There comes a point, in every knitters progress, when you want to design a garment yourself and translate it into a knittable pattern.

But where do you start?

Inspiration for the design may, if youre very lucky, suddenly present itself in your imagination. You can see exactly what it should look like, right there in your minds eye.

Nows the time to sketch what you see and make notes about colours and types of yarn to be used.

There are two reasons for doing this. Firstly, so you dont forget it! You may not have the time to knit it right now, but you can put a quick sketch in your To Do file for knitting later on. Secondly, by sketching it and filing it away, you clear your mind so more original ideas can bubble to the surface.

The idea of making a sketch may fill you with horror. I cant draw, I hear you say!

Yes, you can draw. Remember that your sketchbook is for your eyes only and, providing you can understand the lines youve drawn on the paper, thats all that matters. If your sketch is very basic, you can always supplement it with lots of notes.

However, there are a couple of ways to cheat with your sketching!

1. Find a photograph in a magazine or book of a model wearing something that closely resembles the shape of your garment idea and photocopy it. Cut out the shape and use the hole as a stencil. If you mount your stencil on to card, it can be used several times for different ideas.

2. Take the same photograph and trace the garment outline. Photocopy your tracing as many times as you need and sketch your ideas on top.

The actual translation of your sketches into knitting will not be without problems but you have to remember that its an original idea youre dealing with and that requires patience.

Translating ideas from paper to pattern to knitting may require modifications along the way. Its in the manipulation of these that the real work of the inventive designer comes into play.