Jan Hicks Creates - How to use knitCompanion for Cross stitch
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- KnitCompanion is a wonderful app for knitting, but did you know it can be used for cross stitch charts as well? Join me as I step you through the process that will make your stitching charts easier to see and read!
Хобби
Thank you so much for the tutorial!!!! I recently purchased the KC NG and use it for my knitting (I used to have the App when it first came out). I thought - I am sure this could be great for cross stitch but didn’t have time to figure it out. This is perfect!!!! I am so excited to try it out. Happy New Year!🎊
Oh yaay! I love it when things come together like this! Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions!
This. Is. Awesome. I thankfully did find it for Android, not the NG version, but I'm excited to try. Thank you Jan!!
Have fun with it, Kelly!
Thanks Jan. I’ve always been curious about Knit Companion. This may be something I use in the future.
Excellent! Let me know if you have any questions about it. I’m always happy to help!
Thanks, Jan. I have the old legacy app and will now consider upgrading. Happy 2019!
Awesome! I think you’ll be happy with it! Let me know if you have any questions! Happy happy!
I am very excited about this app. I am getting more and more pdf patterns. I love the hard copies but my postal worker is very rough with my mail. Thank you for taking the time to do the tutorial. Happy 2019.
You’re very welcome! Let me know if you have any questions! Happy 2019 to you, too!
Thank you Jan, this is an excellent tutorial! I used the Legacy version for my knitting, years ago in the most basic way. I stop using it as it frooze my old iPad. Now For stitching ánd more complex fair Isle knitting the magic marker is just what I was looking for.
Thanks so much, Janeke! Hope you can get it to work for you now! Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions!
OMG! I bought Knit Companion and could never figure out the marker part out. I love that now I can use it for my knitting and cross stitch. I have a cross stitch pattern that is killing me because the designer separated the charts on two different pages and didn’t show an overlap so it’s driving me crazy. Now I know how to put them side by side. THANK YOU!
Oh yaay! So happy you found this useful!! Enjoy!
Well, Jan, here I am again - watched it the first time, watching it again to prepare for Farewell to Anger. :) Very helpful - thank you thank you! Going to download now...(enabler....)
Enabler!?! Me??? Never!!!! 😂😂😂
Let me know if you have any questions! ❤️
Ha ha ha!! Well, let me just put it this way: I didn’t pay close attention the first time I watched this video because “I was never gonna stitch a HAED”....the only thing that has changed since then is your influence over me! Bwahahahaha!!!!
Thanks Jan for your feedback, well appreciate!😀. I hope there are a lot of Cross Stitch and Yarn stores for you in Hawaii!
There are certainly enough to get me in trouble!😂
Wow! Knit Companion is cool. I never knew ! I will be getting it. Thanks Jan for sharing this good information. Happiest of all New Years!👑🎊🎉🍾
Excellent Theresa! It is a great tool! Be sure to check out the knitCompanion videos and let me know if you have any questions!
Jan - I am a faithful viewer enjoying your videos from the comfort of my stitchy spot:) I have been researching ipad apps for cross stitch pattern marking for DAYS now... they all kinda suck. Then I remembered your video on this app - I'm sold. Thank you so much!
Awesome! I do love my knitCompanion! Glad I could share the love. Let me know if you have any questions!
Jan Hicks Oh Thanks for the offer because I do have a question... using a pattern that already a pdf is pretty straightforward. But how are you getting paper patterns into digital? I use adobe scan and it’s pretty awesome. The issue I have is that folded patterns (like Plum street) have a little ‘hill’ in them and it messes with the alignment.. do you know what I mean? Thanks again for any advice!
I do know what you mean, and unfortunately, that is one of the weaknesses of the software. The chart-making function within KC is looking for straight edges of a square or rectangle type of shape. When it doesn’t have those straight edges, it can’t properly align the shape to be able to find the individual squares exactly. This is why, for the most part, I use the hard copy pattern if that’s what I have. It’s not worth the hassle of trying to get it scanned and lined up perfectly, especially when there are those kinds of folds in it. Hope that helps!
