If working in Numbers, the solution to doubling the height of the final repeat for mazes or mosaics may be achieved by simply doubling the height of each cell prior to screen grabbing the table and processing the resulting image in Gimp. Here the cells for a single repeat in the table on the left are copied, pasted, and altered from 20X20 pixels to 20X40Working in 1800 magnification, using rectangle select, every other pair of rows is chosen and then color inverted. B: the process continues for the height of the repeat. Until each new pair of rows is selected fully, the last color inverted pair is bordered in a dotted outline C, useful in tracking the last worked location. As the subsequent pair of rows is selected fully, the dotted border will disappear.
The processed repeat
Its tiled visual check
Proof of concept: the bottom half is knit using the slip stitch setting, the top half in the tuck setting. The added texture on the tuck stitch purl side makes the fabric a more interesting, reversible one, and wider than its companion.
The mazes that are often seen in game-playing, puzzles, historical sources ie in Chinese design references, may not work out for knitting with this method, the result can be quite muddied. I recently found a new to me online maze generator http://www.ludiculus.com/maker/mazes.html. Changing the pixel width by default also doubles the image in height, making smaller designs for knitting problematic
This was a quickly drawn maze using it, shown with its cropped repeat on the right, then tiled.
Numbers processing to ready the repeat for final gimp editing:
The repeat when tiled predicts muddied results
which are noticeable in the knit swatch. Because of the side-by-side areas with multiple white cells, the slip setting is used, not tuck. The single slipped lengthened stitches do not produce an easily recognized secondary design on the knit side
Getting back to clearer pattern results: when using electronics, it is possible to create far wider and taller repeats for download. The technique to achieve them uses the same process. A new working repeat:
its tiled appearance
My starting table in numbers with hidden rows, beginning to isolate a smaller repeat
the isolated repeat, double-length
the color separation in progress
When knit, that white cell pair of rows break up the overall shapes and shifts the pattern in the top and bottom half
When I tiled my next draft, I decided I preferred a cleaner join at the center
The final adjusted repeat
knit using the tuck stitch setting in both directions, KCI, first row left to right, leading with the dark color
and here with the lighter color
In progress, on the km
the relaxed, 3D-ish view on the reverse
why projects can take longer than planned
The finished, relaxed scarf with pressed edges only, retaining the conical striped forms