm working on, or put a ruler on it. Don't dare put a metal ruler on the precious ipad to underline a row. (Although that would be revenge for the time he washed-shrank-felted one of my cardigans). So, His Cleverness added a row tracker to the stitch charts. It automatically starts at row 1, and you just click the chart to move it up a row. Check out the Bittersweet Cowl chart to see this in action, and let us know what you think.

I found this design in a 16th century lace design book called, delightfully, La Vera Perfezione del Disegno. Anything that claims True Perfection is intriguing. So I put this into the chart maker, and made some color variations. 

Having a lot of fun putting traditional fair isle stitch patterns into the chart maker. These ones are adapted from Traditional Fair Isle Knitting by Sheila McGregor. Being able to change the color palette so easily is a little addictive. It's amazing what you can do with only 2 yarn colors on each row just by shifting the transitions. 

Yes, the distant future has arrived. And we're all doing the Robo-Boogie. Today we're opening up the Tricksy Chartmaker to the public, and invite you to try it out. Make, save, change your own color charts for knitting. 

I'm a lucky tricksy knitter to have an in-house programmer. "Oh honey, it sure would be nice to have an online tool to make my knitting charts," I said in passing. And voila, he has made a beautiful online chartmaker for me. But then we thought, this is too good for just one tricksy knitter: time to share!