Jan Hicks yup.. good to know it’s not just me! I do highly recommend the adobe scan app (free) to create working copies. It’s incredible. Scan, align (easy), export to printer!
Thanks for taking time to do this Jan! Im going to look into this. Happy New Year!
Awesome! Let me know if you have any questions! Happy happy!
Thank you for the information! I may look into this.
Awesome! Let me know if you have any questions.
Very Interesting. Thanks for sharing. Happy New Year. (Pauline S)
Happy New Year, Pauline!
Thank you for this tutorial. It looks perfect for what I need.
Thank you so much for this tutorial. This app does have a learning curve. I have the newest version but I haven’t mastered the more advanced features. I’ve been using basic features and like that. I can’t wait to try this with cross stitch. I have a very large project that I hope Knit Companion can help me manage. I’m excited to try it.
Good luck! Don’t forget to check out the knitCompanion tutorials here on RUclips for a more in depth step through of the more advanced features. And of course, I’m always happy to help if you have questions!
Thank you Jan
Awesome!
Wow!! Jan, thank you so much! I will have to update my Legacy to the newer version. Great tutorial!! Using the Legacy was working but as the page filled with color , if I touched something I would loose some of the stitches I had marked as finished. Anyway this looks easier. Happy New year to you and Mike and the kitties!!
Awesome Sharon! Glad you found it useful! Let me know if you have any questions! Happy New Year to you, too!
This is so cool! As I have an android it doesn't seem to have the same capabilities that the ios version has. I'll be doing more research though to see if I can figure it out more. I've been using it for cross stitch patterns but when it got to the fair isle pattern I'm currently working on I couldn't figure out how to mark the pattern row thing. More learning to be done. :)Thank you so much for a great tutorial, I may end up confiscating my kids old i-pad he no longer uses and it's not that old, just needs a new screen I think, I hope, we'll see. Enjoy your stitching. :)
Be sure to check out the RUclips tutorials, and join the knitCompanion Ravelry group. I know they have a separate thread for Android. Eventually, the two versions are supposed to be the same, but it may take some time to get there.
Thanks for sharing Happy New Year's
You’re very welcome, Peggy! Happy New Year!
Happy New Year Jan! Thanks for this helpful tutorial. I hope you, Mike and the kitties get settled soon. I'm so happy hour New place has room for me when I decide to run away to paradise lol
Lol! Any time you need to run away, we’re here for you! Happy New Year, Betsy!
Wowza! I love it! Thank you
Thank you!
Happy New Year, Jan and Mike! Thank you for this absolutely fantastic information! I will definitely use Knit Companion with pdf cross stitch charts. Colorizing and enlarging will make working with the charts much easier. 👍
Yaay Karen! You are going to love it!
Let me know if you have any questions!
Jan Hicks Hi Jan. I scanned a chart, straightened in photoshop, saved as pdf. All went well adding to Dropbox and importing to KC. I cropped in photoshop but a white border showed left and right in KC. I was not able to crop that border! I did not seem to have control of the purple cropping highlight. I left the border and was able to access the magic marker, however the squares would not colorize properly when I tapped on a symbol. Only part of the square colorized. I tried to drag a bit, but that only highlighted additional partial squares. I tried going ahead with the colorizing process and the app selected some squares properly, but not all and some random symbols were colorized. I think I am not understanding how to use the cropping tool properly. The pdf file is large, so maybe that is creating a problem? Thanks for any suggestions you might have. Worst case scenario, I can always use KC for the option to enlarge the chart.
Okay, let’s see if we can figure out what’s going on in my chaos-brained state. Lol.
My first question is when you were at the point where you had the purple cropping arrow, did you try to zoom in, or make the image larger? Doing that gives you more precise control of the cropping areas, and also allows you to see the areas you want to crop better, of course. So, if you didn’t try zooming in, try it and see if that helps.
