ArahPaint and Gimp in knit design 2

My previous post, ArahPaint meets Gimp in knit design 1, provided some information based on the assumption the reader had previous experience with a paint program, more specifically, Gimp, and an understanding of the development of knit repeats for various stitch types and techniques. At the time I had planned on expanding it. The information included some points on the following topics:
Magnification
Grids

Drawing in repeat
Image duplicate X
Drawing lines
Color exchange
Image scaling
Fill with custom brush repeat
Designing a tuck and a lace mesh repeat
Dividing large images
Returning to the topic now, I am including more information on designing repeats for knits that are by necessity limited in size and resolution, and am exploring some of the new features.
The updated program may be downloaded from https://www.arahne.si
The company provides a thorough manual that has been amended with the addition of 14 pages to include recently added features/ changes  https://www.arahne.eu/pdf/apaint4-EN.pdf
The present menu options in Arah:    Examining the toolboxWhen positioning the mouse pointer over any tool and a brief period of hovering over it, the information on the tool becomes visible as a brightly colored rectangle. The name of the tool appears below its pointer, its keyboard shortcut is also displayed to its right.  Selecting the tool changes the color of the box containing it to a darker grey as seen here for the draw circle tool on the left The “empty” shapes may also be used to highlight specific spots in pre-drawn charts or images while controlling the size of the line, seen here over the square tool.   Double-clicking on the shape drawing tools will fill shapes with color, enabling drawing each of them with color or fill The foreground color in both programs determines the color used to draw. In Arah, the foreground color (black) is drawn with the left mouse button, and the background color is drawn with the right mouse button (white), making it possible to work with any chosen pair of colors without the need to constantly change the drawing color positions. There are other operations in the manual where the use of middle mouse clicks is suggested. In the magic mouse, Apple has eliminated it. There are some third-party downloads available for anyone wishing to restore it. 
Options for tool
s appear below the toolbox once a specific tool is chosen, they may apply to only one tool or to several.
Rectangle select in Arah will have a moving dashed colored lines bounding box formed around the selected area.   Placing the pointer inside the area will move the selection. Moving the pointer to a corner using the left mouse button on the dotted lines of the dashed rectangle will resize it.
Clicking on the merge down/drop selection tool will remove the dashed outline. In the drawing mode, the default for standard drawing is indicated by a pencil. Clicking on it with the size set to one pixel brings up options shown in A. If you set the width of a line to be more than 1 pixel, then you can choose the shape of the pen, which influences the look of the starting and ending points of the line and the shape of a single-click drawn object.
Line width sets the width of lines, rectangles/squares, ellipses/circles, arcs, polygons, and brushes, B.
The options appear when a number greater than one is entered. If you break the chain’s link by clicking on the chain icon, you can set the width in the x and y direction independently, C.

Gimp still fails to create square pencil brushes accurately in consistent increments in size, leaving the only option for using the desired shapes to be saved in preference folders for repeated use or to work temporarily from the clipboard.
The built-in circle brush may be used, with the following results for values entered from one to eight Other small shapes can be drawn by filling in individual pixels. Using the rectangle tool, and a variety of other means, patterns are saved for future use or from the clipboard (until one quits the program), or in the preferences pattern folder, becoming a handy feature for filling in backgrounds or pattern segments for specialty fabrics.
Both programs share chain links that may be kept closed to preserve aspect ratio in the designs, or broken to allow for disparate pixel settings.
In Arah, a personal brush library of pngs may be saved in a personal folder for repeated use.
Drawing in repeat makes for easy creation of a filled canvas including pattern shifts, for example, the punchcard repeats are a fixed 24 stitches wide and a minimum of 32 rows for the card to rotate continuously. An even number of repeats in height will produce a correct brick punchcard configuration.  For any DIY pattern design, it is helpful to understand some of the rules for the specific knit fabric and how smaller repeats need to align in width and height.  
Users of electronic knitting machines can isolate the smallest repeat, use that, or tile it for use on a specific number of needles in work.
Line drawing may be set to preferred widths. The options associated with the chain link next to the line field allow for changing horizontal and vertical directions independently by breaking the chain link and typing in desired X and Y values.
Each drawing tool can use the additional modes displayed for the pencil icon. The brush menu uses gradients in the direction of the gradient effect, which may be used to produce pixelated lines or borders, or set to apply to the whole image, here the polygon tool is used. It creates a series of straight lines that are connected. If solid-color pencils are used, coloring the shape will not leak out into the ground.  To start and end lines, click the left mouse button, to end them release the mouse button, and press the right mouse button to stop drawing connected lines. The width is set at 5   
At any point pattern fill may also be added in variable patterns, here using the stitch tool set at variable lengths Easy and fast dithering effects to part of an image or all of it, here an 80X80 pixel canvas is used along with gradient fill on what begins as a square filled with a solid colored ground
Freehand drawing is achieved by activating the pencil tool.
Rectangles, squares, and ellipses may be drawn from outlined to filled.
Double-clicking on the icon will activate the fill function, doing so again will return it to empty shapes, and one may easily toggle between them in the same design. Wider lines or filled shapes may be set to be solid or gradient fill. The process is easy and quick.
Keep in mind while having fun drawing that especially when you enter the territory of multiple colors per row in machine knitting the color separations for programming them in any machine become more complex, and are far easier in electronic machines if software such as Ayab, img2track (my preferred), or DAK with their respective cable connections for download are available. Dak allows for a print template of the separations which may be saved and in turn be pixel-redrawn or punched for use outside its universe.
This is an 80-stitch design, committing to it for knitting a scarf, 80 stitches are likely if knit on a 4.5 mm machine to yield somewhere between 7 and 10 inches in width. Tiling in Gimp, or drawing in repeat in Arah helps visualize the full piece and estimate the minimal number of rows to be knit based on the gauge while remembering that 6 carriage passes will be used to complete each design row unless using the heart of Pluto separation in Ayab or separation B in Dak are used. Here 800 design rows are represented. Changing colors in the image further helps one decide whether it is worth committing to knitting it.
The new color test image, also 80 pixels by 80: The paint bucket tool Gimp in the latest update no longer works on specific areas of the design, but rather, fills the whole canvas. The fuzzy select tool is now used to fill in isolated areas or switched to select by color to fill all areas drawn in that specific color. Selections will be outlined with a bounding line A, bucket fill is used to alter the selection B. Click on the rectangle tool and then in the working window outside the image to remove them and set the results prior to exporting them. Selections are filled with the foreground color.
Selecting and replacing all the red will also fill in individual, unconnected pixels in that color, which in the past may have required manual “cleanup” In Arah simply click on each area to be filled in with the new color sequentially. There are, in addition, other fill options in Arah: 
Fill to border fills in all pixels in each area selected no matter which color they are until the background color is reached, in this case, white
The whole image option works on foreground color selection including in those pixelated areas where pixels are not connected here as well. For 2 color knitting and downloading to knitting machines, depending on the software, the best files may be those created in BW indexed mode. Here a square is filled with a gradient to start with, and then the fill option is used again, taking the dither to the border of the image resulting in different densities. Note that threshold and fill % can be individually set to vary the results.  

Changing single colors globally is easily done by adjusting the palette for the specific color. Double-clicking on either foreground or in this illustration the background color will load a palette window including it. There are 2 ways to alter the shade, one is by moving the cross-hair, outlined by a circle, and the second by using the slider, pointed to by an arrow. The new color is then changed after clicking OK, in this case altering the foreground color, no need for using the paint bucket.  The spray tool, on the left, may appear similar in appearance to the color picker in Gimp, shown on the right, but functions very differently, creating a spray in the foreground color. The shapes of the pixels and their size may be set in varied values, but the function is of limited use in small repeats.  The way to activate the color picker in Arah is to press the Shift key, the mouse pointer will change to the familiar dropper and then click on the pixel in the desired color to select it.

The stitch-tool is an interesting new addition, is useful in drawing points to break up long floats, ie in fair isle knitting, where floats longer than 5 stitches are not recommended. The provided repeat, intended for plain weave, is fixed in size, 2 stitches wide, and familiar to machine knitters as the one found in basic punchcards provided by manufacturers, with the card often numbered one in the packet. The repeat filled the card, with no breaks in the pattern. There was a whole publication on using CARD 1 in 100 fabric variations by Kate Armitage.
Using the tool:  changing the pencil size or leaving it at 1 does not have any effect on the results, the pattern is a fixed alternating 1X1.
The arrows determine in which direction the stitch line will follow the shape. The length is set to the distance between the two points in any direction.
To enable the tool, click on the box to the left of its icon. The resulting effect depends on the base image size and may be used on more than one color. Here the effect was used on filled circles Using the options on full square canvases yields results that can easily be translated into knitting patterns. Note that the effect, however, does not extend to borders in all directions. The saved “stitched” image can in turn be cropped to meet knitting repeat needs.
Some effects: without enabling the plain weave repeat Engaging the repeat: the intermittent stripes may also be easily rotated If no direction is highlighted, the bands form horizontally by default. After spaced bands are drawn, clicking in the horizontal spaces between them will form secondary motifs.  Square grids can appear to be suitable for tuck or slip stitch patterns,  but the individual repeat would need to be isolated, and those horizontal lines would need to be converted to solid color as well, representing all-knit rows.
A workable reduced repeat:  Testing its alignment may be achieved by tiling in Gimp and drawing in repeat in Arah. There is another quick preview for doing so, the drawback is only that any repeat appears to be multiplied by a fixed X10 in height and width. Here the 4X5 original is repeated to 40X50 pixels an 8X5 design repeats to 80X50 pixels If you prefer to work with colored shapes rather than black and white ones, whether intending to print punchcard repeats in black and white or to use the file for download to electronic machines as a BW png, the easiest way to create the repeat is to begin to do so using a single color on a white ground or the reverse, and then to use the select by color tool in Gimp to bucket fill the color with black, or adjusting the color palette in Arah.
Large image color reductions or steps for color separations for more advanced fabrics aside from the size of the repeat require their own post.
A beginning idea for future discussions on methods for performing them and the question as to whether the presence of white or specific hues in pattern palettes matter in downloads

More shapes on ribber fabrics with tuck patterning, fantasy fair isle

Fantasy fair isle is the term often used to refer to dbj fabrics created using tuck settings on either or both beds. Typically in the required color separation used each design row in the repeat is expanded into 4 rows, with the same selection occurring for each color pair of consecutive rows. A tuck/plain combination is used here, with the backing essentially being a striper one, where each color knits every stitch on the ribber on every row.
In this illustration, the blue symbols represent knit stitches on either bed, the red, the tucked stitches on the top bed. The chart represents a single design row expanded into 4, the results would, in turn, be rendered double length in knitting the final fabric.  The last post related to this topic: 2021/09/07/geometric-shapes-on-ribber-fabrics-with-tuck-stitches-3/
Recently a friend shared images of a punchcard skull pattern she was using in a hat and followed with a query as to the possibility of using the pattern on a mesh grid. The inspiration for the conversation began with this image, the work of Claudia Scarpa. The possibility of adding images on a true mesh transfer lace or mesh-like thread lace images may be found in 2021/12/14/to-mesh-or-not-to-mesh-9-more-on-mock-filet-design/
My DIY skull image in a potential thread lace pattern, in a 100X92 pixel png.  Concurrently the topic of illusion knits on the machine has also resurfaced in FB with some spectacular panels executed using the Garter carriage and changing colors every 2 rows. Some small geometric shapes begin to have a somewhat “similar” appearance using this technique, but as with beauty, the success in the imitation is in the eye of the beholder.
The techniques involved: my proof of concept was knit using img2track on a 930. Traditionally two-color designs may be opened and then downloaded, using the standard dbj built-in KRC function for the color separation, not suitable for this dbj version, while for designs in 3 or more colors the program will separate the repeat in a way that each color for each design row is knit twice, the separation required here.
At this point, the color separation is executed by filling in pixels and observing a variety of rules. DAK produces templates of jacquard separations of varied types that may be printed for use outside its universe. The same file may be screengrabbed, traced, and redrawn pixel by pixel for use in a Brother download using other download software.
Passap by default separates knits for 2 color DBJ with each color for each design row knitting twice mode. Tucking on either or both beds is made easier because of the way stitches are formed on the Passap beds, along with the use of strippers which push down on tuck loops with each pass, ensuring that they will knit off properly. The fabric widens considerably when off the machine, requiring loose cast-ons and bind-offs. The dbj variant, dubbed fantasy fair isle, is often used to create lap or quilt blankets.
The Passap built-in reader techniques that are often recommended for large knit pieces ie blankets using the same design are 186 for throw size, 187 for lap blankets, and 183 for crib quilts. All three share the fact that the front bed pushers are selected in pattern in the up/knitting position alternating with the down/slip/tuck position alternating every 2 rows, producing the jacquard discussed here.
Slip settings produce narrow, short results, tuck short and wide ones. For non-Passap knitters, N is Passapese for plain knit, KX is tuck with patterning on the front/ knit bed, and AX for tuck patterning on the back/ribber bed.
Back in 2018, I began another post I meant to return to on traveling between the two brands.
My Passap E6000 manual is filled with scribbled notes from decades ago, expanding on how each technique may be used for a variety of fabrics.  In Fantasy Fairisle knitting using 187 with alternating up and down pushers on the back bed and AX with 2 arrow keys would match Brother ribber knitting with lili buttons used on an even number of needles set to tuck.
Working with the large skull image the setting of knit every row on the ribber and tuck in both directions on the knit bed is used as in technique 186, with a critical difference. Passap knitters may download the original black and white image while for Brother knitting a color separation is required.
The original skull image is 100 pixels wide by 92 high.
Converting the white ground layer behind the skull to alpha produces an image on a clear ground that can be placed exactly where desired on a new file with a white ground using the grid and guides
The alpha double long skull, now 100 by 184 pixels For the 1-pixel grid in Gimp to be visible on an editable image, a magnification of at least 800 is required. The options offered by default
can be changed to suit by simply typing in a new number.
As described in other posts including in Gimp update for Mac2, I chose to mark every other row with a red pixel, making it easier to track color-inverting every other row.  This is achieved by selecting the rows with red dots using the rectangle tool one row at a time and choosing Invert from the colors menu. The red dot will also change color, making it easy to locate converted rows in more complex patterns. The dotted blue line is a guide for placement. in progress   the processed image the trimmed 98X182 png doubled in length once more to 98X364 Knitting process on a 930 using img2track:
the 930 has a tiny brain, so the image is broken down by the software into multiple tracks of 96, 134, and 134 respectively. One of the critical differences when using this type of DBJ color separation is that the first preselection row is made from right to left toward the color changer rather than from left to right as in KRC separated 2 colors DBJ.
The first and last needles are in work on the ribber to ensure the edge stitch on that bed will knit every row.
The knit carriage is set to KCII, canceling the end needle selection.
Once the first row has been preselected and the planned color is chosen, with COL, set the main bed to tuck in both directions, leave the ribber set to knit, and continue knitting changing color every 2 rows.
In my swatch, the dark contrast color was used for the initial black pixel all-knit rows.
The work on the machine: A reminder: in my experience, the Brother cast-on combs are usually chrome-colored, Studio grey, and Passap, and I believe Superba ones were traditionally green. The first 2 were designed for 4.5 mm machines, the latter for 5mm. The different mm spacing does not make the 5 mm combs suitable for casting on on Brother, but they can be poked through the knit in progress. I like to leave the first comb and weights on, insert the new comb closer to the beds, and then move the weight up, and then remove the lower position comb.
There are lots of side-by-side stitches tucking on the main bed, made possible by the fact that each is anchored in place by a knit stitch on the opposite bed.
The tension needs to be set so that the stitches will knit off properly while having tuck loops not so loose as to get hung up on gate pegs. It can take a bit of trial and error to find proper settings and they, in turn, may need to be adjusted again when moving from small swatches to knitting on a far larger number of needles.
The finished piece measures 25 inches in width by 24 in height.
The appearance on the bed set to N, in this case, the ribber: Those white lines on the right are spots where the color changer picked up both color threads, a problem that does not occur in Passap knitting, where each color is picked up in its own yarn holder. In the Brother model, sometimes the yarn is left in the wrong place below eye level rather than its own individual one corresponding to its button, and both yarns are picked up with the next color change. The more textured knit side of the piece,  a close-up of the texture at an angle  Claudia Scarpa developed a skull variation using only layers in Gimp and has been kind enough to create a Youtube video illustrating the process. The separation is easy and quick as opposed to my more prolonged hack, and I will return to attempt to use it for various fabrics in a follow-up post.
This skull is more compact and better defined than mine. With the double-long original image superimposed on alternating pairs of black and white rows, the resulting png can not be lengthened again as tucking would then occur for 4 rows, not likely possible in a Brother machine. The variant is a very interesting cousin to mine.

