Use a template to design knitting patterns
I'm all for systems and processes that will make life easier, so I try to make templates for just about everything. When I get a request from a new designer to tech edit their pattern, typically my response is a templated response I have saved in Gmail, with some minor alterations. I have my invoices saved as a template in PayPal too so that I don't have to put my business info and rate in every time I create a new invoice. The list goes on. Templates just make life so much easier.
And you can do this to your patterns too. You may be asking: what is the difference between a template and a style sheet? How I see it is a style sheet is a document with every possible note you may need to use when designing future patterns and making sure everything conforms to your style. A template is basically an empty version of my pattern that I can fill in with details.
Here's a screenshot of some parts of my style sheet:
And here's a screenshot of part of my template:
Hopefully this gives a better visual of the difference! The style sheet is something I refer back to when I need to figure out how to write something, and it's something I use as a reference when editing my pattern (and I send it to my tech editor as well - yes, even tech editors need tech editors!). The template is more just a document where I can plug in my numbers. The things that need changing are highlighted in yellow, and I unhighlight them when I've input the number.
The reason I have a template rather than just duplicating my last pattern and overwriting all the information is to cut down on errors. For example, say my last pattern is a cowl with a 36" circumference and my new pattern is a cowl with a 32" circumference. It's a lot easier for me to know I haven't updated it if I see an "x" instead of an actual number. If I just saw the 36" in there my brain might not even realize that's the old number because I see a number that's reasonably close to what it should be, even though it's for a totally different pattern. I would have so much trouble keeping track of what info was new and correct if there wasn't a clear placeholder.
I've seen this happen in patterns I've edited. One time I edited a pattern that had a particular yarn, and when the designer sent her next pattern a month later it had the same yarn information even though it was clearly a different yarn!
I keep my style sheet and template in the same document. Because there are a lot of things in the template that are kind of my style sheet. For example, the way I write out gauge, or how I write out the cast on instructions. Then I delete the section I shared above that's just how I style things, which is in it's own section labeled "language" to make it easy to get rid of.
You can also have multiple templates! The layout and information in a sweater pattern will be different than a shawl pattern and that will be different that the sections of a sock. So if you're designing multiple types of patterns, it may be helpful to have separate templates for each item type, too.
