Bicycle knits

 I decided to make my own bicycle graphic for knitting.

Step 1 - find a suitable graphic. I found this one that has clean lines. 

Step 2 - download knitters graph paper.  I got mine from Tricksy knitter.  Knitting graph paper is scaled to be more proportional to a typical size of a knitted stitch.  Normally, stockinette stitch is a ratio of 4 stitches to 6 rows, or typically on a machine with standard gauge, 7 stitches to 11 rows.  Using quadrangle graph paper would flatten the design. 

Step 3 - trace the bicycle outline onto the graph paper. 

Step 4 - identify the squares inside the traced outline.

Step 5 - reproduce the design by marking the selected squares.

My first attempt resulted in a design of 24 stitches.  This will not work for a punchcard, because there will be no space between the designs.   To create a design for a punchcard, I would repeat steps 1-5 using a slightly reduced version of the graphic, perhaps printing the graphic at 94 % of its original size.  I could avoid the necessity to repeat this step by first measuring the width of 22-23 stitches on the graph paper, then printing the bicycle graphic to fit the scale.

Step 6 - enter the design into the Knitting machine.   

Step 6a - for machines without automatic patterning, manually select the needles according to the graph.

Step 6b - for punchcard machines, punch the design into a blank card, making sure there is space between motifs.

Step 6c - you can enter the design directly into the control panel of an electronic machine, following the instructions in the user guide for your machine.  On Brother machines, you can then store to disk if you still have a disk drive.

Step 6d - alternatively, you can enter the design into Design-A-Knit as a stitch pattern and save.  

Since I am using my 25-stitch pattern, and an electronic machine, I will proceed with option 6d.