In DAK using Method C color separation each color row separates into 2 rows of knitting and when using the result rows do not have to be repeated in pairs but the double-length switch will need to be used in Japanese knitting machines if working within the program. For those intending to use the separation outside the DAK universe, the color separation may be printed, traced/redrawn to create a png or bmp, scaled double length, and used as in the skull swatch. The template for the double long triangle in the post and the associated 24 stitches by 32 rows png, followed by the associated drawn png The png doubled in length, 24 stitches by 64 rows. This is a small repeat, suitable for punch card machines. The test swatch is knit with the main bed tucking both ways and the ribber knitting every row. It is possible to work some repeats on some machines with the ribber also set to tuck both ways with EON needle selection.
In Brother that is achieved by using lili buttons with an even number of needles in work on the ribber. The first and the last needle would be in work on the top bed, the KCI setting is used for end needle selection to ensure that the first and last needles on each side of the piece will knit. I did not find this method workable and soon had to stop because of a loopy mess. When using the Dak stitch design module, the color separation is automated. Choose any design repeat. This happens to be a 20X20 one, chosen from the thumbnail assortment, so not suitable for punchcard models. “Printing” the template using choosing the option of using dots rather than squares to represent knit stitches makes the resulting print screengrab easier to trace. the 20X20 repeat as a BW png The template was overlayed with a grid in numbers, filling in cells over the dotted areas.
A portion of the work in progress using the generated dbj option C template and tracing it transitioning from template to Numbers, to Gimp:  The result is screengrabbed, opened in Gimp, converted to BW mode, and scaled to the 20X40 expanded design size. Unless the double-length function in the machine is also used, it will need scaling again to double length prior to download.
Illustrations for the generated dbj option C template, tracing it in Numbers, processed in Gimp, The final image double length, showing the difference between the separation using the template, and that using layers as in Claudia’s video, which appears different but is actually the same repeat, color reversed.  Using bucket fill for the ground in the second layer, as described in the video, the captured clipboard image can be very small or stripes any width may be captured, even up to that of the full repeat widthRemember to click on the screen outside the area chosen with the rectangle tool before using the bucket fill in pattern tool.
The result is the same using either brush.
Alternately, the initial design may be scaled X4 to 20 X 80 pixels and it is superimposed on a ground flood-filled with 2 black rows alternating with 2 white rows the steps resulting in a match to the previous elongated version the 20X80 png In the related swatch patterning is used on  40 stitches by 100 rows. The relaxed fabric when off the machine measures 7 inches by 7 inches and the knit side view reflects the elongation of the design one might observe when using the same color separation in standard striper-backed DBJ. On the bottom, the swatch is stretched and the stitches are set with some casual steaming and pressing to 10.5 to 6.75 inches, gaining the familiar texture appearance seen in so many Passap blankets.
The color differences are due to lighting, with the photos being taken at different times of day.  
For a loose cast-on row, I used a racked version at the same tension as the body of the knit.
For a loose bind-off to accommodate the stretch, I used this method, one of many taught in Passap seminars.
To perform the same on Brother machines: knit the piece, ending with the carriages on the right.
Transfer all the stitches up to the top bed, bring the ribber needles up into work between them set the ribber to a looser tension number, here it was increased from 4 to 7. Knit one row from right to left, picking up loops on the empty ribber needles drop the ribber slightly by using this bracket lever position to elongate the main bed stitches.  Using a latch tool, beginning with the first stitch on the right, insert the open latch tool into the first stitch on the right, then insert it into the second stitch moving down until the first stitch is behind the hook. Do not allow the second stitch to go behind the latch, keep it in the hook. Pull the latch hook up moving the second stitch through the one behind it, forming the first chain. Repeat across the row, going through the center of each stitch, continuing the chained bind-off. A yarn end is pulled through the last stitch and the now completed chained row is secured The beds are returned to the up position, and loops and stitches are dropped off all the needles.
An attempt at a more detailed look at the bound-off edge

DAK lace module 2, template use, other software

I am taking a break from lace, the two posts so far on using the module reflect my own experiences outside the program’s environment. The latter will continue to be the focus of my future posts when exploring the use of the software, with testing specifically aimed at adapting or using any of the Stitch designer features and output on Brother knitting machines.

Almost a decade ago I had a temporary leaf lace obsession, and it appears to have resurfaced. This pattern was offered in a Japanese machine knitting magazine, with no accompanying MK repeat. When transferring stitches by hand it is possible to move multiple stitches within a single row as well as to move stitches in opposite directions within the same row, making the published repeat executable When automating the repeat edits are possible and very easy using the lace module, these first drafts were created in Numbers,  I have to admit the first time I tried to knit both the associated png, mirrored and not, I experienced patterning errors. Whether due to operator fatigue, static, or any other possible cause, on a different day both designs knit successfully, and my appreciation of the module is growing steadily. The results for this, a complex shape, are quick and awesome when compared to the amount of time it would take to draft the pattern outside the program.
The design process, beginning with Dak: in this instance, the lace tool was used with what I will call the drag and stop method, initially on the fabric texture using the smart symbols.  At any time during the drawing process, several image view options are available and may be changed back and forth by deselecting features in this menuAn stp was created, the template is marked 74 rows in height, filled in as the stp was generated, right side facing Numbers and Gimp reduced the template to a png 14 stitches wide by 52 rows long, needed to be mirrored using the number one button on the 930 for successful knitting, matches the original illustration. Dak makes slight modifications very easy. The untested brick repeat, 28X104, developed using Arah followed by its png changing that central shape
The amended design drawn in repeat in dak visualizing the knit, The print preview template: and converted for use on Brother electronics using Numbers and Gimp the resulting png, 14 stitches by 68 rows, also knit using the number one button on the 930 the proof of concept swatch The brick repeat developed in Arah, now 28 stitches by 136 rows,  its png comparing the initial three knit results for differences, the samples were knit using the same yarn at the same tension A test for the second brick repeat, here visualizing results with a screengrab of the stp. The test swatch is for a single repeat width, the initial yarn used ran out, hence the color change, the second yarn was thinner and broke, but there is enough to get a sense as to how the overall alignment of the knit shapes will appear, including that horizontal chevron between the shifting leaves. The png required mirroring when used on the 930. I became curious about reverse engineering from punchcard to an stp file: my first choice was of a “straightforward” but slow to knit pattern, 34 LC passes are made before any knitting rows follow.  Ayab users have access to a huge library of knit-ready pngs, this was one, it also happens to be 24 stitches wide, so suitable for punchcard users. The published repeat as given is shown on the left, mirrored for use on my 930, left and right transfers are then marked in red and green respectively to check transfer placements. The right half of the image is then copied and dropped down a single row reaching the necessary configuration for Dak, allowing for the stp to be created. deselecting yarn colors in Dak provides a clearer view of transfers the 24X36 original png:  A proof of concept swatch: the yarn was too thin for the many transfers and broke, so on the right, there are fewer stitches than initially planned. At the bottom there is a single instance of 2 rows knit after all the transfers, there are 6 rows knit after each transfer series in the remainder of the swatch. Color changes could be added in multiple places to interact with the wavy shapes The template for the stp as first attempted is something quite different but would work if the pairs of blank rows between pairs of transfers are eliminated over its length except at the very top
it would need to be drawn eliminating the pairs of blank rows between transfers to match the original repeat because all those carriage passes are consecutive. Drafts with no blank rows between alternating transfers are not accepted by the program and ruled out in any template preview as well. The complexity of working with a “simple” repeat: over the years I accumulated a notebook full of copies from Japanese magazine pages with what I believed to offer interesting potential, this repeat happened to be one. The markings for the knit rows on the right, and the two blank rows at the bottom identify it as suitable for Studio punchcard machines, and it would appear to be easy to translate for knitting on Brother thanks to those 2 blank rows between transfer cell markings. Developing the Brother repeat in Numbers for beginning with transfers to the left. The repeat is recognizable as a mesh variant, more information for mesh design repeats may be found in the post, the lace carriage is used for 2 passes, and then for 4 passes alternately the repeat on the right was created in Gimp.  The 12X18 png was mirrored for use on my 930, some cables were added. A 1X1 crossing in the thin yarn used in the sample would have been nearly invisible. The placement, in this case, is at the top of the full repeat, after the first knit row before returning to transfers for design row 1, an easy way to track the hand technique. The 2X2 crossing used might need help with definition and placement in a wider vertical knit strip Creating the stp: the size of the png was used to create the image file, which required cropping, in Dak this would be the menu language after activating the proper tools. the stp size is 12X16, The template generated for a Brother punchcard machine illustrates the problems and some of the confusion if the template repeat is used for actual knitting, especially on the punchcard machines. Drawing the eyelet and dragging the mouse one cell to the left is the intuitive way to draw for transfers to the left. The symbols appear to be right-side facing by default and if they are in turn mirrored by the program prior to saving, when the templates are generated, the intent for use of the design would match. The numbers on the left are in the punchcard template, adjusted by cropping the two extra rows in the Brother electronic template by the software, do not reflect the actual design row numbers. The starting row is wrong for the Brother lace carriage operation from the left to produce the first row transfers to the left in actual knitting. As far as determining sequences for knit row placement, that is left up to the punchcard knitter’s experimentation. The minimum repeat for a punchcard to roll continuously is 36 rows, that fact needs to be considered if punching cards. The repeat shift for the first transfers to happen toward the left is illustrated on the right.  As initially given, with the lace carriage starting on the left, the first transfer row would be to the right. In many cases, this may not matter, but in this instance, where the knit rows happen after 2 or 4 LC passes respectively, the template offers another instance of the fact that the knitter using it needs to have previous understanding and experience in creating the particular stitch type. This version does not have an accompanying swatch. Analyzing the electronic template for interactive knitting: it is correct in marking rows for LC operation from the left with the first transfer row made to the right, matching the above chart.  The LC operation is continuous Eliminating the rows marked with red would yield a workable punchcard repeat, with loss of the cues for the proper sequence for LC passes.
In this case, it would be best to redraw the adjusted electronic repeat prior to punching any holes.
Getting that first row to transfer to the left can be achieved by mirroring the first stp draft, using the second selection,  the resulting electronic template yields the repeat with transfers in the direction intended, as seen in the proof of concept swatch and its repeat For good measure, the repeat is also drawn as stitches and produced the punchcard template with a first blank row identical to that generated when using symbols Using the pencil tool to draw the transfers differently resulted in a series of error alerts, so not an option.

For Brother knitters mirroring the self-drawn stp and altering the electronic template may be the way to go. Also, be alert that Brother and Toyota punchcard knitters cannot knit interactively because the interactive knit rows present in the mylars cannot be present in the punchcards, a fact that is acknowledged by the software company nearing the end of the content on the lace module. No mention is made of the fact that for successful knitting the knit carriage on Brother needs to be set to KCI or II for the pattern to advance properly during interactive knitting and that those rows need to be omitted if entering the pattern on a mylar sheet or are using the repeat for download to a machine outside the DAK environment and you prefer not to have the knit carriage selecting needles as well as the lace carriage.
In summary, the information on the tool presented in the manual for the module:

 

DAK lace module 1, template use, other software

Working with lace designs: lace poses interesting challenges in machine knitting. The name is associated with a variety of fabrics, but transfer lace is the specific topic for the moment.
Reminders with respect to transfer lace knitting:
in Studio simple lace the transfers and knitting occur for each row of the design  with each pass of the carriage
transfer lace patterns in Studio km begin with 2 blank rows and end with markings for transfers
Brother transfer lace begins with needle selection markings for transfers and ends with two blank rows. The knit carriage does not advance patterning rows unless the change knob is used to select needles as well.
Hand knitting charts typically illustrate the knit side, while in machine knitting the knitter is working looking at the purl side, so if charting for duplicating the same transfers, the HK pattern requires mirroring
The Brother lace carriages usually operate from the left, and Toyota from the right
Some download programs automatically flip patterns horizontally, great if you are working with texts in most cases, but a consideration if you wish to control the direction of other stitch-type formations, and lace patterns drawn in the program may need to be flipped as well in order to knit properly on Brother with the lace carriage operating from the left side
When I design, out of habit, I try if possible to work with repeats suitable for punchcard machines as well.

Facebook members who participate in machine knitting forums have access to the information generously shared by members. Sheila West published a video on drawing lace repeats on a DAK knit stitch symbols ground as opposed to the more traditional charting using lace symbols on a blank design grid, and there is also an associated downloadable PDF.

Softbyte support has been responsive and at times helpful in communicating with me, and reviewing issues I encountered.

I prefer to download manuals for software when the option is available making it possible to review them when not running the program. In my enthusiasm to do so, it appears I downloaded the manual version offered in the last tab, which happens to be for section 5, graphic design studio, which by default was not helpful in using the lace module. When I initially looked for help, the information that became available was for the wrong module, 5. In using the program on Oct 21 I have not been able to replicate that issue when opening other modules.
When the program is first installed, the manuals are listed in a series of tabs, ending with that for section 5. For Stitch Designer, choose section 3, the manual appears and a way to download the associated PDF is also provided.  There are 5 help files and 5 manual files. They don’t interact at all and work completely independently from each other, can be opened from DesignaKnit or from a file browser window. 
Interactive choices using the help menu: Contents  Manual: When manuals are chosen in any module, there is an option offered to download the associated pdf by clicking on the arrow key specific page numbers based on the index may be entered and jumped to.
Tutorials: Update: The lace module is an extremely attractive solution for speeding up the lace design process whether from published charts or DIY. The left mouse button is used to draw as usual, but the right mouse button is used when drawing shared transfers in fine lace on Brother, or simple lace in Studio km.
My initial experiment and observations:
each time the program opens a new session, the normal drawing pattern appears. Selecting the Lace tool icon in the left menu bar will change the default palette to include the necessary symbols. In working with stitch symbols this is the range of available, It is possible to show any repeat tiled as well. For lace the number of stitches and rows should be close to those required by the design, its overall size may be trimmed if needed when the design is completed.
The left mouse is used to apply the symbols, I have read the right mouse has a different function and is used to draw shared stitches in Brother fine lace or in filling in simple lace designs for Studio machine models.
To select the lace mode simply click on the small icon on the left menu bar, a grey border on its left and the upper edge will indicate it is active, the palette and cursor will change. The designer may enter patterns on this view as well, but I prefer to work with symbols
It is best to begin testing with a small repeat when exploring new techniques, find his format easier to use than drawing on “stitches”. There are several options for the canvas ground color, the default is in blue. As a first step, saved as an stp, Dak opened my saved file as pictured in this view.  Wrong approach: The pencil tool must be active to continue to draw, left mouse click to place symbol, right mouse click to erase, clicking on any symbol in any one row will call up pertinent information on its location in the repeat
Is there another way to draw symbols while working on a lace design file?  use the lace tool, using the pencil tool with each type of lace symbol is not recommendedDAK row numbers do not refer to design rows, they reference row counts as would be seen in any row counter registering carriage passes
Other views for the repeat: as yarn colors and as stitch symbol palette If a symbol is missing from the drawing, the program alerts the knitter to the error.  Here there are no eyelets represented.  There was no warning for the error in the last row of the test stp, where in the last row two stitches were being moved in opposite directions on the same row. If the content is considered accurate, this window will appear, the safe button will be highlighted, click OK I found this lack of warning for some errors in later designs as well, it is a topic under review by the developer. When choosing machine knitting options lace is not offered as one,  fair isle is used To print a template for use on another machine the stp file may not be used for copying to clipboard and converting to stitches in another program. In the print menu, saves are possible for templates akin to graph paper references for working further on both electronic and punchcard machines. For the electronic printout, the choice of the machine appears to need to be set to 950i wrong side facing is chosen for the purl side view.  Stitch pattern print previews, using default settings for layout:
the stitch pattern picture was basically a numbered graph paper image with no content, pattern text, and not particularly useful
other previews:
the suggested electronic repeat: The templates for electronic models have 4 rows between transfer sequences rather than 2 as is usual for Brother. They are needed for interactive knitting where the KC passes are represented onscreen as well, Dak knitters likely set the knit carriage change knob to select needles on KCI or KCII.
For punchcard end-use, change the machine setting for print preview to Brother/Knitking standard punchcard, and click ok. When you choose Fair Isle, DAK will reverse your design and that may mean that there will be two eyelets side by side or double stitches transferring because the transfers are being made in the wrong direction. DAK will invert the pattern from left to right if it has the knit method Fair Isle or Wrong Facing. If it has the Right Facing method it won’t be flipped. The knitter still needs to sort out whether right-side facing or wrong-side facing makes any difference in their particular brand machine outside the Dak environment. The need for added mirroring for correct transfers depends on the download program ie Ayab mirrors any programmed image automatically, or the specific brand machine ie punchcard vs. electronics may behave differently. An easy test is to use the repeat on a small swatch, if side by side empty needles appear on the needle bed, the pattern needs to be reversed. Any lace designs suitable for a punchcard machine, when they are knit on my 930 require mirroring unless the png is saved mirrored horizontally in the paint program used to create it prior to download to the machine.  the repeat:
The numbers on the left correspond to carriage passes, not design rows. While the electronic template represents the interactive kitting repeat and differentiates between rows for use of the LC and KC, leaving the KC rows unlabeled, that distinction is not made for punchcards in any way, and marked numbers are not in sequence. Published Brother punchcards contain additional symbol columns for added guidance on settings and carriage passes.
Assuming the knitter knows whether the programmed repeat will need to be mirrored or not to knit properly on their specific model knitting machine, the 24-stitch punchcard version should work on both model machines.
The numbering on this punchcard template skips 2 numbers for knit rows between transfer repeat segments as seen in the first sample, and in this later repeat, the number sequence interruptions are marked in red. In punching long cards especially, renumbering the whole would make the repeat easier to follow. This stp pattern was also created using the pencil tool in combination with symbols. In the print preview, there were 2 errors in the Dak printouts, the three blank rows rather than 2 in the outlined section between transfers, and transfers in 2 different directions occurring on the same row with the same carriage pass. I have no way to test whether the same issue would occur in interactive knitting using my own stp file. My repeat, drawn in Numbers on the right, is numbered in design rows. When choosing print, the global options allow for editing items out such as company name, date, and format by simply clicking in the associated boxes choices can also be made on how to represent stitch units If the plan is to create a punchcard template and the repeat is too wide, an error message appears Paper size measurements in page set up other than US letter

