On Sun, Jul 29, 2018 at 4:51 PM, Steve Litt <slitt@...2357...> wrote:

I'm sorry, I laughed. :-)

Hmph. Crochet is no laughing matter. ;)

Here are some of mine: http://www.yakyak.org/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=86850
 

Your pattern looks pretty mathematical to me. Wouldn't "all" be a
mighty big number?

It may look mathematical, but each symbol just represents a different type of stitch - of which there are a practically limited number. There are only a few basic stitches: chain, double crochet, treble crochet and (rarely used) quadruple crochet (UK naming convention), with some minor variants on some of those (half treble crochet, for example). Each symbol is drawn roughly in proportion to the length the final stitch occupies, such that the final pattern of the work is visible in the chart (with a little imagination).

This particular pattern happens to be broadly symmetrical but that doesn't have to be the case. Any flat crochet pattern can be represented in this way. Most are square, rectangular, circular or hexagonal, but they don't have to be (e.g. for clothing, such as jumpers/sweaters). So trying to write a python script to create them might work for a small subset of patterns, but I can't see it ever being a general purpose answer.



As others have mentioned, the Symbols dialog is nominally the way to go for this - although I would be inclined to just have a second file with the symbols in, and copy/paste a "master" copy of each stitch into your working document, then use the "stamp" capability to place them. This is where you drag an object, then hit the space bar wherever you want a copy placed. Unfortunately it won't handle rotating them for you, so you'll have to go through and sort them out afterwards.

[Aside: Actually that might be an interesting feature to add to Inkscape - a "Polar Mode". This would require the ability to set a global centre of rotation and a toggle that, when enabled would mean that moving an object also rotates it. Perhaps in that mode CTRL would limit the movement to radially/circumferentially (that's a word, right) rather than horizontally/vertically. It would make creating circular designs so much easier.]

For largely symmetric designs you can potentially save a lot of time by creating one section, grouping it so it's easier to work with, then copy-pasting (and rotating) to create the other sections. You can then enter each group to make any fine adjustments you need.

Mark