As I mentioned in my video, if you don’t get the crop right, then the magic markers and some of the other tools can’t work right, and that’s what you are experiencing there with the squares not colorizing properly.
According to the KC people, the size of the file shouldn’t matter. KC is able to handle very large files.
As for the random symbols being colored, again, it may just be a function of the cropping being off, but I did find out from the KC developer what the More/Less slider does. If the Magic Marker function doesn’t pick up all of the symbols that it should have, you can slide that slider towards More and tap the Magic Wand again. And conversely, if it chooses too many, you can slide it towards Less. So it’s a way to fine-tune the selection process. I need to do an update about this when I get a chance.
Anyway, try to crop again and use the zoom feature to see if that helps. If it doesn’t, I’ll have you Dropbox the file to me and I can see if there’s something wrong with the file itself or if I can get it to work. HTH!
Jan Hicks thank you so much, Jan! I realized what I was doing wrong with the crop highlight. Since I only needed to crop two sides, I had to do them individually. It did not work to drag the highlight over the entire chart and then line up to all 4 edges. So, once the chart was cropped properly, the magic marker worked almost perfectly. It only missed about 10 symbols and they were in a cluster, so easy to tap and colorize. Thanks for the info about the more/less option. I will try it. I was surprised and glad to see the stitches counted for me in each section of each line. KC is fascinating me right now, because it will make reading charts much easier. My first project (after about 10 years) arrived today. I won’t be able to start, though. The linen is too dark, even though it is the called for color. It is the exact color of one called for thread. I might have a lighter piece of linen in my stash. Or I might consider changing the thread color that matches the fabric. Hard to find very lightly dyed 36 count linen right now. I hope your unpacking is going well and your days will be normal again soon!
Oh man, those # stitchs in a row counts would be super helpful especially on BAPS where there are just lines and lines of the same color.
Jan, what is your favorite knitting You Tube Channel? I am just learning to knit and seeing there are different methods such as Continental , and Portuguese. Any opinions are helpful😀
Excellent, Theresa! I have to admit, though, that I don’t watch much knitting RUclips. I don’t need any more inspiration than what I already give myself! Lol. Having said that, though, there are several classes on Craftsy that I can highly recommend if you’re looking to try different methods. The most helpful for Continental is Lorilee Beltman’s class on the different methods. Patty Lyons has a good one as well. The Queen of Portuguese knitting is Andrea Wong. She does have some RUclips videos out there as well. And of course, there are a ton of RUclips videos as well. Some of the best video teachers are Michelle Hunter of Knit Purl Hunter and Very Pink Knits.
Now, having said that, my advice to you would be to not rush into learning either continental or Portuguese. Get the basics down first with the English/throwing method. It’s the easiest of the methods to handle. Once you feel totally comfortable with just knitting and purling, what those stitches look like, how they are composed, and what to do to fix basic mistakes, then start looking into the other ones.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions! Oh, and if you have a yarn store close to you, be sure to reach out and use their resources if you aren’t already. There is no better resource for learning than you LYS!
great tutorial, I just can't get the hang of creating the custom marker to count my stitches. once i create one, whenever i choose a stitch to mark, the entire page marks. I will watch the tutorial again because this is a game changer for me to be able to "see" through my digital patterns and stitch without going batty!
Hi Peggy, have you figured out what the problem was with the markers? I’m afraid I’m not going to be much help, because it’s been a while since I’ve used knitCompanion for stitching. I have switched to Pattern Keeper, or Good Notes. Good Notes isn’t as good with the marking, but it also doesn’t have the major set up headaches, either.