other associated menu choices It is possible to save the template as a bmp of the full image. The size of the file is shown to the right of the pixel count number settings for the clipboard or bmp file, which will vary in proportion to the stitch and row count. Click on the floppy disk icon to save.  My hack for reducing the onscreen size of the templates for screengrabs I could trace in a spreadsheet was to use a 600 mm setting for punchcards, and 350mm for electronics instead of selecting a paper size. The actual printing to scale is not an issue at the moment, but it is possible to print templates to full size, involving a bit of trial and error with individual printer settings and math.
The proof of concept swatch, knit on a Brother 930 KM, mirroring the image was not necessary, the dropped stitch was a surprise design feature when the swatch was very lightly pressed its.png Regrouping after a review of my pencil tool repeat by Softbyte support: the original stp has an error in it on row 11 where yours truly had eyelets being created by having the same stitches moved in opposite directions in the same row. It is interesting that I was able to save the stp without receiving an error message as seen in this instance below when the pattern was being redrawn with transfer symbols on the wrong row, The amended final repeat,   in turn, produced a correct punchcard template using the print preview As an additional lace template test, I repeated the process on a portion of an stp file shared generously shared by a DAK FB group knitter along with photos of a completed, lovely lace sweater using it.  The results are shown sideways because of the repeat length. The 950i template places four rows at the end of each lace sequence, while as seen in the published repeat of a different lace beside it, there should only be 2. The carriage passes made by the KC in traditional lace knitting though they advance the row counter, do not advance the pattern unless it is selecting needles as well, ie in trims that combine lace with the slip stitch setting. Exceptions to the 2 blank rows rule occur when the lace shape reverses direction such as in zig-zags, or when plain knit or pattern rows are planned deliberately to mix and interact with the lace design. Please see the previous post for more on lace charting and explanations for those in-between added pairs of rows variations. Brother knitters outside the DAK environment may use the templates as they are, but set the knit carriage for pattern selection as well on KCI or KCII.

This is another lace stp pattern built using the pencil tool method. The charted symbol diagram was published in a Japanese magazine along with its published punchcard design. There is an intentional extra row at the bottom of the repeat, making it “wrong” if the intended use is on a Brother machine as a test for how the template might handle it in the print preview. Template previews were created using the setting for Brother standard punchcard bulky or Brother 950iFacilitating correct DIY designs, in addition to the warnings if there are missing symbols or any other problems with the design and their respective row locations, the module provides a warning about that extra row, explaining that if the generated pattern is used as is, the bottom row should be moved up or the LC should begin pattern selection from the right. The electronic preview continues to have a series of 4 blank rows between transfer segments. The punchcard template has 2 blank rows between each transfer segment and matches the published pattern with a 3-row exception toward the top of the card. The renderings below begin with the DAK punchcard template on the left with its confused numbering, the extra empty row at the bottom of the repeat was eliminated. The overall repeat is mirrored. It is followed by the published pattern associated with the chart, pixels are then marked for left and right transfers, followed by my amended final repeat, which when knit on the 930 required mirroringLace tool use instructions begin on page 299 of the third module user manual, Stitch designer. From the manual: when the Lace tool is clicked, lace patterns can be created by using the LMB or RMB to click and hold on the stitch cell where the eyelet needs to be, after which the mouse can be dragged in the required transfer direction and let go on the stitch that needs the corresponding decrease. Intermediate transfer stitches will be added automatically where appropriate. If the button is clicked and the stitch pattern has a method that is incompatible with lace, the warning that is shown on the right will be displayed. The Wrong side facing texture is probably the most natural choice because this is generally considered the normal method of knitting on Japanese knitting machines. Sections of Lace and Fair Isle may be used in the same stitch pattern and either Fair Isle or Wrong side facing texture are good choices when working with lace patterns.
If either of the Right / Wrong side facing texture methods is used, and there is only one color per row, it can be transparent or opaque. If there are more colors per row, the opaque color is seen as the real yarn color, while the transparent colors are regarded for memo purposes.
The lace smart symbols have an associated ‘texture’ which is used to see a representation of the finished knitting. This representation is not entirely accurate as decreases have to be shown on a single stitch cell instead of over the two adjacent cells that are affected. However, the bias of the transferred stitches, as well as the lace eyelets are well represented to give a good idea of how the stitch pattern will look when knitted.
The symbols that are specifically used for machine lace knitting are displayed with a light green background in the Symbols Organizer. The same repeat as above was redrawn, with that extra bottom row eliminated  The associated template preview for the punchcard nearly matched the one that was obtained with the pencil tool chart, but had some differences: the previous image was mirrored although no dak settings were changed. As in all punchcard template numbering, the knit row numbers are skipped in the sequence on the left, so they will not match design row numbers, and the small flower motif is placed differently  This sample was knit using the pattern drawn with the pencil tool, pre mirrored for use on the 930. The convention for lace designs is that they must contain an even number of rows, the one on the right is 47 rows, knits properly, but is suitable only for a border. Here a pair of extra rows were knit, followed by design row 1A wider swatchWhen attempting to use this repeat for a continuous one, unless the total number of rows is an even number, the second repeat will reverse the direction of the transfers, resulting in mispatterning and multiple side-by-side empty needles. Changing the total repeat to 48 rows by adding another blank row places all transfers properly. The 12X48 png
Adding extra knit rows at the top of the repeat ie. 6 or 8 may make the alignment of the 2 shapes to each other more pleasant.
The challenges in DIY lace patterning are many.
The same design was redrawn using only the lace tools. The appearance was the same as in the previous draft, the print preview template was two rows shorter, 46 rows long, and no longer mirrored, with the flower shape slightly lower than in the other sample, it is shown here alongside the Gimp png draft for exporting the png used in the samples. Knit in continuous pattern with 6 knit rows added before restarting with pattern row 1 with LC on the left A half drop repeat is also possible. To achieve this test of a repeat drawn in a paint program, I  knit 2 rows after the last “flower” eyelet and had to flip the repeat horizontally before continuing for the top half of the repeat, producing a very different look.  There is a transfer error in the knit swatch on the right where I “repaired” a dropped stitch. Edits would be needed if one is determined to make this pattern automated as a continuous design.
Options for manipulating stitch designs in dak appear to be the following. Interested in developing an automated brick repeat for the above design, this was produced outside dak as a guideline for entering the symbols in stitch designer Using the lace tool, the areas marked in red highlight cells where wrong symbols for stitches in those areas were initially created using the lace tool. Use of the pencil tool was necessary to replace the incorrect symbols. The stp was saved with no error warning, but the resulting repeat was identical to my self-drawn one with the top half of the bricks knitting in the wrong direction resulting in mispatterning and double eyelets.
Saved stp files may be opened and further edited using either or both the lace tool and the pencil tool.
With respect to the use of the pencil tool, from the manual: “It is possible to place lace symbols onto the stitch pattern manually by activating the Pencil tool, then selecting and placing each symbol where required. However, this can easily lead to errors as the placement of each symbol needs to be well understood.
The “Check once for color changes etc.” option in the dialog can be clicked after which dak will either display “No errors found” or it will display error messages such as the ones shown here.
Clicking “OK” returns the program to the workspace where errors may be corrected. DesignaKnit does not mark the pattern when these errors occur. After correcting, “Check” can be run again to ensure all errors have been eliminated. Using the Lace tool to create lace will greatly diminish the chance of errors.”
I have encountered instances where no error messages were received, the stp was saved successfully for supposed knitting, have been told there are edits and future updates underway for both version 8 and version 9.
the right mouse button is used when drawing fine lace designs, which is not part of my present explorations
In theory, the Lace tool will:
insert the eyelet, transfer and decrease symbols in the direction of the drawing
insert a double decrease symbol where the lace transfers occur  onto a single stitch from opposite directions
prevent the placement of eyelets on adjacent stitches within the same row
warn of invalid lace sequences when saving or checking the pattern
remove the eyelet, its matching decreases, and any transfers  in that sequence with a single click of an eyelet symbol with either the right or left mouse buttons
Brother knitters need to keep this in mind when using the lace pattern in the dark environment, the knit carriage will need to be selecting needles as well. If using the templates to generate patterns for use with other download programs, the traditional use for Brother lace and punchcard machines is to have the knit carriage not selecting needles. To use the given template for the electronic in that manner, 2 out of the four blank rows between each series of transfers may be eliminated and the pattern from the electronic template if within the punchcard repeat restrictions, may be used on punchcards as well. Having plain knit rows not selecting, in my experience, makes for easier unraveling and returning to an all-knit row when rows need to be unraveled to correct errors or knitting falls off the machine.
All punchcard templates keep the number sequencing for the electronic repeats, removing the extra interactive knitting rows and their numbers from the electronic template, reducing the repeat to design rows, which results in the numbering sequence on the left not matching the actual total number of rows in the repeat, making it ineffective if following those numbers when punching cards.
Making things work: the dak repeat for the brick arrangement, there are single blank rows before selection for the shifted pattern begins,  my edit in a spreadsheet, the yellow cells mark rows missing in order to get the lace carriage back to the left side before the next pair of all knit rows.  The full repeat was trimmed to 12 stitches in width, and 48 rows in height, opened in ArahPaint, and drawn in brick repeat, shifting the top by 6 cells. The green lines mark the original single blank rows followed by the pairs of added blank rows with no markings, the needed corrections the Arah image was saved as a png, knit on my 930 using img2 track, and mirroring
The proof of concept swatch for the now fully automated pattern   When a repeat is sorted out it is easily modified to create other variations. Here the small flower shape is eliminated, as well as the first transfer sequence to produce stacking triangular shapes. The repeat is now 10 stitches wide by 28 rows high, so suitable only for electronics.  The swatch was lightly pressed, prior to that, there was actually an interesting 3D quality which can be common to many unblocked lace patterns. If the knitter wants to retain that quality, the quandary is then encountered as to whether one also may want the piece to lie flat, particularly at the sides and the top.
The above repeat was mirrored for use on the 930. With lace as with other fabrics, the repeat may be tiled and programmed to the width of your knitting, here for use in a 30-stitch swatch. While in other fabrics a plain knit border may be added by placing black cell vertical cells on each side of the wide repeats, this cannot be done in lace, because those selected needles will attempt to transfer multiple needles in a single pass, which is not possible. Brother offers edge-stitch plastic cams to help with that.  The cast-on in this instance is a provisional one, with several rows knit prior to beginning the use of the lace carriage. 

My DAK explorations 1

Resources for users or those curious about the program are offered below. There are 5 help files and 5 manual files. They don’t interact at all and work completely independently from each other, can be opened from DesignaKnit or a file browser window, are not available until the program is purchased and installed, and each may be downloaded as a PDF. DesignaKnit Professional contains 5 modules:
Standard Garment Styling has built-in sweater patterns that may be adjusted to custom measurements and gauges
Original Pattern Drafting: allows for using a pattern designed in garment styling to custom features such as knitting the design sideways or making pieces such as the front and back different lengths
Stitch Designer is a paint program. A grid may be created to match the stitch gauge for a sense of aspect ratio of the design in the finished piece. When the type of knitting for the project is selected, warnings as to possible errors in any rows provided
Interactive Knitting: with the proper cable connected to the computer and the knitting machine the design is followed row by row, voice prompts may be activated to receive warnings when to change colors as well as counters for the number of rows between shaping ie increases and decreases while knitting sleeves
Graphics Studio: convert graphics to stitch designs, including color separations for DBJ, color reductions, scaling for large non-repetitive designs
When the program is installed and opened the manuals are found listed after using Help 
in a series of tabs, ending with that for section 5.
Online references:
a quick summary of version 9 upgrade features
https://softbyte.co.uk/DK9UpgradeForms/DK9_upgrade_features_F.pdf
videos DesignaKnit9 graphic studio
https://softbyte.co.uk/dk9englishvideotutorials.htm
the DAK Facebook group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/523785160964950
members of the group have access to teaching material shared by Sheila West https://www.facebook.com/groups/523785160964950/user/1164753159
YouTube tutorials for DesignaKnit 8
https://www.youtube.com/c/Knittitude/videos?view=0&sort=dd&shelf_id=0
a search for the DesignaKnit9 tutorial yields mixed results, including many for version 8
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=designaknit+9+tutorials
Graphic design studio search https://www.youtube.com/results search_query=designaknit+graphic+design+studio
offered courses at knititnow, search https://www.knititnow.com/Courses/#
login required as well as fees

Brother magazines for a while published accompanying pat files for DAK, they can be found http://machineknittingetc.com/catalogsearch/result/?order=date&dir=desc&q=DAK+files+Brother
also for Studio http://machineknittingetc.com/catalogsearch/result/?order=date&dir=desc&q=Dak+files+for+silver+reed
and Passap http://machineknittingetc.com/catalogsearch/result/?order=date&dir=desc&q=Dak+files+for+passap

I am a complete novice at the use of this program, and tend to start learning new tools by comparing them with what I am familiar with, which in my case are spreadsheets and other paint programs. I have decades of playing with changing file formats depending on end-use. My questions on aspects of the program’s use are not intended as criticism, they are born of curiosity and the attempt to explore a new tool.
I am using Dak on a PC, at the moment my blog posts are created exclusively on my Mac. There is much that is fluid in addition to learning the software.

These are the formats that can be opened, converted to stitch patterns using Graphics Studio Stitch Designer, or opened as a background image in Original Pattern Drafting and used for tracing a garment piece: BMP, GIF, ICO, JPG, PCX, PNG, TGA, TIF, WMF, P?M. There is no export option for saving the repeat images in stitch design file formats for use other than the native program. Passap CUT files are completely excluded.
I lean towards looking for workarounds to accomplish what I want if the task is not native to the program I am using.
One way to achieve conversion for DAK file formats for use as a PNG or bmp download with other cables and software is to isolate and select the repeat unit, copy it to the clipboard, paste it into a paint program, export it as PNG or other desired formats There is a handy option in Dak when thumbnails are chosen from the image menu, one can browse through saved folders containing compatible file-formats including the images in those Brother magazine downloads. The small preview will identify the specific file size. When you left-click on your choice, it will appear enlarged at the bottom left of the view window, it has been moved from its corner in my screengrab, left-click OK on the enlarged image, and it will open in the program window. Minimize the size until no further reduction is allowed by using the magnifying glass or the scroll function in the mouse. This is a different operation from scaling the original to a different size. The save-as option for the image offered at that point is:
For choices emulating export in other paint programs, right-click on the image, choose copy, open a paint program (Arahpaint is my favorite at this moment), and from its image menu choose paste. Using Arah’s color exchange, the image may then be converted to black and white for 2-color work and is saved in a format usable with other software and in other machines. Here the image has been pasted in Gimp using the same process, but if the image needs to then be reduced to BW, Arah is the easier and predictable tool to use.
Activating the working palette, referred to as yarn colors: from the manual makes it possible to achieve color exchange easily in Dak. Most operations appear to rely on an understanding of its symbols and what might be considered a language one must learn to use the program effectively.
By activating the view yarn button palette, the items that may be viewed and changed are:
A: represents left mouse click on that color
B: represents a right mouse click on that color
C: click will swap A color to B color
D: needle hook alone represents non non-selected needle, pusher, or simply color depending on the machine model
E: color worked on patterning needle ie contrast in fair isle, knit stitches in tuck or slip setting It is useful to establish working history using the same design motif. In the first image, left-click on red, the from color, right-click on white, the to color, click on the double arrow to make and apply the change
The process is repeated with a left-click on blue, a right-click on black, and on the double arrow. White squares appear in the final color choice boxes in the bottom image
The print dialogue allows for saving patterns as bmps. One is walked through the following steps with a series of windows. To save the repeat as bmp
choices may then be made about file name and the location for the save, If there are no “short” needles in the image being processed as in the last screengrab above, there will be an error message onscreen, pointing out problems in the numbers of colors present in rows ie more than 2 for FI.  This is fixed by clicking on either the “needles” of one of the two active colors in the yarn palette to make one color the ground, and the other the contrast. The results from this process for printable bmp files are shown below, not for a bmp that may be used to knit the pattern on an electronic machine using a different download method. Here the resulting stitch pattern picture is shown in color reverse as well.  Using other print options: for this repeat, the color change page is blank since the fabric is being knit as a 2-color fair isle, without added color changes  Printing pattern text will do exactly that in longhand form, for each stitch and each row of the repeat 

Dak is the only program I know of for home use that allows for visualization of the knit design with approximations of knit stitches, seen here in both the BW and the original color version of the above FI design, shown as knit stitches on the public side. The image needs to be a minimum size for the appearance of the details as is true in most paint programs for grid views.   At this time I am continuing to knit on my machines with punchcards and using Ayab, or img2track on my electronics, have no immediate plans to change that, hence my interest in using DAK software features while keeping in mind the possibility of using the final repeats on other machine models.

