I've been plugging away on MadHatter (https://madhatter.app), a web tool for knitting/crochet projects. It works best on desktop!
Why? Many yarncrafters painstakingly build spreadsheets, or try to bend existing general purpose pixel editors to their will. It's time consuming & frustrating.
Along the way, I've solved a bunch of problems:
- Automatic decreases (shapes the hat) / overstitching markers (shows when multiple colors are used in the same row)
- Parameterized designs, like waves, trees, geometric shapes. No more manually moving an object by a couple of pixels, it's a simple click & drag.
- Color palette merging (can't delete a color if you already use it in a pattern!)
- Export to PDF (so you can print it or stick it on a tablet)
- Repeat previews (visualize the pattern as it repeats horizontally)
The core feature that makes this more useful than most general purpose editors is that the canvas is continuous.If you drag a shape near the right edge of the canvas, you'll see it "wrapping around" onto the right edge.
This reflects the 3D reality of a hat!