Thanks❤️
Liebe Kiwi
Ich habe mir gestern dies app geladen. Bin heute auf dein Video gestossen und dachte es wär noch gut in deutsch erklärt zu bekommen wie es funktioniert. Habe es noch nicht zum stricken genutzt jedoch genau das schon geschafft wo du um Hilfe batest….. da ich nicht weiss welches handy du nutzt, mit dem iPhone kann man alles scannen (ich mach es in den Notizen) und von da kann ich das pdf welches generiert wurde an die knittcompanion app weiterleiten. liebs Grüessli Pia
Cool App
Fantastic, thanks.
Thank you! Let me know if you have any questions!
Can someone tell me how to fine tune the location of the symbol once you select it? Mine lands on a point halfway into another symbol so it's off center. Is there a way to edit this? If I try to use what it has chosen, it doesn't give me the location of all stitches just some of them even if I select "Show All"? Thank you!
Thank you for the information. Would this also work for quilting?
I’m afraid I don’t know. I don’t quilt so I don’t know what’s involved. But if there are patterns that you get in pdf form, knitCompanion can certainly store them and help you keep track of where you are in the pattern.
I cannot seem to select just one symbol when using magic markers. What am I doing wrong?
I’ve saved a lot of patterns. Can I also download them onto this app. I don’t like Dropbox
It would be so helpful if we could see written instructions for using knit companion for cross stitch. I am not having any luck following the video. I would gladly pay for a instruction booklet.
Hi, I actually never user knitCompanion any more for cross stitch because other apps have come out since I did this video that are meant specifically for cross stitch. They are called Pattern Keeper, which works on Android devices, or X Mark-Up which works on both Android and Apple devices. I can also tell you that about the time I made this video, the knit companion developer also did some videos on how to use it for cross stitch, so if you want to stick with it, you may find those videos more helpful. Hope this helps a little bit!
Hi not sure if you will pick up my question- but I’ll try! How do you make the yellow slider moveable like the blue one? Mine is just stuck at the bottom of chart. Thanks Mandy in the UK
Hi Mandy, the yellow slider moves either by moving it with your finger, or, if you have your written pattern set up to work row by row, then when you tap on the row counter on the right hand side of the screen, that will advance the yellow line to the next row. I hope that makes sense!
Bless your heart!!
Thank you!
Thank you for making this video! I used the legacy app for my cross stitch but I think it will be so much better in this new app! I love the pattern you used! I can’t seem find it on Craftsy, could you point me in the direction of the pattern? 😊
Yeah, this doesn’t have anything to do with Craftsy, so you wouldn’t find it on there. You can find it on Brook’s Books page here: www.brookesbooks.com/CrossStitchFreebies3.html
She has these pantry designs for the other seasons, as well as seasonal houses and even seasonal cakes on that same page! Enjoy!
Thanks for the tutorial! Just wondering. Can I scan a pattern as a PDF and use it in knit companion? I have a multi page Teresa Kogat design and the paper copy is driving me nuts 🤣
EDIT I was able to scan my pattern in as a PDF and so it up in knit companion. OMG! love love love that program! Thanks so much 💋
Hi Carissa! Glad you were able to work it out. Sorry I didn’t get back to you earlier. Let me know if you have any other questions!
How do I add a pattern to Dropbox?
I have tried all of your instructions and cant get this to work…..i also dont have the three dots in the upper right corner
Oh goodness. Jean, knit Companion has changed so much since I put up this video, I am not sure how it would work for this now. My best recommendation would be to get in touch with customer support and see if they can help you. I did speak a lot with the developer of the app when I was doing this, so she was aware of this use for her app.
Hi Jan, I have a question (as usual)! I have watched a couple of ladies on RUclips (Chelsea and Pricilla (sp?)) and they keep talking about "sticky board" in terms of adhering their smaller pieces. I've tried a couple of times to get an answer from then but no go. Is it adhesive foam board they could be talking about?? Oh, by the way, that 32 fahrenheit I mentioned to you the other day?? Forgot to add the windchill, so that put it at 6.8 degrees fahrenheit (or -14 Celcius)
Yeah, you can just keep that 6.8 up there in the Great White North, thank you very much! Lol.