The information on using the stitch designer lace module originally written here has been moved to its separate post along with new content, updates, and corrections.

ArahPaint meets Gimp in knit design 1

Questions regularly turn up asking what software we use as individuals to design repeats for our knitting. Up to this point, I have worked exclusively on a Mac unless downloading to my Passap with Wincrea, an ancient laptop, and as old a version of Windows.
I have been a Gimp user for eons, it is my go-to along with Numbers to create the charts in my blog and to graph my designs and ready them for download.
ArahPaint is a free paint program, part of a far larger weaving one. I have used it intermittently for features not achievable in Gimp at all, especially prior to its latest Mac updates. My Gimp working notes may be found in blog posts including the latest 2021/07/18/gimp-update-for-mac-2/.
The scope of AhrahPaint is smaller than that of a full photo editor, but its functions are well worth exploring from simple designs for use in any craft including hand knitting, cross-stitch, etc for scaling images to size, drawing in repeat, configuring those repeats in many arrangements easily, for color reductions, and much more for end-use in machine knitting.
There is a very good downloadable manual, but not generous in providing small details applicable when working in a low-res bitmap such as that found in knit design.
My goal here is to provide some starting ideas on using the program for new users and a few comparisons to Gimp features for those who have worked with that program in the past.
Links for anyone wishing to try Arahpaint on a Mac (or Windows), including video tutorials
Sept 20, 2021: a new version of the software is now available for download, it is larger in file size https://www.arahne.si/learn-support/software-demo/
A “fast pattern” supplement http://www.arahne.eu/pdf/fastpattern-EN.pdf, black and white images are used on pages 20-24,
The user manual appears unchanged
The drawing in the repeat window now offers new Preview, and Browse options. If Paint is part of the complete weaving program, there is a library of patterns for the user to browse through. If it is used as a stand-alone, the choice provides the opportunity for the user to browse through their library of images before continuing.  The information available to me as I began this post:
the download button is at the top left of the webpage
https://www.arahne.si/…/softwar…/arahpaint-for-mac-os-x/
https://www.arahne.si/learn-support/
https://www.arahne.si/…/user…/detailed-users-manuals/
http://www.arahne.eu/pdf/apaint4-shortcuts-EN.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/c/arahpaint4/search?query=arahpaint
https://www.arahne.si/public/news/  with more info and videos on version 6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daOsTulCKbk for anyone inspired by weaving drafts as a source of knitting pattern repeat
Arah menu options provide a quick view of menu differences between it and Gimp Tools as listed in the shortcuts pdf, the order is slightly different than in the program view When exploring design potential in any paint program, it is best, to begin with, to use a small repeat that can be clearly identified when tiled in various configurations, resized, and pixel edited. If drawing is with the goal to produce a BW bitmapped image for download of 2-color patterns, drawings can happen in those colors to start with. If color separations are planned in the development of the design, then 2 color images including black may be preferable.
The Arah default dot size for pixel drawing is 1X1. The 8-bit palette mode both for colors and greyscale uses up to 256 shades, greyscale values may also be measured in percentages of black ink coverage. Images may be converted from one color mode to another as in Gimp.
Begin with a small image size To work on the image, magnification will be required. This may be achieved several on the Mac, one is to click repeatedly on the magnifying lens icon in the toolbox, and the other is to press any number from 0 to 9 on the keyboard, and the zoom will instantly change for 1 at 100%, to 6 for 600%, to 0 for 1000. The latter is minimal for building repeats on a viewable grid, the magnifying lens may be used to reach a comfortable starting view. The zoom level for both increases and decreases may be changed during drawing operations as well.
In addition, the image may also be magnified to fill the window or by entering the full-screen selection on your monitor and the program may be used in full-screen mode on your device by making the very last selection in the View menu. At zoom levels higher than 300%, the program shows a grid between pixels, if the grid view is enabled.
To show or hide the grid, choose View, Show Grid
To change the grid properties, choose View, Grid Properties
The grid color can be black, gray, or white.
The second level grid determines how many thin lines a thicker one will be drawn
Setting the grid: the default grid is subdivided, and grid color and spacing may be custom set through selections in the View menu Altering the thicker line placement to suit personal preferences or to match electronic or punchcard published repeats more easily, simply type in new values and close Punchcard knitters may use this feature to create a template on which draw. Factory-supplied Brother punchcards are by default 24 stitches wide, the maximum repeat width, and 60 rows high with the minimum design height of 36 rows for the card to advance continuously in the card reader.  The grid spacing is 6X6. With values changed to 6, the template is created The default cell shape appears to be square, without the option to create rectangular cells. Changing the grid option to lose subdivisions: deselect show grid 2. In addition to the image grid, like Gimp, ArahPaint 6 also allows for positioning aids: guides. They are horizontal or vertical lines that are temporarily displayed on an image. To create a guide, double-click on the dark blue arrow displayed on one of the rulers in the main window. The guide is then displayed as a dashed line following the pointer. To move a guide after it has been created, hover a mouse pointer over the blue arrow and click and drag it to remove the guide to a new location. To delete a guide, double-click on the arrow. After a guide is created, another triangle in a different shade of blue appears below it. Use that to create the next guide, repeat as often as wanted both horizontally and vertically. To remove all guides choose View, Remove Guides. One use for the lines can be to mark plain knit rows between transfer markings in lace punchcards as illustrated in this Gimp image

To test the program, draw a basic shape whose changes may be easily recognized. Color palette tools are in the palette areas. The foreground (upper square) and background color (lower square) are used in drawing operations. They are numbered 1 and 0, not to be confused with the same numbers assigned to colors in the working palette. The starting palette may be altered to include black. Double-click on the foreground color at the top, the #1, not in the space below the palette icon. A color selection window will appear, choose, and click OK. This change is lost if one quits the program. If satisfied with the drawn repeat, use the selection tool to isolate the final motif.  The new working image after cropping to selection:

Drawing in repeat instructions reproduced from the manual Starting with the single triangle: block alignment Standard brick alignment using offset in pixelsPillar repeat also using offset in pixels Other offset options through the use of fractionsPlaying with mirroring positions, producing a minimum 2 by 2 repeat,  the result looks akin to the pillar repeat drawing above, but tiling again to check for alignment may yield surprises that can be viewed as design features or errors,  Changes to mirroring arrows may be made when drawing in repeat on the top left of the window as well  Once an image is drawn in the repeat of your choice, if only the Random option is used, with new picture left unchecked, the pencil may be used to draw on pixel cells, and changes will be made across all repeat segments. Each step may be undone individually. Many of these functions are paralleled in Gimp symmetry drawing.
The possibilities are endless. As always, good note-taking helps in being able to reproduce your chosen process with new images.
If you begin drawing a repeat using a single color on a white ground, then decide you would rather work in only black and white, simply double click on the foreground color, the palette window will appear, choose the new color, and all pixels in your repeat will then change to the selected one Repeats may be built in a more controlled manner using the image/duplicate X menu, its symbols immediately reminded me of the Passap Alter Direction options: Choose a simple repeat to start with. Here a diagonal line was drawn along the center of a square, the bottom half bucket filled a half drop was added and the repeat was tiled to test alignment The duplicate tool enables the repeat of an image or part of an image in a fast way. All duplicate tools with the exception of Mirror X-1 and Diamond work similarly to the drawing in repeat tool if the new picture option is enabled. The mirror X-1 works the same as the normal mirror, except the last pixel of the image is omitted from the image there is also the option for Y-1, here both mirroring options are in use, note the areas in both that retain double pixels, Eliminating those double pixels can be achieved by cropping. The first mirror is for Y-1, the cropped image is tested for tiling by drawing in repeat Drawing lines: use the straight-line icon button to activate the tool, select the line thickness by selecting a number of pixels to be used then move the mouse pointer to a line starting point on the canvas and press the left side of the mouse, dragging it until the line is of the desired length and angle. When the line is at that desired length release the mouse.

A=1 pixel, B=2, C=4 with line dragged and released randomly, D= the line was moved and the mouse was not released until the steps were all the same size. The thick lines option works only at line width 1, which will keep the single pixels connected If you double-click on the line icon, the Straight-line icon is activated. Now you can draw horizontal, vertical, or diagonal lines. If you move a mouse horizontally—it doesn’t need to be perfectly straight, the drawn line is horizontal. If the angle between a line and the horizontal axis exceeds the angle of 23 degrees, the drawn line will be diagonal at 45 degrees. If you move the mouse toward the vertical axis, the line will be drawn as a vertical line. The straight-line tool may be used to draw clean diagonals. If the paint tool is then used to fill spaces between some of the drawn lines, the line tool reverts back to the original and will have to be reactivated if you wish to continue using it.
The polygon is a series of straight lines whose ends are connected so that the end of one line is the beginning of the next. Move the mouse pointer to the starting point and left-click.
Move (not drag) the mouse to the next point and left-click again, repeat this step until the desired polygon is drawn.
Press the right button to stop the polygon drawing or the middle mouse button if available to erase the last polygon point.

Returning to patterns with repeat constrained
A: a new file is created for drawing a punchcard repeat 6 stitches wide by 60 rows high
B: a freehand-drawn pattern
C: the motif is drawn in repeat, X4 in width to match the 24-stitch repeat, and X2 in height to get a sense of vertical alignment  D: as long as the new picture option is not checked, the image allows for live pencil drawing, E, with additions which may be edited and undone if needed. Work until satisfied, screengrab the enlarged image if the goal is to use it as a guide to punch cards, and scale print it to an easy-to-follow size. Electronic machine knitters use the Tools, Find the repeat option to isolate the minimum programmable final repeat, and exchange colors if needed The same process, using an 8X8 repeat drawn in repeat X3 in width to 24 stitches and X5 to 40 rows in height meeting the punchcard minimum height Again, electronic machine knitters use the Tools, Find repeat option to isolate the minimum programmable final repeat, exchange colors if needed

Many knitters find inspiration for knit designs in weaving drafts. The Arah Youtube video on developing drawings for such repeats shows an option for preview in the draw in repeat window not available in my present version of only ArahPaint. The resulting working repeats are likely to be large. Reset allows for changing repeat mirroring arrangements. Using find the repeat may help develop a sequential series of repeat segments in different sizes, producing different tiling effects, and the option of hand selection of even smaller areas followed by cropping and processing is always possible.
A sample effort producing a tenfold repeat of the original: Finding the repeat first on the complete resulting new image on left and testing its tiling, followed by finding the repeat again, cropping to the selection, and tiling that as well on the right If the goal is to knit a scarf, 72 stitches wide, crop either repeat to a chosen 72 stitches in width, tile in length in either program to visually check alignment. If knitting in DBJ for approximately 1200 rows is the goal, one may obtain a visualization of the results ie for 1296 consecutive rows. A black pixel border could be added to the 72 stitches by copying and pasting the image on a larger canvas that will accommodate that border, or the border may be added by filling in pixels vertically to the edges of the original. Some repeats to play with: the 120 X 96 png  Its shorter, top half  The bottom half, 120 X 48, isolated in Gimp, tiled in length X4 to get a sense of some of the possible differences I cI can see the process becoming addictive once a single personally pleasing starting repeat is developed, and its, in turn, becoming a possible source for collections of designs. October 2021: I have recently purchased both a PC and DAK software. At the moment I am not planning the purchase of any cables, the initial patterns developed using the lace module are adapted for use on Brother electronics for proof of concept swatches. Arah is an easy, accurate, quick way to develop accurate brick repeats for lace patterns, which can be complicated to produce accurately in other ways. One such repeat December 2021: in reviewing my post including lace mesh repeats, using the draw in repeat figure in Arah provides a quick way of filling in punchcard repeats from small electronic repeats for any fabric ie this lace repeat, 4 stitches wide by 8 rows high. Create a new picture in the same dimensions, fill in the proper cells
deselect the pencil tool by randomly clicking on any other tool
draw the repeat as given, 6 times in width, 5 times in height for a card 24 stitches by 40 rows in height, making certain the pencil tool is no longer engaged or cells will be filled with any contact with the new image, adding cells in repeat and changing the original file
grid properties may be changed to match markings on factory-supplied blank cards, for Brother every 6 cells The resulting punchcard image
COLOR EXCHANGE
In the process of reviewing old Passap files in cut format, the conversion for some of them to .pngs using Graphic Converter on the Mac was successful but left me with oddly colored images that would, in turn, need conversion to black and white for 2 color knitting downloads to other machine models. I have had limited continued success with the color exchange in Gimp. Also, pixel-based images drawn in color in spreadsheet programs such as Excel or Numbers might need far less and quicker editing using the Arah option including reducing “clean up” with pencil tools.
Reviewing the palette tool, from the manual Double-clicking on colors in the palette area will lock them, if this is unintentional, simply double-click on the same color again to undo it.  The color exchange was easy and straightforward with self-drawn images in the opening palette when creating new documents in Gimp. It failed when working on a segment of published patterns. The Arah manual helped me find the solution. Converting the images from true color mode to color palette mode: the original image and its palette, this is not a “correct” working repeat, Converting for use with an expanded palette
To change the color of the foreground, double click on it, choose black from the upper left corner of the colors window, the image and its foreground color will change accordingly.  Repeat the process with the background color changing it to white, saving the file yields a quickly created png for use in downloads to programs such as img2track Testing with a repeat segment from another image The successful exchanges Spreadsheets such as Excel and Numbers are familiar to many as design tools for developing knit repeats. If colors are used, one is faced again with the necessary reduction to black and white pixels if the intent is to work in only 2 colors. The maximum of 3 and 4 colors per row in machine knitting are handled differently depending on the program used for download. Color exchange reduction with 2 images drawn in Numbers using more than 2 colors:
This repeat would work fine with a reduction to 3 colors, but the proof of concept uses a reduction to 4 colors for both repeats. The two shades of green will need to be exchanged separately, each shade is processed using the sliders on the far right, also note the crosshair.  A spreadsheet pattern for different end-use.   To exchange the red the cross-hair was moved to the bottom right, and the slider up to the top 2022 Gimp update offers a selective way to exchange colors using the fuzzy-select or select-by-color tool. The bucket fill color works differently in some ways from previous Gimp versions.   Fuzzy-select will change any contained segment of an image in RGB Mode.  Make the selection of the area to be changed, it will become surrounded by a dotted line. Choose bucket fill, change the foreground color to the new one and click on the outlined area, to the new color. Click on the rectangle tool and then anywhere in the work window to set the image and save it.  Multiple color exchanges in the same image.  Edit, and undo can be used to trace steps backward at any point.
Using select by color will select all areas containing that color, making global edits,   the process may be repeated within bordered segments, retaining their outlines. 

