How not to get vertigo while transcribing a chart into text

It makes me dizzy. Literally.

A knitted chart runs left to right, bottom to top, like a piece of right handed knitting. English text runs top to bottom, right to left. Going from my charts in a spreadsheet to text in a word processor makes my stomach hurt.

Yes, I’m going to buy the Stitchmastery editor as soon as I have the cash set aside.

But I’ve hit on a temporary measure: I sectioned my mitten charts into short, preferably symmetric parts, put the row numbers beside them in a column, then sorted the cells on the row numbers so that they turned upside down. I wrote the text in another column, and since I could now do my typing top to bottom, the queasy – why – am – I – doing – this – automated – task – as – if – I were – the – computer did not give me a head ache. Or stomach ache. Or make me put the mitten pattern on hold for another two years.

Yes, two years.

But it wasn’t just the vertigo. I was capable of creating a fairly complex design two years ago. But putting it into sizes and figuring out the strategy for condensing them into a conventional pattern took a lot of learning. And forum questions. And e-mails to a tech editor asking for advise.

All they need now is about 2 weeks of formatting, then 2 more weeks of back and forth with a tech editor, which will be diluted by homeschool and co-op this fall.

But they may become real by Christmas.

Which is handy because they have holly and ivy leaves on them.

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