The sticky board is a mounting board that has adhesive on one side. It is thinner than foam core, and is great for mounting little pieces, (or even somewhat larger pieces.) I have used it a lot. You center your piece on the board, and then wrap the edges around the back and glue them down to the back, then mount in whatever frame or whatever you want. If you do a search on Amazon for adhesive mounting board, you should be able to find it on there.
@@JanHicksCreates Awesome, Jan!! Thanks so much. I figured as much. You just caught me watching Stitch With Me In Hawaii #1. It's midnight here and I'm trying to stay up with the big people. Gonna call it quits in about 10 mins and pick up on the video tomorrow with my a.m. cup of java. If you want to see some snow google CTV weather. They may have a few videos of Winnipeg. Not much yet but the winter isn't over! Thanks again, Jan. Much appreciated!! What a beautiful place you're in!!!! Oh, Oh! Those trees trying desperately to leaf out at 5:47 have the MOST scented flowers ever! But not very prolific so don't pick 'em. Just hang around and smell the tree. These trees are in Mexico too.
Is there a way to scan hard copy (cross stitch) patterns you already have?
Yes, you can scan or take a picture, then there are apps that allow you to convert the resulting jpg into a PDF. You can then upload that into knitCompanion.
Hi Jan,
Thanks for showing us this tool. I will be giving it a try I think. Here's my question: I like the search function to find the icon I am stitching on. After I have stitched it I would like to highlight it a different color, not just turn the icon back to white. Can this app do that? My second question: once I have highlighted my completed stitching, I am going to search for the new icon. Will the new search erase my previous highlights? Because I am really bad at counting threads and will be stitching in relation to what I have done before, this is important.
Thanks.
So, to change the icon to a different color, you go into the Edit mode again, and to the Magic Markers. In the block on the bottom left, you will see a list of the icons you have already highlighted. Find the one you just finished and tap it to choose it. You can now tap on the color block to open the palette and change it to whatever other color you’d like.
Once you are ready to choose a new icon, tap on that plus sign on the bottom left and start the whole process again to choose a new icon, choose what color you’d like, etc. All of the other icons remain in that list, you are simply adding a new one to the list. Hope that helps!
@@JanHicksCreates yes that does help. what if i have 50 /s highlighted but i only stitch 20. is there a highlight function that will allow me to change only those 20 to my completed color? and leave the rest.
Will you be changing all of your completed stitches, regardless of original icon, to the same color? If so, I think the easiest way to do it is to create a separate Custom Magic Marker. That’s the other choice you get when you hit the plus sign. Choose that, and you will see that you have less options at the bottom. The main thing is to change the color and make sure the Show Count option is set to None (unless you want to have the count showing, of course.) Once you’ve done that, you will need to tap on those stitches you have completed to manually change the color. So, once you’ve done some stitches, you’ll come back into Edit mode (you can just stay in Edit mode, too. Nothing will be hurt by doing that), tap on the Done selection in the box on the left, and then tap on those stitches that you want to mark as done.
@@JanHicksCreates Thanks again. I generally change all the same color families to the same color after stitching them. I'll highlight in yellow where I am going to stitch and then highlight over, in say, green after. I have been watching Joann Dressick's tutorials. The 22nd one shows the custom marker. And I think that staying in edit mode may be the way to go. I think when I do parking of stitches the custom marker would work best. I am excited about trying this app out. The next thing I need to figure out is how to change from paper to pdf. I only own two pdfs. I copy the originals and cut and paste the pages together and mark all over them. It will be so much less hassle to just slide and tap. thanks again.
Thanks, Jan. Knit Companion looks great. Does it work with paper patterns that have been scanned & saved as pdf? My "tablet" is a chromebook so no touch screen. I would have to use with my phone. I am definitely wanting to get started with KC or similar app. Happy New Year!