When scaling small repeats in Gimp in height only I found the results to have errors, as seen in these images, With added experience, I discovered part of the problem is that after restarts or working on multiple images, the interpolation setting changes randomly to cubic, and issue are resolved if the setting is changed to none again. ArahPaint will multiply the motif cleanly only in height when needed, as seen here with the original multiplied both X 2 and X4The Arah scaling appears to be quicker and far more accurate also when used on some published images that would require a lot of clean-up after resizing in Gimp. That said, when working with very large images Gimp offers the opportunity for controlled scaling to any size, keeping the image aspect ratio or not. This reference is described in translation as a pattern design course for Silver Reed knitting machines.  The publication offers many large-scale repeats that are suitable for punch lace, but also for what translates to “braided patterns” which when studied may be intended for fair-isle with enormous floats or for DBJ. No stitch and row counts are given, the goal is to match the manual 54X56 stitch and row count.
The published swatch photo is obviously not a thread lace pattern The initial scanned page segment on the left is 2160 stitches in width, and 1588 rows in height. The isolated, cropped, repeat is shown to its right In Gimp, reducing colors: A converting to indexed: B Use scale image to desired dimensions, checking first that values are a full multiple of the expected final repeat pixel count. If not, scale first to a full multiple of each value with aspect ratio off (broken chain link), then scale again with aspect ratio on (intact chain link), edit with a superimposed grid, cleaning up the repeat: C.  Save the final image, C, open in Arah, check set the number of colors, there should be only 2 colors in use, Add a third color, white, to the palette, click on the + symbol, use sliders to convert the magenta to white, click OK single click on the yellow above to place it in this selection, double click on it use sliders again to achieve the white, click OKThe final window prior to saving the BW image ArahPaint will also scale larger images in pixel units. Resizing may be achieved through the use of the image menu Resize option, or simply clicking on the appropriate tool, also copied here in the window that will appear. The chain link, circled in the bottom right, left whole retains proportion, broken by clicking on it will allow for scaling differently in height and width as in this instance I found the final Arah scaling to be less accurate and requiring more cleanup than the repeat obtained using both programs The results differed when scaling a large black and white indexed image, neither result has been altered in any way, the Arah one would require less cleanup. When scaling in Gimp it is helpful to check whether the interpolation is automatically set when opening the image ie. here, to Cubic or other change it to None for better results Resetting tool options preference, saving it, then quitting and restarting the program appeared to make no difference in the behavior of the program when attempting to scale new images Explored and used frequently in later posts, beginning with designs in color or BW, the ArahPaint tool Guess Weave from Grid makes very quick work of converting charts to PNGs, such with this random screengrab from the Stitchworld III book My first attempt at developing a pretend repeat to later be used for chevron 24-stitch tuck stitch :
A: using straight lines, draw several after determining the spacing to be left blank between them, here they are not all intended to match. Bucket fill the stripes intended to be knit stitches, reactivating the straight line tool after each fill
B: when satisfied with stripes and shaping, crop the original to 12 stitches in width
C: using drawing in repeat, mirror to create a 24-stitch shape. Save images along the way in case any “wrong” selections are made, draw in repeat (not shown) at least X 2 in both width and height, looking for errors in alignments D: correction is needed a the top of the repeat E: after your best shot, draw in repeat once more, leaving the setting at random, edit any wrong pixels using a white pencil, the edits will happen across the repeat
F: the new repeat
G: drawing F in repeat makes it appear correct
H: make the repeat as small as possible for use on electronic machines; the find repeat tool does not work on every repeat, particularly very small ones, and it works seamlessly at other times or will require only small adjustments. It is worth testing on images and keeping their use in mind. Here it makes a selection, the image is cropped to the selection, saved, and drawn in a larger series of repeats to check the alignment. Planning a repeat suitable for a punchcard, the uncropped repeat F is opened in Gimp, and pattern fill is used in white areas to ready the file for tuck knitting. The image is then map tiled to check alignment once more, and if satisfactory, it can be saved, ready to be knit The process can be so quick that it can be easily repeated to make new adjustments to meet our needs.
Making things work to get a “cleaner repeat”: the pattern fill is 2 rows wide by 2 rows high, so having both black and white areas of the design a multiple of 4 is a place to start. In the above, the shape outlines are in single row steps, so it is inevitable that the 4-row fill is episodically cropped by single pixels. Doubling the height of the initial single step repeat in Arah begins to solve the problem. In keeping the 24 stitch width restraint, the result, a now 56-row repeat,  will now have variations in the width of the black pixel areas which will produce knit stitches on a tuck ground  With experience, one can quickly imagine ways to clear errors and alter images. Electronic machines free us from repeat width constraints. Widening the zag repeat to 48 stitches, working in Arah, check vertical alignments first, edit intersections whether in a tiled image or the original, ultimately the 48-stitch by 80-row repeat is opened in Gimp, filled with the tuck pattern, and saved for knitting Pattern fill may be accomplished in ArahPaint using brushes made from selection and then enabling those brushes with bucket fill. This functionality using multiple brushes to replace colors in the original is shown in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uacuqK5SjA
The technique illustrated here with a screengrab from the video offers a very interesting alternative option for those who enjoy working with dithered color-reduced black and white images. Working on a possible tuck repeat using only Arah Paint: draw and save the image you wish to superimpose on the ground. I chose to use the color red for visibility. Draw a new image, keeping magnification constant, ie using 0 for 1000 X. Draw a repeat unit for the brush you wish to use, choose repeat from the View menu, click on the stamp icon shown outlined in red, and the available brush will appear immediately below it. Use load recent to retrieve the shape that is to be superimposed, say no to saving changes. Make certain the superimposed color is in the background-position, and that the brush box is checked. Use bucket fill to place predetermined patterning behind the shape   To prepare the pattern for download, use Find Repeat, Crop to Selection, change the red to black for knit stitches on a tuck ground, and save the image for a knittable 2 color result The same process may be used to develop a design placed over a lace mesh ground. The final superimposed shape, however, needs to be white rather than black to produce knit stitches, and the final repeat may need to be shifted along its vertical axis to suit the brand machine on which the knit will be manufactured. Brother lace designs begin with a row containing black pixels and end with two blank rows. In Studio lace knitting, the reverse is true Lots of knitters appear to be interested in large, nonrepetitive images. Depending on the machine used and its memory, the repeat may need to be split horizontally or vertically. Before electronic machines, many art-to-wear pieces were created by knitting repeats broken down horizontally into the punchcard widths, completing the height of each panel and then joining the strips together. Nowadays there are online tools for many tasks including dividing large images. For DIY, in the first instance, Arahpaint is used to split the “large” file in half horizontally, the resulting image saved. The action happens from left to right, so to achieve the split for the second half, the full-size original is flipped horizontally, split, and flipped again. Followers of my blog have seen the images of my friend Rocco recurring intermittently over the years. Dividing the image horizontally  The same may be done vertically in a matter of seconds beginning with Image, Halve Y, and then using the mirroring tool to flip the image as needed Color separations: the critical difference in the use of the Arah rectangle tool from that in Gimp is that it cannot be used for sequential selections of pairs of rows in color separations such as those for DBJ or mosaics. In those instances, the Arah image, scaled to the appropriate height may be saved, then opened, and processed in Gimp. For DBJ with each color in each design row knitting twice, design the shape and scale in length in Arah, save and open in Gimp for the separation, see post on working with Gimp update for Mac  Mosaics: draw the desired repeat in Arah, double it in height, save the image, open in Gimp and proceed with mosaic color separation The color separation, in turn, is very easily and quickly changed to all black and white using color exchange in Arah, 2022:  Using layers in Gimp for color separations in the latest Gimp update offers a quicker, easier method to achieve them for a variety of fabrics than that used in some of my previous blog posts.

Numbers and GIMP: online punchcard patterns to electronics 2

11/23 Outside the topic of this post, ArahPaint 6 and its tool Guess Weave from Grid has become my preferred method for converting published design repeats including those intended for punchcard machines for use on electronic models.
Two samples: A black-and-white published card repeat isolated using ArahPaint, 
the 24X48 PNG  

and, from the Russian site, #4559, 24X1349/23
The latest Gimp update download: 2.10.34
Recently some Pinterest stitch pattern finds turned up in Ravelry along with questions with regard to using them in electronic models.
To review some of the editing required, in this case, for a tuck design The pattern is the typical 24-cell width. Row numbers are confusing and not specific to a brand. The repeat was likely punched using a roll rather than a single factory-numbered card. The magnified, manual count totals 62 rows.
The stitch type is not specified in the pin, it appears to be a tuck pattern breaking the rule of no side-by-side unpunched squares at regular intervals.
Assuming the shared card is correct and missing only the standard initial 2 all-punched rows, using software can help assess design accuracy. The latter proves useful if one is planning to punch cards as well.
The first 24X62 cropped design is shown to have faulty alignment when drawn in repeat.   With a few rows removed,  the final 24X48 repeat aligns properly  When two needles are tucked side by side, and those same needles are brought forward prior to being knit on the next pass, there will be wider loops across them. Tension and weights may need to be adjusted more than once to avoid problems.  The swatch was knit using an unknown fiber that was scorched in part when steamed/ pressed, as seen in the image on the left.  Another look at the inspiration swatch shows the knit was actually turned clockwise, a reminder that rotating knits can vary the appearance of the results.   Reviewed and edited, 12/2022
There is a Russian online site offering a huge range of punch card designs. The question of how to convert the site files for use in electronic machines surfaces periodically and did so again recently in FB groups.
My posts with information related to this topic:
Brother KMs: punchcards and their use 
Numbers and GIMP: online punchcard patterns to electronics 1
color exchange Gimp update for Mac 2

A Russian language tutorial on converting punchcard images using DAK
A recent video offering on navigating the site in English, begin viewing on minute 5
The site link
Small previews link for FI
The translated site link  offers larger previews
The options in English for working with published cards The help menu is available after the card is chosen Designs are presented on pages that list them from longest to shortest row counts for the complete repeats. Punchcard users can reproduce holes as given. There is also an option for entering a new design and it appears, in turn, one may be able to generate a separation for its use in DBJ.
Beginning with a smaller design intended for machines with 12-stitch repeat restrictions simplifies the view and processing of it for newbies. The published patterns are offered Silver Reed ready. The option for converting the cards for use on Brother 260 renumbers it with the appropriate location for the number 1 row marks required by the operation of the different brand’s card reader. Toyota versions are also available. Making the holes larger is a boon to reproducing the drawing correctly regardless of end-use. Splitting the card into segments is helpful when using factory blanks with a 60-row maximum repeat, and often also when processing the image for use on electronic machines, which is affected by screen size views available to the software user. For some reason, I found the commands erratic when working on the translated version of the site, and fared much better in the original language publication.
In the 2022 adaptation, the small previews were chosen for conversion to pngs rather than the full card templates used below.
The chosen card image may be dragged onto one’s desktop. I use Numbers to create my tables. The 2 all-punched rows, marked with blue arrows, and any standard vertical rows of holes on each side of the provided designs need to be isolated and eliminated. This is a 12-stitch repeat required for use on some machine models or useful when using a thicker yarn on every other needle to achieve the same design, every other vertical row is blank.
A: the table with cells 20X20 sized to match the number of rows and stitches in the original. The card image is arranged in the back of the table with the constrain properties option unchecked in its image-arrange menu.
B: cells corresponding to marked holes are filled in with black since the final goal is to create an indexed BMP or PNG. Not all programs for downloading to electronic machines read BMPs. Gimp does, and once opened they can be exported in the PNG format.
Using and holding down the command key during cell selection helps perform the coloring cells in action on groups, clicking on any cell again while still holding the key down will deselect the fill. Release the key, choose the fill-in color, repeat, and continue until the holes in the full design are filled in.
C: click and hold the command key, select every other blank vertical column marked with letters at the top of the table, the blank vertical rows are selected, release the command key, right-click on any of the same letter selections again, and choose to delete selected columns from the pull-down menu or after marking the rows directly from the table menu at the top of the screen. Eliminate all cell borders. The result shows how the pattern will appear when used to program fair isle.  Screengrab the final image surrounded by extra white cells, and open it in GIMP.
Change the mode to indexed BW, crop the file to content thus excluding any extra white cells, and scale to the original design’s 24 by 74 dimensions. Punched holes are now pixels; export the knit-ready PNG.
Using the filter, map, and tile options allows one to check on horizontal and vertical repeat alignments for any errors and begin to imagine how the repeat might appear on a finished piece. Color exchange may be used on the BW files converted to RGB mode to visualize the knit using specific colors. On the far left below the final PNG is shown magnified X 800 with a superimposed grid, then filter-map-tiled to 48X148 size. It is followed by a BW color-reversed version of the same, as well as color-exchanged ones. Getting a preview of how a finished garment might appear, here the tiled version is 192 pixels in width and one may glean some idea as to whether that repeat should ever really be used in a sweater or even a blanket. Further image scaling or cropping can happen based on the knit gauge. A very quick rendering imagining pattern and color placements using a simple sweater outline Collections of every other needle repeats for processing with a similar approach may be found in these volumes, available for free download
Chunky punchcard patterns  12 stitch Patterns of Knitting With Creative Punch Cards Juki 12 StitchBoth volumes include accompanying swatch illustrations.

In machine knitting, the word lace is used in categorizing a large variety of knit fabrics. The terms include:
simple lace, executed with carriages that transfer and knit in a single pass
multiple transfer/ fashion/ fancy/ lace: executed with carriages that transfer only
lace and fine lace combinations
fine lace
tuck stitch combined with transfer lace
tuck/ pull up lace
transfer lace combined with weaving
punch/thread lace
ladder lace
punch tuck rib
drive/drop stitch lace
If one explores the second selection for 24 stitch cards looking for openwork patterns for 24 stitch cards, the resulting  20 pages of repeats do not differentiate between the lace categories, so the onus is on the visitor to determine proper repeat use.
In addition, the option for switching machine brands does not readjust for changes required for the pattern to read correctly in the alternate machine brand card reader. As an example, transfer lace cards are shown with blank starting rows, ending with punched holes, a Studio brand feature, and in some cases with a punched row ending with blank rows, a Brother feature.
If changes are made in machine brand selection, the only adjustments in the new image appear to be made to the numbering sequence, but not to the punched or unpunched starting and ending rows.

For punchcard users or enlarged views: printing the PDF breaks the repeat into segments required if one is using individual 60-row maximum length factory cards and not a punchcard roll. On the far right, the a difference in relative size between a factory punchcard and the PDF image printed without any adjustments.  Filling in the dots with a black marker renders the to-be-punched holes more visible through the card, making marking prior to punching easier and faster.  For a better, printed match size, after capturing the image from the PDF for a single page outside image edges, opening it in Gimp, and cropping it to content, it is then possible to scale the results to measurements of a factory punchcard equal in width and adjusted for the number of rows in the image. My card required print measurements were 14.1cm by 26.1. Scaling executed with an aspect ratio that is too long.  breaking the chain-link, removing size constraints The result with printing to match the card stock measurements was extremely close to the desired size, useful, but hard to photograph  Entering patterns: the translation Working with the Russian menu:

The saved pattern will be assigned a number, in this case, 9831In the 24-stitch repeat FI area of the site, enter the assigned number into the search field on the upper right changing the view to larger holes if preferred, the option also becomes available to separate for 2 colors DBJ  translated to “recalculating for 2 fountains”.
Screengrab or save pdf, depending on needs.

2022: This process appears complicated, but with some familiarity with both Numbers and Gimp, can be fairly quick. Revisiting the site, I made the accidental discovery that working with images as shown below, by superimposing a Numbers grid to these point measurements, developing the designs became quicker and easier to manage  Two instances: from any black and white chart and a seasonal 24X120 repeat from this website.  Beginning with a published and gridded punchcard model: I am used to converting patterns for testing and using them on electronic machines. If the goal is only to have a printable template for marking holes to be punched, see the very bottom of this post for the quickest method.
The technique steps reviewed as applied to pattern # 403 as seen in this scan  Open the image in Gimp, and crop to the outer edges of the selected punchcard. Eliminate unnecessary information by using the select tool and bucket filling each area including non-repeat information with white. Adding a visible pixel line along one of the edges of this image will help locate handles for adjusting its size on the white spreadsheet ground. Save the result.  In Numbers, at 100% magnification, create a new table, 24 cells in width by 48 rows in height. Using a thicker cell border in a contrasting color is useful, here the border style is set to 3 points. Drag the image onto the spreadsheet, place the mouse pointer on and hold it in place on any one of its handles, appearing as white squares along its edges to a larger size than the table, then use Image Arrange and uncheck constrain proportions. Select the whole table, and drag and position it in front of the image.  Using the image handles adjust its size and place it for easy tracing.
Size and position in the Arrange menu will help with fine-tuning. Fill in the cells above the white squares visible beneath with any color that will facilitate keeping track of the marks.  Move the table away from the image at the end of the process. Visually check for any obvious errors in the overall repeat.
Scaling while retaining the odd number value resulted in patterning errors.
The problem was solved by resizing the table cells to even numbers, 14X14 points.  Remove all cell borders, and set the zoom at 50%. Screengrab the result with a white border around it.
Open the grab in Gimp.
Use the Image and Crop to content option.  Set Fuzzy select to select by color click on the contrast color, and pixels will be surrounded by broken lines select bucket fill to black, click on rectangle select, and then anywhere in the window to fix the result, the dotted lines will disappear  Follow with these steps
Image Mode menu, convert from RGB to BW Indexed Colors Menu, and choose Invert. Image Scale to 24X48 Magnify X800, Show Grid, and check for any errors.
Save the file.
Filter, Map Tile for the repeat alignment check.  The resulting, proofed repeat, 24X48 The top row of images summarizes the steps using Numbers, and the bottom row the results using Gimp  See punchcard templates for more information on associated settings, including downloadable spreadsheets.

