Stitchboard Admin message #2
Re: How to read beading chart
September 17, 2012 at 3:00:08 AM  (in response to Redhouse message #1)
 
Renee,

Hi, I'll be happy to help you with that! 

Square stitch is generally worked in columns (e.g., vertically).  This is the reason the beads are narrower vertically in a chart and wider horizontally, because that's the basic shape of the beads.

Which isn't to say that you must work square stitch this way.  The secret is that loom and square stitch patterns are interchangeable.  But the difference is that loom stitch must be worked a certain way with a pattern, because you can't choose to loom the other way!  But loom and square stitch patterns still are interchangeable...for loom, you would have to work the pattern the correct way for the beads to sit properly in the loom, where in square stitch, you only have to be careful to follow the pattern in the correct way, either in rows or in columns, since you're not using a loom.

So if you're going to work a pattern that you generated as square stitch, you either start with the leftmost or rightmost column, vertically.  You would pick up your first column of beads in order of the way they appear in the pattern, and even when there are actual row and column numbers, it doesn't matter if you go exactly that way, as long as your work stays consistent to the pattern.

Let's say you were to start with the leftmost column, and let's say your pattern has 20 rows altogether, with literally one green stripe and one blue stripe, so it's the same exact thing for every row.  Let's say you decide to start from the bottom of the pattern and work toward the top.  If your pattern showed 10 green beads followed by 10 blue beads for this vertical column, you would put them on your thread in that order.  If you then followed the exact same pattern for vertical column 2, building your two stripes, you would then be working from top to bottom (opposite of row 1), where you would add 10 blue beads, one at a time, then 10 green beads, one at a time.  Vertical column 3 would start at the bottom again, with 10 green beads, added one at a time, and then 10 blue beads, added one at a time.  Column 4 would be identical to column 2, etc.

Not to be confusing, but you can (and probably will want to) flip your work as you go.  This may sound odd, but again, your pattern is your key.  Flipping your work is mainly to keep it comfortable, so you just have to be careful to read the pattern correctly to compensate.

If, for some reason, you would rather work your pattern horizontally row by row, from top to bottom or bottom to top, all you really have to do is run your pattern through the Free Pattern Wizard again, and choose Loom, rather than Square Stitch.

I hope this isn't really confusing!  It's hard to explain this idea when not actually face to face, unfortunately.

As for word patterns, this is a feature that's planned for future versions of the software.  As of now, though, you can only generate charts, not word patterns.

Please feel free to let me know if you need further assistance...I'm sure if these explanations are too difficult to understand I can find a way to help you, perhaps through photographs or some kind of video tutorial.    It really is difficult to explain through words alone, so please don't despair if my explanations aren't making sense!

Melanie  (known to the cat as "Rowr" or "Rowr Rowr") =^.^=

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