You’re very welcome, Debbie!
KC does work with scanned and saved paper patterns, but they can be tricky, which is why I didn’t mention it. You have to be as careful as you can to get the charts perfectly lined up, not tilted at all. If there is any skew to the chart, it’s hard to crop it perfectly, and it’s that perfectly cropped chart that is so important to the other functions. I have done it. I have done it and got it to work when it’s not perfect, but that means the other functions aren’t perfect either, so it takes some fudging and just knowing that things are a little off.
@@JanHicksCreates I was thinking that may be the case. Most of my patterns are currently paper. But now that I have a good idea how nice it would be to use an app with pdf's, I need to look into it more. Thanks for your help.
I really like the video. When I downloaded app it appears that I have to buy a yearly subscription to get edit features. Is that correct, or is there a way to use the basic app.
Yes, to get the edit features, you do need the subscription. I believe I mentioned that in the video, but it’s been a while since I did this one, so I could be wrong. Karen Bugg,/Needle Bugg on RUclips, has also done some excellent videos showing how to use this app for cross stitch. I recommend watching her videos as well, and then make the decision on whether you want to subscribe. Hope this helps! 🙂
I watched another creator and they said you can also use it for crocheting
You can use it for pretty much anything that comes in PDF form, so yes, if you have a crochet pattern as a PDF, you could load it into knitCompanion. I saw your other commenting about not liking Dropbox. I pull my patterns directly into knitCompanion from Ravelry. That’s where I buy and save most of my patterns. I’m afraid I don’t have an answer for you if you don’t use Ravelry or Dropbox. Sorry about that.
I am trying to use the “Marker” tool. For some reason I am getting “Please select a Chart Piece
to use Magic Markers.” edit. It doesn’t seem to recognize the chart. Hoping you can help.
Hi Patricia. You have to crop the chart first, before you can use the Magic Marker function on it. It sounds like you have the chart page selected, but you haven’t actually cropped that page in the Set-up mode yet.
do you still pay 12.99 or the new price of 19.99
I guess you can use this if you made a pdf out of a pattern you’ve bought and then use the app?
You certainly can, but it gets a little tricky. The chart has to be scanned or rotated so that there is no skew to it, so that you are able to crop it perfectly. When it’s not perfect, the other functions don’t work as well. It’s hard to get the magic markers to find all of the symbols. That doesn’t mean you can’t do it, it just takes more manual work to find all of the symbols and that kind of thing. Just something to know going into it.
New to this KnitCompanion app. Where do I find it. I have iPad.
Hi Jim, you can find it in the App Store. Just search on knitCompanion.
I would love to learn how to use this. Where do I start?
Hi Sandy! The first thing you’ll want to do is download the app. Then I recommend you find the knitCompanion how to videos here on RUclips and step through those. Let me know if you have any questions. I’m happy to help.
@@JanHicksCreates Thanks Jan I have read more of the comments and it looks like knitcompanion may not work as well for an android I will have to look into it further. Keep up the wonderful flosstubes I usually just watch and enjoy. Flosstube has brought back my stitchy mojo. It's wonderful. I hope your move continues to be on schedule and successful being in limbo is not fun. Thanks for your reply.
Thanks Sandy! Maybe check out some of the RUclips videos for the android version and see what it looks like. Wish I could be more help with it!
Does not work on Android !!!!!!!
Are you guys still in the hotel? Believe me Iknow what it's like, I was in a hotel for months after Hurricane Irma. And people thought it was fun. Ugh
Oh wow! A month was long enough. I don’t think I could have stood much longer. We just moved into the apartment this morning. None of our stuff is here yet, but that’s okay. We’ll make do. Hope you are doing okay now!
Jan Hicks oh definitely! We're in Little Torch Key in a townhouse with amenities. The hardest part of the hotel was my poor stepmother's cat and the vacuum cleaner every day. Totally traumatized.