Using the setting for centimeter ruler units, a partial segment of the above table’s repeat was printed. The result is shown ready for tracing over an improvised light box The squares on the card with black cells beneath them may be marked with any tool. For the result to be knit in the tuck stitch setting, users would need to punch all unmarked squares. If only the marked squares are punched, the pattern card could instead be used for thread lace in machine models with that capability.
A slightly different approach for pattern 8095 from the Russian site. Prior to committing to the process, check the row numbers in the PDF, and make certain the repeat is correct. This one happens to have a missing, blank row Using the small preview from  http://perfo.12rus.ru/index.php, download it Open it in Gimp
Crop the image to eliminate the border
Fuzzy select by color the background which only appears white.  Bucket-fill the ground with white from the Gimp palette, and only the repeat will remain Do not convert it to indexed
Create a Numbers table containing 24 cells in width, and 58 in height using the centimeters ruler setting, with cell size set at 0.5cm wide by 4.5cm high. The full table size will measure 10.8cm by 29cm.
Drag and drop the design image onto the sheet, resize it to table measurements, position it underneath the table, and begin filling in cells.
A: in some instances, it is possible to work all in black. As I progressed up the repeat I had to readjust the image placement slightly
B: the image size was tweaked to measurements of 11.2X29.1, and a separate color cell border is used
C: the full repeat is separated into sections to fit on standard letter sheets when printed. The result: The electronic repeat: Before committing to a knit, using Gimp, Filter, Map, Tile, check alignments. In addition, the result helps visualize whether or not the result is what was expected If the only thing needed is a traceable template for punching holes using the 11.2X29.1 measurements in resizing the cropped preview in Numbers, open it in its own sheet, watching its placement and you are good to go! Working in Gimp alone, the alternatives to working in pixels: Using a screengrab of a DAK DBJ color separation: the repeat itself is cropped to its edges with the rectangle select tool. The size is calculated using the formula for the width and height of cells in the unit measurement of your choice, ie cm or mm. Even though scaling is done with the chain link broken, the program will round off the values to very slightly different numbers. The printed repeat underneath a blank punchcard is ready for marking.  When using Numbers, the program will separate the repeat into segments for you if needed. My charts and results have been produced using default document borders.
If using only a paint program ie in the above case Gimp, the user is in charge of dividing the template into segments that will fit on the printed pages. Using legal-size paper can in many cases avoid printing on multiple sheets.
Some math is inevitable, the considerations involved:
in terms of mm and cm, 1 mm= .1 cm, ie. 216 mm+ 21.6 cm, a shift to the left with the addition of a decimal point
Working in cm: using punchcard 8095 once more
Each square on a blank punchcard is 4.5 cm wide and 0.5cm high
Full punchcard: 24 stitches, the fixed width for punchcards = 10.8cm
58 rows, the variable, in this instance = 29cm.
In printing, using default borders:
US Letter: 45 X 0.5 = 22.5 cm = maximum # design rows
Full repeat = 58 rows X.5= 29cm.
First sheet: 45 rows X.5=22.5cm
Second sheet: 13rows X.5= 6.5 cm 22.5+6.5=29cm
On Legal61 X 0.5 = 30.5cm = maximum # design rows

It is possible to download a PDF of each card from the website. When downloaded and printed as given, my result can be seen as obviously off-scale

 

Gimp update for Mac 2

The latest Gimp update
2023: Threshold in version 2.10.34 is now disabled by default. To activate it or to add other tools ie curves to the tool menu, go to Gimp, Settings, and select Toolbox.
In the Tools Configuration Window,  active tools have a common icon to their left, new ones may be selected and added, I chose Threshold and Curves. After clicking  OK, a restart is not necessary, the new tools will appear immediately for use in the toolbox.  The curves tool enables editing for changing the color, brightness, contrast, or transparency of the active layer or a selection. While the Levels tool allows one to work on Shadows and Highlights, the Curves tool allows one to work in any range. It works on RGB images.
2022:The program now allows for setting pencil pixel sizes to odd and even numbers accurately, eliminating the need to save brushes for sizes missing in previous versions See color exchange notes using the new Fuzzy select tool as opposed to using Color Exchange
Notes in post Numbers and GIMP: online punchcard patterns to electronics 2 contain information on printing punchcard designs to scale for tracing and marking cards prior to punching holes.  2021: Prior to attempting color separations of any sort, it is useful to have some understanding of how black and white pixels or punched holes relate to knit/ tuck/ slip setting stitch formation and their effect in both single and double bed techniques.
A recent post explored the use of layers for color separations in Gimp. It is a reliable, quick way to execute them, especially on large images. As is often found, the same results may be reached in a variety of ways.
Coupling the use of the shift key with rectangle selection and working in high magnification offers additional options in Gimp.
While working on any gridded and magnified design motif use the rectangle tool to select the rows that will be altered, make the first selection, and after doing so press and hold the shift key, continue to select specific areas, and then choose color invert in this first instance and the action will be applied to all selected areas. If working on parts of the image at a time repeat the steps until the whole image has been processed. Release the shift key when done. The image is set by clicking anywhere in the window outside of it.
In the past, I have used red pixels in an extra column beside the repeat to mark rows that need to be altered. The column is cropped prior to saving the final png for download to the km. The step is not a necessary one.
This is an illustration from another post, where color inversion was planned in the repeat selections, each of which is surrounded by dotted lines that will disappear after they are set. The red cells will change color as well after inversion, making it easier to track the placement of completed choices A result from using the method on a large image may be found in the post on fantasy fair-isle.
In the above, they are on what may be thought of as even-numbered rows of the design. If the plan is to use Cut to eliminate those same rows, the red cells need to be shifted down to “odd-numbered” rows. From a repeat in development for a drop stitch lace design Working through the process with an easily recognized small shape, the often-used small triangle.  Scaling in Gimp can become erratic while working on several files.  Check that the interpolation is set to none if there appear to be odd scaling issues in the new image. When scaling in one direction only is intended, the chain link must be broken. At each step save the resulting png to make it available for further use ie additional scaling in height and width.  The results with the selection of even rows simply shift the result up a row Test in your version of the program to see whether releasing the shift key prior to making edits changes them. Either way, being consistent in the choice makes for less confusing results. Experimentation takes a matter of seconds.
Depending on your need the saved PNG may also be color reversed or scaled to double-length
using the rectangle tool, either odd or even rows may be chosen, remaining consistent for the height of the repeat in a scale to suit the end fabric goal. Here the original file is lengthened X2
working with the original file lengthened x4. The selections can happen on every row or every other, whether singly or in pairs. Note the difference between making the first selection on the first pair of rows or the second. 2021: Gimp update for Mac
Supported OS: macOS 10.9 Mavericks or over, to run 2.10.24 in my new iMac, M1, OS12, needed the installation of Rosetta. Rosetta 2 is an emulator designed to bridge the transition between Intel and Apple processors. In short, it translates apps built for Intel so they will run on Apple Silicon, more info 

The previous post on this topic: 2019/10/07/gimp-update-for-mac/
I have been spending more time exploring version 10.22 and am becoming more familiar with new features and design options. There are slight variations in behaviors depending on the Mac OS version. Windows updates happen more frequently. GIMP 2.10.24 for Mac OS is now available.
Gimp has a wide range of paint tools The most commonly used in creating repeats for knit designs are Pencil, Paintbrush, and Bucket Fill.
The Pencil tool is used to draw freehand lines with a hard edge. The main difference between it and the Paintbrush is that although both use the same type of brush, the pencil tool will not produce fuzzy edges.

Present experiments are placed in alphabetical order. Topics:
Brushes and patterns
Canvas resize, offset 

Colors exchange
Colors threshold see grid options
Grid options, Guides, Color separations
Symmetry Painting

BRUSHES AND PATTERNS
There are many very good videos on using multiple versions of GIMP on Youtube. Most focus on working with very large images in huge numbers of colors, and brushes or patterns in the tutorials are often larger than the maximum stitch count on our home knitting machines capable of electronic download and with needle counts of 180-200. In addition, punchcard machines have a 24-pixel width repeat constraint. The content of such published material and tutorials can be overwhelming, but isolated techniques for the required binary bit-mapped knit scale are easy to sort out.

Many knitters designing small repeats use very simple programs and enter pixels singly or copy and paste in small groups. Some simple, quick functions in Gimp can simplify and speed up progress considerably. Punchcard knitters may use the same techniques to set up their 24 x X custom length repeats and tile the results to visualize how they line up when knitted in multiples.
Some content paraphrased from the online Gimp manual: in GIMP, a pattern is a small image used to fill areas by placing copies side by side. You can use them with the bucket fill tool. They vary in size and are used for filling regions by tiling, that is, by placing copies of the pattern side by side like ceramic tiles. A pattern is said to be tileable if copies of it can be adjoined left-edge-to-right-edge and top-edge-to-bottom-edge without creating obvious seams, such patterns are used in standard knitting repeats. The same effect may be obtained by using the Filter, Map, Tile option on the drawn image.
With the bucket fill tool, you can choose to fill a region with a pattern instead of a solid color. To make a pattern available, place it in one of the folders in GIMP’s pattern search path which includes two folders, the system patterns folder, which you should not use or alter, and the patterns folder inside your personal GIMP directory. The .gbr (“gimp brush”) format is used for ordinary and color brushes. 
Photoshop ABR brushes are also easily imported for use.
Pressing the refresh button causes GIMP to rescan the folders in your pattern search path, adding any newly discovered patterns to the list. This button is useful if you add new patterns to a folder, and want to make them available without having to restart GIMP.
GIMP includes a set of 10 “paint tools”, which, except for the ink tool, use the same set of brushes. The brush pixmaps represent the marks that are made by single “touches” of the brush, which is desirable in working with knit scale bitmaps. Brushes can be selected by clicking on an icon in the brushes dialogue, the current brush is then shown in the Brush/Pattern/Gradient area of the Toolbox. Clicking on the brush symbol there is another way of activating the Brushes dialog.

When you use the Copy or Cut command on an image or a selection of it, a copy appears as a new brush in the upper left corner of the “Brushes” dialog. This brush will persist until you use the Copy command again. It disappears when you close GIMP.
Building a personal brush pattern library on Mac: open software preferences locate folders on the bottom left and click on the plus sign aside folders icon at the bottom left, it will change to a minus sign, and folders become visible select brushes, two options will appear. If a proper choice is made for the addition of pattern files, a green button will appear single click on the filing cabinet icon on the right,  a familiar Mac finder window will appear double click on the patterns folder, and its own window will appear,  right-click in the window below the last entry, a smaller window appears, choose the add new folder option. It will appear as “untitled”  and will be added to the existing folders, rename it “my brushes” or any other choice, and the new folder will be added within the brushes one Its place in the brushes list will be determined by its initial letter, the contents are in alphabetical order. For future use, any saved brush may be dragged and dropped into the named personal pattern folder icon, or into the folder after it has been expanded or opened in its own window. My opened brush folder After brushes are added, the refresh button below the brush dockable dialogue may bring them up without having to restart the program. After saving these 3 images as .gbr files and placing them in the appropriate folder they appear as available for use  To install .abr files on Mac:

create a new Photoshop folder within the Gimp Brushes one
Download the chosen files, drag and drop the images or folder from the downloads folder into the chosen Gimp one, they will be available after a Gimp restart
The free files I tested were very large in size, did not scale down to use for knitting cleanly, and even though they appeared to be BW they opened as RGBs making the conversion to BW indexed quite dithered. They are composed of assorted leaves and snowflakes. When exporting self-drawn brushes, the option is offered for adding spacing surrounding the shape, here a 10% addition was chosen Patterns may be saved in a similar way. Since GIMP 2.2 you can use .png, .jpg, .bmp, .gif, or .tiff files as patterns.
Saving patterns from large to tiny may be achieved using the same method as in saving brushes. To save personal patterns, instead of choosing the file cabinet icon in preferences, one may choose the folder icon, following a similar series of steps to those above, including verifying the contents of the newly created folder Use Windows, Dockable Dialogues, choose Pattern. The patterns will show on the right of the Gimp window and are viewable once you click on the fill window below the tools on the left as well.

Open the image to be filled
Click on the paint bucket tool, and select the Pattern fill type. Click on the paint bucket, then on the pattern you wish to use on right, hover over the canvas with the paint tool, click on it and the image will fill in the chosen pattern.
Or click on the pattern icon, scroll through to the desired pattern, click on it, then on the paint bucket tool, hover over the canvas with the paint tool, and click on it to fill.  The + or _ option scales the size of the pattern view, it is handy when tiny or very large repeats are chosen. The canvas for the pattern fill needs to be large enough to accommodate the pattern in repeat.
If the fill fails, check to see that the bucket fill mode was not somehow changed from normal to one of the many other options Here the skull is used to fill a 400X400 canvas, an even multiple of its size If the canvas is not in a full multiple of the whole pattern, part of the repeat is cropped  Using the same rose image tiled using the Filter, Map, Tile menu produces similar results when full multiples of the image pixels are not chosen, ie. here the tiling is on an 80-pixel wide canvas as opposed to a full multiple of 25 ie 100  Designing tiny repeats:
Begin with the image in black-and-white indexed mode. 
To draw my repeats, I used 1800X magnification, with grid view, exported the files as png, and dragged them into my own Gimp patterns folder.
If the goal is full punchcard repeat illustrations, then by default the width of the image to be filled needs to be 24 pixels wide, and a minimum of 36 rows high. If working as a tuck stitch, punched squares are black pixels, and unpunched squares the white, creating the tucked loops. Using the bucket tool to fill the image is accomplished with a simple, very quick stroke  The rectangle tool may be used to isolate a segment of the first repeat and the area may then be filled with a different pattern. Brushes may be resized as needed, and pasted on the previously filled image, and guides are helpful in their placement.  added info on pattern fill in Gimp 4, pattern fill, dithered portraits, and more
Canvas resize, offset:
 working with a 20X20 black and white pixel star  
Extra grid rows or columns may be added in a variety of ways to an existing motif including using these menu options These images illustrate only some of the possibilities. The chain link is used broken with the exception of when placing the star centered onto the new canvas or when moving it for manual placement onto it. Use Layers choices: resize all visible layers, fill with white. With the new canvas width equal to that of the image, the 10 desired new rows may be added to either the top or the bottom of the file respectively by entering that number in the space for the offset X or Y values, and the resulting new files are shown gridded on the bottom right.  When choosing the center offset with the chain link intact, the X and Y values will be changed from 0 to 10 in this case by the program based on the new canvas size. To add cells only on the left, the chain link is broken again, and the X offset value is set accordingly. Adding 10 cells to the right, 0 offset selection  It is possible to guide the placement of the motif onto the new canvas in any position. There will not be any visible grid as a guide, so a bit of math planning ahead for the new canvas size will fine-tune the possible placement. Again, the chain link is broken. Choose the center option but before selecting resize, click on the image, drag it to its new location, then select resize. The grid can then in turn be made visible.
Any of these steps may be undone, adjusted, and repeated as needed.  Grids and Guides: my view was magnified X 2800, and the canvas measured 24 X 36 pixels.
Magnification may be set using the pull-down below the image window, where any number listed may be chosen or typed in and set by hitting the return key, or by choosing the zoom tool. Click only on the image, and the zoom is applied to the whole image. If the pointer is used, click and drag the mouse pointer to create a zoom rectangle. The biggest dimension of the rectangle will correspond to the size of the image window. You can get to the Zoom Tool from the Image menu through Tools, Zoom, or by clicking the magnifying glass in the toolbox Anyone needing an adjustable grid superimposed on an existing image may use the Configure Grid command to set the properties of the grid and display it over the image while working on it.
One can choose the color of the gridlines, and the spacing and offsets from the origin of the image, independently for the horizontal and vertical grid lines. The configure grid dialogue:  The five different grid styles: Intersections, dots: the least visible, a simple dot at each intersection of the grid lines.  Intersections, crosshairs: a plus-shaped crosshair at each intersection of the grid lines  Dashed: dashed lines in the foreground color of the gridDouble dashed: dashed lines, where the foreground and background colors of the grid alternate, look the same as above when the image is in BW indexed mode. It is also hard to discern the separate colors in RGB mode because the dashes are so small and so close together,  Solid: shows solid grid lines in the foreground color of the grid Foreground and Background colors: in RGB Mode, click on the foreground color to select a new color for the grid, click OK Spacing: for use illustrations see GRIDS: OPTIONS
Width and height: select the cell size of the grid and the unit of measurement
Offset: moves the origin of the first cell, by the fault the grid begins at the coordinate origin, 0,0
The Snap to Grid command enables and disables Snap to Grid. When snap to grid is enabled, and a selection is moved or placed, the grid points pull on it when it approaches making accurate placement easier. If the magnification is high enough, the placement of your pencil or brush will be outlined in a dotted line. Here the snap to the area for a 3-pixel pencil is shown highlighting its possible placement location. This command is found in the image menubar through View, Snap to Grid.
The question has been asked in forums again as to how to place knit designs other than on a square grid. If retaining the aspect ratio matters, any image used for download can be scaled in height or width after it is drawn, or even after download depending on the software used.
If the intent is to illustrate the design on a knit-stitch rectangular grid, one may choose to configure the grid for any single image, or for permanent use.
For a permanent change, the default size may be set by changing user preferences, as seen here for a 1X1 pixel grid. 
To change results on any single work file use Image, and Configure Grid values to the desired ones.  Configuration options for line styles include solid, as shown above.
GUIDES
to configure guides, you can go to Image>Guides>New Guide by Percent, or simply click on one of the rulers in the image window and pull out a guide while holding the mouse Left Button pressed. The guide is then displayed as a blue, dashed line, which follows the pointer. As soon as you create a guide, the “Move” tool is activated and the mouse pointer changes to the Move icon. Releasing the mouse will place it.  As soon as a guide is created, the “Move” tool is activated and the mouse pointer changes to the Move icon. 

