I trained at the fashion school Esmod, and I am a special education teacher. You see the first education in the garments. You see the second in the patterns.
I also have a master's degree in guidance and change work. Guiding someone means taking them from where they are to where they want to go, one step at a time. That is what my patterns do.
One step per page
My patterns are made for your phone. Each page has one step. You read it, knit it and swipe on. The format is called CosyMonday Step-by-Step.
A page with one step has no other lines to get lost in. If you put your knitting down in the middle of a sleeve, the step is still there when you come back. You don't have to search for where you were.
To be completely honest, splitting the patterns up like this comes both from frustrated friends and from me, because I like to have an overview and be completely sure what I am supposed to do. In the beginning I used several friends as test knitters, both to check the patterns and to find out how they preferred to have them written. The patterns are now optimised even further to suit both the beginner and the experienced knitter. The whole point is that the experience should be a good one, give you a sense of joy and mastery, and leave you with a garment you like.
The box you tick
Every step has a tick box. Tick it when the step is done. The tick stays when you close the file.
Striped garments also get their own stripe sheet. It lists the stripes in the order you meet them, and each stripe has its own box. At the back of the file you'll find the whole pattern on an A4 sheet for printing, with boxes you can tick with a pen, because I have noticed that many people like to write in the pattern itself. The printed version is also made to use little ink and paper, but with the same instructions, so you can keep it beside you if you prefer that to finding it again on your phone.
Ticking off on your phone does two things. You see where you are. And you see how far you have come.
All five sizes, XS, S, M, L and XL, are in the same step. You find your number in the same place in every step, and you never have to flip to another part of the pattern to find your size.
Violet Hill – The Short Sweater has twelve colours. The stripe sheet keeps count for you.
One action per sentence
A sentence in my patterns should ask you to do one thing. If there are two actions in the same sentence, I split it.
The sentence also tells you where and how many. Not "decrease evenly", but where in the round you decrease, and how many stitches. Not "knit to the desired length", but how many centimetres, measured from where.
If several things need to happen at the same time, I number them. Then you can do them in order and tick them off as you go.
This is a principle taken from special education: clear structure, predictability and visual support.
The technical term is explained the first time
Knitting has a lot of its own words. The first time a technical term appears in a pattern, I explain it. Raglan is the line that runs diagonally from the underarm up towards the neck. The yoke is the part above the armholes, where the body and sleeves are joined on one needle.
After that I use the word without explaining it. That way you learn it while you knit.
If you want to look up a word, you'll find it in Strikke-ABC, the knitting dictionary in Knittipedia. The patterns are available in five languages: Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, English and German.
The video alongside
Some techniques are easier to see than to read. Where a technique is used, the step has a link to a help video. Tap the link, watch the hands do it, and go back to the step.
The videos are on the YouTube channel "Cosymonday - Knittipedia - Knitting knowledge", and the techniques are collected in Knittipedia.
Everything is gathered in one place so you can find what you need without searching the whole internet. In Knittipedia the goal is for you to find everything about knitting. If you are looking for something you needed but couldn't find, feel free to send me a message. The techniques are updated regularly and are marked as new.
Three levels, said plainly
Every pattern has one of three levels: Beginner, Beginner plus or Easy intermediate. The level is shown at the top of the product page. That way you know before you buy what the pattern asks of you.
Summer Green – The Cardigan is Beginner plus. You learn half brioche, a cardigan that is open at the front, and raglan decreases on the body only. One step at a time.
I hope you like my patterns and designs, and that you end up like three of my first test knitters, who hadn't knitted for a long time because difficult patterns had frustrated them. Those three are now completely hooked on knitting and make the loveliest knits. And a big thank you to you, my first test knitters Line, Heidi, Marit, Mari and Elisabeth, for all the valuable feedback you gave and the great job you did – it laid the whole foundation <3
Because nobody should have to read a step twice to understand it.
Read also: A pattern everyone can read.
Good luck <3
Anne-Turid