Stitchboard Admin message #2
Re: question
February 22, 2016 at 1:52:17 AM  (in response to jdhanket message #1)
 
Welcome! 

You'll have to prepare a graphic first, which you can do with a graphics program.  If you don't have one, there are two free and very powerful ones:
GIMP, available here:
http://www.gimp.org/
and Paint.net:
http://getpaint.net/
Please note: I'm not able to provide any information about how to use either of these programs, as the one I use is a very ancient version of a completely different program, which is why I've never used either of these.

My suggestion would be to create the wording in a plain, easy to read font, where the total number of pixels in the finished image from side to side is the number of stitches you want for your blanket.  Once you create that (I'd suggest saving in a gif format, as that wouldn't have stray pixels), you can input it into the freePatternWizard here on the site; from the main menu above, go to "patterns/create a pattern."  Then you'll choose your width (in step #6) as the second button down, which is labeled, "Use the actual number of pixels across in my image as the number of stitches across. If my image is greater than XXX pixels wide, reduce it to show XXX stitches across."  (I've given XXX here, as the number of stitches you personally have is going to be based on which membership you have.  You'll have at least 150 pixels across if you have the basic free membership.)

Because choosing the length would skew your pattern, we currently do not allow the choice of the number of stitches down, only across; the system optimizes the image so the aspect ratio is correct.

You can make the pattern taller as you work by manually adding rows to the top and bottom; while these will not be reflected in your pattern, if you do this in either your background color or a contrasting color, you can make it to the size you want.

I'd also suggest practicing a little with something smaller, so you can master making your stitches even before starting on your main project. 

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