You can create as many guides as you like, positioned wherever you like. If the grid is set to a 1X1 square pixel default with a line border, at any point the Image, Configure, Grid option may be used to change the ground view  To move a guide, activate the Move tool in the Toolbox, then click on the guide (it will turn red), and drag it to a new location. Click and drag the intersection of two guides to move them together. Create as many guides as needed, positioned appropriately for the design. To delete a guide, simply drag it outside the image. 
Holding down the Shift key moves everything but a guide, using the guides as an effective alignment aid.
As with the grid, you can cause the pointer to snap to nearby guides, by toggling View, Snap to Guides in the image menu. If you have a number of guides and they are making it difficult for you to judge the image properly, you can hide them by toggling View Show Guides.
You can remove all the guides using the Image, Guides, and Remove all Guides command.

Working on punchcard repeats whether in designing for cards or creating a BMP or PNG for electronic download using a published repeat, guides may be set to outline 6X6 blocks as seen in factory-issued Brother punchcards, or to create custom templates.  For example, lace designs have few pixels. Horizontal guides may be added or moved at intervals between repeat segments, making certain the two knit rows are left blank as one continues entering the proper pixels. The vertical guides help in orienting and locating the pixels in design blocks to match the source.  With guides in place, pattern fill may be used, adding shapes using the tools, or brushes to place motifs. A sample of a knit repeat using the rectangle tool and the paint bucket tool combination to create filled rectangles placed in relationship to guides, creating a tuck pattern with interspersed plain knit rectangular shapes Built-in or custom brushes may be superimposed on a bucket-filled ground. Create an image in the desired width and height, here 24 X 24, and magnify at least X 800 for a grid view.
Fill with a pattern.
Place the chosen brush on the patterned ground, adjust the size and placement of the brush until satisfied, and save the image.
Consider the end-use for the pattern. For example, the designs below left would be suitable for tuck stitch, the same designs would need to be color reversed if the plan is to use them to knit thread lace. Both the original and the new image should be set to BW-indexed mode. Developing a brick version of the repeat is easy and quick. With the original image open, create a new image with the same width but twice its height, 24X48.
Set the magnification for both images to the same number, adjusting the number of both if needed so the longer canvas is in full view.
Configure the grid as preferred on the new image, and make it visible. Snap to grid is useful, but may not be necessary when working on such a scale.
Copy the full starting image and paste it onto the bottom of the new one.
Guides may be put in place to adjust for the pattern shift in the top half of the new image. A single, center guide, in this case, was sufficient.
If the full image copy is still available, align and paste it again, its left side to the right of the center guide, and anchor it.
Paste its right side to the left of the center guide and anchor that in place also. Undo and repeat steps if needed.
Check the alignment of the full repeat by map tiling, if satisfied, export it as PNG or BMP for future download.  COLOR EXCHANGE  2022 Gimp update offers a selective way to exchange colors using the fuzzy-select or select-by-color tool. The bucket-fill color works differently in some ways from previous Gimp versions.   Fuzzy-select will change any contained segment of an image in RGB Mode.  Make the selection of the area to be changed, it will become surrounded by a dotted line. Choose bucket fill, change the foreground color to the new one, and click on the outlined area, to the new color. Click on the rectangle tool and then anywhere in the work window to set the image and save it.  Multiple color exchanges in the same image.  Edit, and undo can be used to trace steps backward at any point.
Using select by color will select all areas containing that color, making global edits,   the process may be repeated within bordered segments, retaining their outlines.2023 version 2.10.34 use the shift key to fill by color, and the simple bucket fill tool once more to fill in any single, outlined areas
To change color in a solid background, as an alternative to using bucket fill, simply click on the associated icon, drag the desired foreground shade onto the ground, and release the mouse COLORS EXCHANGE older version
Color exchanges to test designs in different colorways may be made easily and quickly using the program. To test the concept begin with a simple repeat already tested for tiling originally saved in indexed black and white colors 

This icon shows the default foreground and background colors  Black is the foreground color, and white is the background.
Using such small images I often work with 800X magnification. Open the image, choose sizing, scaling, or magnification if necessary, convert to RGB mode then from the Colors menu choose Map, Color Exchange. The color exchange window will appear. Here the white “from color” is left undisturbed. Select the dropper next to the “to color”, then click on the image on the color you wish to change, a palette window will appear. Make your choice, the color exchange window will now have substituted the chosen color for black, click OK, and white design areas are now changed to the chosen blue globally. The process may then be repeated with the second color if desired.  The color exchange window will show white as the default “from color”. Click on the white bar, choose black from the palette window or use the dropper to select black from the image. The from color will then appear as black. Repeat selection with the dropper from the right of the “to color” bar on any black pixels in the image, choose the color from the palette window to replace it, and the color exchange window will display the new “to color”. Click OK, and job done. The process may be repeated multiple times on the same design or used on large-scale ones, giving one some idea as to whether or not to really commit to the estimated colors. I recently had reason to review old PC files from my Passap knitting days and came across several cut files that when converted to png format appeared in colors rather than black and white, leading me to experiment with color exchange again.  The image for the first experiment is part of a crib blanket by Cheryl GilesThe process: do not alter the original image ie. by resizing, which seems to change the color mapping responses
load the image in RGB mode
working with the foreground color, click once on the white, use the color picker to choose a color, in this case, orange, a palette window will appear, click OK, and the background color will change accordingly,  double click on the now orange background to call up its palette window, keep that window open, go to colors filter, map, color exchange
double click on the from color, the white, in the exchange window
match its values to the saved palette window working from the top down, you may find some of the remaining numbers self-correct
in the original image orange, is now exchanged for black continue, repeating the process with the alternate color, in this case, yellow. At that point, the in-process image will appear as solid black. Click on the black in the exchange window to color twice, choose white from the palette selection, click OK, and the conversion is complete. It is possible to colorize images originally drawn in black and white. The color exchange options will remain fixed throughout the process. The image may be worked on continuously and exported when color exchanges are completed, or saved and imported again after each step. The color exchange here happens consistently on the chosen background color, changing that quickly becomes familiar and easy. There are times that the repeat being processed will turn black onscreen, trust in the process and continue.
The default color exchange window using color options in the default palette. The steps for changing the background to red: the image will turn black as you work, click on the TO color selection to pick a color from the default palette to replace the white, in this case, the red, you can click OK, but do not close this last window if you want to continue, the color change will be lost Changing the black to white in summary Export the image. The transitions: Developing custom palettes in order to visualize different colorways while using the same repeat:
load the image,  right-click on the paintbrush icon, and choose palette editor, this window will open with selections for possible palette choices click on your choice, then click on the palette icon, and your color choices will appear, click on the white, to create a new background color. It will change it to the chosen value in this window when you click on that. The new color choices appear in the palette in the future unless a choice is made using resetting it to the original. Two selections may be made for new colors at the same time, but the map, color exchange option will continue to work on the background color only. These were my choices for added colors. Continuing to work with color changes, changing the white in the BW repeat to blue the black to orange My success with series of other images in using color exchange has been spotty. Online forums reveal this is a recurrent issue with no clear solutions. Suggestions include stipulating that the cause may be the version of Mac OS in use. Color reductions using ArahPaint achieve consistent results easily and quickly. There are advantages to hybrid conversions.
COLORS THRESHOLD: see GRIDS OPTIONS
GRIDS: OPTIONS
Punchcard users may use this method to visualize which holes to punch, though this particular repeat would need to be reduced in stitch count in order to be usable. Similar charts may be adapted and used for other textile techniques such as cross-stitch or even filet crochet.

Grids help with the precise placement of pixels when designing using pixels to represent stitches and rows. The grid is not visible until it is activated via the View, Show Grid option in the Image menu. To create a custom grid, the Image, Configure Grid from the Image menu brings up a dialogue that allows you to do so. Snap to Grid causes the pointer to “warp” perfectly to any grid line located within a certain distance. In most instances, when drawing repeats a 1X1 pixel grid works well on a canvas magnified enough for it to be visible when filling in cells, I recommend a starting magnification of X800.
Anyone needing an adjustable grid superimposed on an existing colored image may now adjust the grid size to suit while viewing the resulting changes. The beginning image and grid size both need to be large enough for the grid to be visible. Use the show grid, and Configure Grid commands  The intact chain link fixes the width and height aspect ratio of grid cells Considering the possible smallest repeat, breaking the chain link, and changing values progressively while viewing the results brings one closer to matching units  The image itself may be scaled concurrently to tweak grid border alignments. The final grid size below is 18X18,  the image size is shown after scaling from a width of 277 pixels (with a broken link at that time) to a final 270 pixels in width The screengrab of the above center, with a superimposed new grid; note the image, in this case, was also offset for better placement, a 3-pixel pencil was used to isolate the border of the possible smallest repeat Using Filter, Map, Tile to check alignments  The repeat reduced to 12 stitches, suitable for punchcard, and tiled to check alignments. Translating the colored image to BW indexed may take several steps and some clean-up if only Gimp is used to process it. With the colored large-scale isolated repeat, the image is opened in Gimp. The Threshold tool transforms the current layer or the selection into a black-and-white image, where white pixels represent the pixels of the image whose Value is in the threshold range, and black pixels represent pixels with Value out of the threshold range. It may be activated from the pull-down colors menu or from the toolbox.   The color image will temporarily disappear, adjust levels. Scaling to repeat size: check the image size, making certain the present dimensions match a multiple of the final repeat count for stitches and rows. If adjustments are required, breaking the chain link allows for each count to be adjusted independently from the other. In the final scaling, use the closed chain link, adjust numbers, magnify the repeat, checking it with a superimposed grid for any missing or out-of-place cells. Check the alignment, then save the single repeat, which in this case is 14X14, ready for download Color separations: there are occasions where very small repeats need to be scaled in height only for color separations. I have found such scaling to be inaccurate using the option, such as here, both of the small, single repeat, and in scaling its tiled version. The triangle motif was used in many of my early posts on color separations for DBJ and its backing options.  On a long enough canvas, the grid may be adjusted to 1 pixel by four in height. With that number of cells filled in with black in this case, if the 1X4 unit is captured with the rectangle tool, it will appear in the brush menu and will be available for use with the pencil tool for drawing with single strokes until one quits the program unless the unit is saved for future use as described via preferences  Using RGB mode, the two-color redrawn image is redrawn, A. The grid may be adjusted to 1X 1 again, B. Using magnification, I often use X1800, and pairs of rows may be selected for either color invert or value invert color options. The first will add a third color, seen in the chart bottom, the second will yield a 2 color image, seen in the chart top, B.  I have had no success with using keyboard commands for the action using my OS, find it easier visually to deal with the three colors than with the 2, especially in longer repeats. C: the extra color pixels in the rows with black pixels are filled with white. D: the third color pixel rows are filled with black. D the final repeat may be color indexed to BW and saved for download.  The appearance of the final repeat when color is reversed Another comparison of the 2 options for altering every other pair of rows in the specific color separation for a mosaic repeat. There is less filling in of cells with a different color, but in large files especially, I feel the result would become far more visually confusing to track. For more details on the specific mosaic, see  2021/01/27/mosaics-and-mazes-charting-meet-numbers-gimp-3/

SYMMETRY PAINTING
Information summary from the online manual on working with symmetry:
you can access this dialog from the image Menu bar through Windows-Dockable- Dialogs-Symmetry Painting, its icon appears below at the top right A drop-down list offers four options. As soon as you check a type of symmetry, axes appear as dotted green lines in the image window and you can start painting with the brush you have chosen.
The default position for the symmetry axis is the middle of the image window. You can place the axis where you want using the Horizontal axis position and Vertical axis position.
Disable brush transform: when you transform the drawing, the brush itself will end up transformed as well. For instance, in a mirror transform, not only will your drawing on the right of the canvas be mirrored on the left, but the brush itself is obviously “flipped” on the left. If for some reason, you want the drawn lines to be mirrored (or other transformation) but not the brush outline itself, you can check this box.
“Tiling” is a translational symmetry, which can be finite (with a maximum of strokes) or infinite. In the latter case, it is the perfect tool to create patterns or seamless tiles, at painting time. This mode covers the image with strokes.
Interval X Interval Y: these are the intervals on the X and Y axis, in pixels, between stroke centers.
Shift: this is the shift between lines on the X-axis, in pixels.
Max strokes X, Max strokes Y: these are the maximal number of brush strokes on the X and Y-axis. The default is 0, which means no limit, according to the image size.
Using a large image, and testing a few iterations helps one understand the process. The pepper brush is provided in the program and is used in the tutorial on the Gimp site. Most such tutorials are intended for working on far larger and higher resolution images, while knitting is binary and at the opposite end of the spectrum in scale and required image size. The original brush is 220 pixels in size, and the maximum number of needles per pixel on standard machines programmable at one time is 200. For exploration, any of the built-in brushes may be used, I began by scaling the pepper to 50 pixels, then moved on to a self-drawn, equal size flower motif. When choosing canvas file size, consider a multiple of the brush size. Drawing repeats uses the pencil tool.   Working with potential knit repeats the scale is reduced further. Magnification is useful for the evaluation of repeats. The smallest repeat segments for use on electronic machines may be isolated. The filter, map, and tile option easily verify how the repeats line up overall. Cropping a 24-stitch width and tiling that also visualizes the suitability of the repeat for use on punchcards with the 24-stitch limitation.  Grid view helps identify any need for “clean up”.
This rose is 24 stitches wide by 25 rows in height Open the chosen file in Gimp. Create a new file in a canvas size considering a multiple of the original.
When the Copy or Cut command is used on an image or a selection of it, a copy appears as a new brush in the upper left corner of the “Brushes” dialog. This brush will persist until you use the Copy command again. It disappears when GIMP is closed.
With the single repeat opened in Gimp, magnified several times, click on the image and use the copy command. The image will appear in the symmetry dialogue. The position may vary depending on whether the program has been closed and relaunched between episodes of testing the process. Create a new file, large enough to accommodate a multiple of the original number of pixels, add pixels for spacing between or above and below designs, set the magnification to the same number as that of the clipboard image, left-click on the brush icon, choose the image saved in the clipboard and a type of symmetry and accompanying settings, click on pencil tool, the motif will appear as on the above right, paste the image on the new canvas, undo and repeat setting adjustments until satisfied with the distribution of motifs.
Some ways of varying repeat positions working with motifs in networks were illustrated in the post To develop a brick repeat I began with a canvas twice that of the original rose, 48X50 pixels, isolated the smallest repeat, used the filter map tile option to test its all over alignment The 24X50 repeat: To decrease crowding, using the original image, the new canvas is now 40X60, with the shift decreased from 12 to 8 pixels. The result did not tile properly when mapped, using magnification 800X with a viewed grid the final repeat, 29X60 was isolated Being more deliberate with the math leads to a full, successful repeat 

Working on the gridded image, drawing straight lines to isolate color change areas in chosen colors followed by flood filling, one may begin to visualize changing the ground color behind the motif repeats Using that small triangular 8X8 repeat open in Gimp, or draw any small shape if designed by hand, remove the grid. Before using it as a brush, reduce mode to 2 colors, magnify X800. Open a new file. I found the latter needed to be increasingly small as well for the repeats to be placed accurately. After tiling using symmetry, filter, map, tile from the filter menu to check for multiple repeat alignment.   Again, preemptive math will yield images that avoid further processing. It is up to the user to recognize any problems,  the repeat here needs to and can be isolated correctly from the file on the left, it is actually only 16 rows high. Here the adjusted repeat is created on a 24X16 canvas with the same symmetry settings, and filter/mapped/tiled There may be multiple ways to achieve the same result with each motif. Here the same repeat is executed two different ways  The above repeat was cropped and adjusted to 16 stitch width and 8 row height, the file saved, and the process repeated  Using symmetry once more, remember to adjust the pencil size.  For the pinwheel shape I was unable to use color exchange successfully on the above images, but with the saved 2 colors indexed red and white repeat both img2track and ayab appeared to load the repeat successfully. The map color exchange was successful using the steps described at the top of the post when beginning with the repeat drawn in a black and white version.  

A different approach, experimenting with built-in brushes: symmetry preferences remain constant, the brush size is reduced. The results are best if the canvas is created in black and white indexed mode to start with, and shapes reduce with varying degrees of success. The numbers reflect brush sizes in each dot pattern. Different types of symmetry may be applied to the same image

For afghans or wall art, if one is attracted to large shapes, drawing in mandala symmetry on large canvas size is as gratifying and immediate as when using a spirograph, the results happen in seconds, these were drawn using 32 points. Steps may easily be undone along the way as one attempts to make the images more complex.

To mesh or not to mesh 8: more Numbers meet Gimp

A recent FB post led the discussion to this repeat from a 910 mylar, which does not have the immediately recognizable format of the Brother lace patterns if viewed in a small screengrab such as this. The repeat is included in Ayab test patterns. The full mylar collection and user manual may be found here http://machineknittingetc.com/brother-kh910-pattern-guide.html.
The segment including the lace pattern Brother was the first to allow programming from multiple areas on a single mylar sheet. Starting and ending stitches and rows needed to be entered, I got used to drawing boxes for each pattern as seen on the upper right, reducing errors in future knitting. The red lines on the copy highlight the repeat’s border. Mylars were read 13 rows down, punchcard machines7. The equivalent of arrow markings on lace punchcards are provided in the column on the left, which extends over the top of the drawing space by the same number of rows, allowing it to remain visible above the card reader even as the top of the mylar patterning area is reached.
The design is actually created from isolated areas of a mesh repeat discussed in a previous post. The lace carriage is used for 2 passes and then for 4 alternately, as indicated on the left side of the punchcard. The 2 passes will result in transfers to the left, the 4 make in transfers to the right. This repeat, usable in nonelectronic models, appears in my pre-punched factory basic packs as both #17 and #20. Depending on the electronic model or the software used to download patterns designed for lace, the final image may need to be flipped horizontally. This is true for use on my 930. Creating a template for mesh using numbers: begin with a table with square cells in numbers larger than you might need, ie 24 by 54. The method for doing so has been explained in previous posts. I happen to prefer cell units that measure 20 points by 20. The smallest repeat unit for use on any machine is isolated, shown bordered in red, is 4 stitches wide by 6 rows high, and drawn onto the template. The group of cells in the repeat are selected. If one hovers over any side or top and bottom borders of it, a yellow dot appears. Clicking and dragging on the yellow dot will repeat the full selection to the right, left, up, or down. Here the move is to the right The whole group is selected, and dragging on the yellow dot once more, the whole template can be filled Beginning at the top or bottom of the table, hide all blank rows. Using the command key during the selection process will allow this to be done on the whole table at once or in groups of rows at one time; 36 of the 54 rows are hidden.   At this point, there are a couple of choices. One is superimposing a solid shape. Using a contrasting color makes it easier to sort out its placement the color may be replaced with white in the spreadsheet,
unhide all rows, and the lace pattern is ready for the final steps before using Gimp The other option is to unhide rows on the colored table, screengrab as usual after removing cell borders. Open in Gimp, crop to content, eliminate the cyan row by filling it with white. It was intended as a placeholder for the last row in the pattern, is not part of the final repeat.
In this instance, I used mode, indexed, to the maximum of 3 colors.
Choose the color to alpha option from the colors menu.
Using the dropper tool select the color you wish to be made clear, and click OK. Create a new image of the same size.
Copy and paste the color-reduced image onto the new one.  Dotted lines will appear in areas that had the color removed previously. Clicking anywhere in the window outside the image anchors the paste and makes those dotted lines disappear. If that does not work, select the rectangle tool before doing so. The file is then ready for final scaling. The last image is in RGB mode once more, converted to BW indexed, scaled to 24 by 54, and exported as BMP or choose any other format ie png, etc. to suit your needs.
Responses to alpha selection can vary depending on the original color palette used when filling cells.
Creating a template for drawing simple shapes using transfer lace, it is easier to start with the transfer grid in a color, rows are hidden as above, and eyelet shapes are drawn in black. The rows are unhidden.    In this instance, the red was selected for converting to alpha with the image still in RGB mode, copied and pasted. The pasted image may be anchored in several ways. Using the image menu: select merge visible layers, or flatten image; layer menu: select anchor layer, or simply click on rectangle select tool and click again anywhere in the window. Changing the mode to black and white indexed will yield the repeat for final scaling. Each transfer design segment of the repeat is 6 rows in height and completed with 10 combined carriage passes. The lace carriage, LC, operates first, in a series of two passes at first, then followed by four, repeating the double sequence throughout. The mylar, card, or computer image, does not reflect the passes made by the knit carriage KC. The latter is set to knit, does not engage the belt, and does not advance the pattern. It helps to look at an expanded repeat to understand that indeed, transfers are made in 2 directions.
Referring to design row numbers, not necessarily those on a row counter:
1.  LC preselects for transfers to the left as it travels to the right
2.  LC makes transfers as it moves to the left, no preselection occurs, remains on the left side
3.  KC, moves to the left, completing the first knit row, creating loops on needles emptied by transfers, the pattern does not advance and remains on the same row
4.  KC, moves to the right, completing the eyelet stitches, the pattern remains on the same row, KC then stays on the right
5.  LC moves to the right, no preselection
6.  LC moves to the left and preselects for transfers to the right
7.  LC moves to the right, transfers to the right, no preselection
8.  LC returns to the left, no transfers or preselection, stays there
9.  KC moves to the left, and the pattern remains on the same row
10. KC moves to the right, and the pattern remains on the same row, KC then stays on the right Those familiar with eyelet formation in the more traditional transfer lace will notice the differences here, where the geometric shapes are technically superimposed on a mesh whose structure is revealed depending on where the transfers creating them take place. The fabric is easy and very quick to execute since most of it is in stocking stitch. The proof of concept swatch: The design was not planned as continuous, but is easily amended to be so. Here an alternate version is shown, with 2 linear repeats on the left, and a single expanded repeat to its right As for that mylar repeat, this is an image of the shapes with the chart collapsed, eliminating blank rows between black pixels. The resulting partial test used as drawn In fabrics designed this way, using the image as drawn (left), or mirroring it horizontally, does not visually change the result. This does not hold true in more complex transfer lace.
Several large-scale designs based on this method are found in Brother-electro-knit-lace-patterns-3 This random chart from the publication shows a pattern where the number of transfer rows between knit ones has more variation. Again, knit rows are marked in the column on the far left. Those marks on a mylar would remain visible on the outside of the machine, above the card reader as one progresses through knitting. Memo windows or handwritten charts may be the only option for accurate tracking, depending on the machine model and the row count variations. The repeat may also require it to be flipped horizontally. Simply reaching a row with no needle selection does not always mean the location for the 2 knit rows has also been reached. 2024:
The above is listed as a fine lace pattern. Most such patterns can be executed as  standard transfer lace as well.
The addition of the ArahPaint guess weave from grid tool makes the process of converting charts such as the above easier and quicker.
The final BW chart and the associated 60X74 png. Depending on the machine model, the file may need to be mirrored horizontally before any knitting.  in repeat The original image had markings for mylar that inform the frequency of knit carriage passes, which extend above the start and end of mylar markings to allow for the fact that the first design row is scanned below the row visible to the knitter on the exterior of the machine. When the png repeat is loaded into machine memory, reading begins on row 1. The knit row single pixel markings on the original can still serve as guides as to how many passes of the LC are followed by 2 knit carriage passes The column on the left indicates the number of LC passes before two knit carriage ones, the column on the right reflects the corresponding design rows. The image from the publication, with the color modified for clarity My sample was knit on a 930, hence mirrored horizontally, on 60 just stitches.
The yarn is a softly spun rayon with a tendency to split, and at the end of the second full repeat several stitches dropped, accounting for the length of the swatch;-)  The second volume is also available as a free download, and in addition, mylars are as well.
The latter makes for clearer stitch and row counts and easier file conversions.

Numbers and GIMP: online punchcard patterns to electronics 1

My blog is a living document.
At times I return to previously published posts and there have been software updates in the interim, and/or my familiarity with using multiple tools has grown.
I preserve the contents of the original post, they reflect where I began and the evolution of my approach to learning software navigation with specific design goals in mind.
At times some small additions are made to the body of the old post, at others,   dated post scrips point to later, perhaps easier or quicker methods to achieve the same goals.

There is a Russian website with a treasure trove of machine knitting patterns, some for 12 stitch models, and extensive collections for 24 stitch models including for fair isle, lace, and single motifs.
There are pull-down options to show the full repeats charted for Silver Reed (default), Brother, and Toyota brands. The numbering system on the right of the cards will be shifted to the appropriate starting line, but the images themselves do not seem to adjust the placement of the punched holes when that is necessary for correct knitting when switching to other knitting machine brands.
The collections begin with the longest repeats. One such repeat

I had never had an interest in owning DAK, though never say never, I did purchase the program when my knitting software was switched to a Windows PC. From the promotional material and forums, it would appear their Graphics Studio offers an interesting range of design possibilities in converting such files.
My experiences with the program have been chronicled in related posts.
Those of us who are Mac and Gimp users need not be left out, the conversions are achievable with the investment of a bit of time and patience.
The charts as presented often cannot be successfully converted to the indexed mode and scaled in Gimp to produce readable patterns.
One long solution is to combine the use of a spreadsheet table, in my case created in Mac Numbers, with Gimp design options.
Prior knowledge of the basics of both programs is required.
I assume similar steps could be used with Excel.
A follow-up post on this topic:  Numbers and GIMP: online punchcard patterns to electronics 2.
It is easier to test how-tos beginning with a source diagram which has larger, more readable dots representing the punched holes. This was found on Pinterest, dimensions for both stitches and rows are not always provided. The units in many such illustrations are not square, and the goal is to end up with a PNG where each square unit represents one stitch, one row.
The cell size I prefer in Numbers tables has come to be 20X20 pts.
This particular design is 24 stitches wide, and 60 rows high.
To make it workable in that cell size, the repeat is opened in Gimp, cropped to its margins, scaled to 240 X 600 pixels, and the new image is exported.  In Numbers, drag and drop the image onto a new sheet if working on a previously created Numbers document. Click on the image, and then on format/ arrange to resize it to the desired proportions,  A table is then created, 24 cells wide, 60 high, each measuring 20 pt by 20 pt, with total measurements of 480 by 1200 pts.   Resize the image if needed to match the table size, in this case, to 480X1200. The size may be adjusted by using the up and down marks to the right of the size option or typing in desired values in each window followed by the return key, with more accurate control than simply dragging on points at the corners of the imported original. Turning off constrain proportions allows for added tweaking of the size if needed.
On the left is the first table image, including extra rows to check for stitch and row numbering, and to its right, is the resized punchcard pattern.  Select the whole table 24 cells by 60, by clicking on the circular symbol at the upper left, and alter the cell borders to a bright, contrasting color. I chose red, 3-point  thickness.  Move the table over the punchcard image or its mirror if needed.
The arrange option may be used to place either in front or back of the other.  Dragging the table using that circle on the upper left corner will place it directly on top of the design.
Select individual cells or cell groups by using the command key and releasing it periodically, to fill the cells with color.   The repeat in progress Copy and paste the completed table. Make certain there is a different color cell in any white squares at the far corners of the image, in this case, upper right and upper left (yellow), remove cell borders 1. screengrab a larger area than the repeat
2. open the screengrabbed image in Gimp
3. choose Image, Crop to Content, to eliminate any extra surrounding cells
4. fill any contrasting  color, in this case, those yellow cells, with white
5. choose image/mode/convert to indexed B/W colors
6. proceed to scale the image. In some instances, this needs to happen in 2 steps, the first scaling to make certain both values are divisible by 20, and the second to scale to the desired repeat size of 24X60
7. before saving the PNG for download, magnify the file to at least 800X, and with the grid in view, perform the first visual check. Then, using filter-map-tile, repeat the design in height and width multiple times to check its horizontal and vertical alignments and to visualize how it might appear in the intended project. A quicker process using only Gimp version 2.10.34, 2023 One needs to have a basic understanding of punchcard illustration markings, and often the repeat required for the use of the design in electronics may only be a very small portion of the total offered in the publication. The extra rows represent perforations that are not part of the design and may be cropped off in Gimp. The image of the repeat on the left began the FB discussion, while the one to its right illustrates the same after making the marks more visible. Making the marks more visible is possible by changing number values and by moving the slider immediately below the input levels Proceed as for the first image, being mindful of an unnecessary row at the bottom. The saved image can be tweaked in size by turning off Constrain Proportions and adjusting values for width and height for proper placement under the table grid. It soon becomes evident that the card is composed of smaller repeat segments, which can be copied and pasted making for faster filling in the whole punchcard minimum row # requirement. Check the repeat alignment by tiling it. The smallest adjusted electronic repeat, 12X20 pixels.  The far longer repeats might best be managed broken up into sections. An easier, quicker solution is presented in later posts.
This is part of #6717, shown in the process of trimming unwanted info in Gimp and after adjusting color levels to create a sharper image. The converted, partial punchcard repeat 2023: ArahPaint‘s weave from grid tool makes working with the full repeat possible. The final repeat was cropped by 2 rows at the top to 24X206 to avoid a 4-row solid color line produced when the original was tiled vertically.
Returning to the use of Numbers and Gimp: what of the lace punchcard repeats? There seems to be no differentiation between the different types of lace on the Russian website: thread lace, simple lace where stitches are knit and transferred in a single pass (a Silver Reed/Studio special), and lace requiring the use of 2 separate carriages, one to knit, and the other to transfer are all grouped together. In addition, the pull-down menu and changing machine brand selection,

if used, will change the numbering on the side of the card, but not the design content  The conversion process intended for the final use on the Brother machine: the image on the far right shows a review of the proper placement of pairs of empty rows between lace segment sequences, highlighted in grey In the past I have found lace repeats, in particular, to be particularly cranky when scaled down in Gimp due to the paucity of black cells. After the above steps, I decided to try color invert, resize, and color invert again, which in this instance, produced what appears to be an accurate repeat. Of course, the final png is likely to need mirroring for use in some electronic models The process did not work for me in using Gimp alone to edit test repeats from the website directly. The white dots, in that case, disappear with scaling to the desired size.
Using resize X 2 with color invert and back with a Stitchworld #150 pattern image got me closer to an editable lace repeat using Gimp alone, worth considering in the future. 2023: a different approach:
Left: the image from the Stitchworld book measures 26X64 cells
it is slightly tilted, the angle has been rotated for better results, and cropped to the borders of the actual design repeat
Center: the cropped image measures 442X846 pixels, it is scaled with a broken chain link first to a multiple of the original, since the output will be on a square grid, not a rectangular one, in this case, to 260X640.
Use Colors, Threshold, followed by Image, Mode, convert to BW Indexed
Right: Image, scale again with intact chain link to the final 26X64 size, export the PNG   With experience, one learns to trust the process.
A proof of concept for the final PNG matching the original is not in any way necessary but is offered here for this particular file or simply for reference.
Work in RGB mode, select and click on the rectangle tool after any steps to make changes to fix the layers.
Select edit, and undo to revert to any previous step(s).
1. open the initial cropped and rotated image, note the pixel proportions
2. in a new work window, open the final PNG, and scale it to the same pixel dimensions as 1
3. select all black pixels, and bucket fill them with red
4. use layer, transparency, white background to alpha, making it transparent
5. copy 4
6. paste 4 on 1, note that pixel placement for the final repeat matches that for the black squares on the original chart