KnitCompanion Alternative for Colourwork Tracking

Start with the pattern you already have

If your project is a designer’s PDF containing charts, written instructions and shaping, keeping those pages together may matter more than editing coloured squares. knitCompanion’s official Add a PDF guide describes importing PDFs. Its Markers help page describes separate row and stitch markers that retain their positions when you zoom or scroll, with positions kept separately for each page.

That is a clear strength for following an existing pattern. Purlgrid’s Knitting Chart Maker creates and edits colour grids in the browser; it does not import your pattern PDF or place tracking markers over its pages. If preserving the original document is essential, choose a PDF workflow. If changing your own motif is the main job, a chart editor is relevant.

Choose the Purlgrid tool for the job

The Knitting Chart Maker page leads to the editor at “Open the chart maker”. In that editor, “My designs” and “New blank design” let you start a chart; “Size” contains “Stitches” and “Rows”. Use “Paint” to change cells. Use this when the artwork needs adjusting before you knit.

The Knitting Chart Checker handles a different task: checking a colour grid for issues such as long floats, too many colours in a row or a repeat that does not fit the entered stitch count. You can paint the grid or use “Paste a chart as text”, then “Check this chart”. It checks the grid you supply, not the instructions in a PDF. Its warnings are design checks, not records of stitches you have worked.

Save the design and record progress separately

In the colourwork editor, “My designs” stores editable designs in this browser. For a making record, choose “Save to My projects”, then open “My projects”. Expand “Yarn, gauge, notes and progress” to enter materials, your measured gauge, making notes and progress. Use “Save project details” after updating those fields. After editing the chart, use “Save to My projects” again to update its saved design.

The progress fields are “Completed steps / rows” and “Total steps / rows (0 if unknown)”. You enter the numbers yourself. They do not advance a highlighted row in the colourwork editor or remember a stitch position within a row. Decide what one step means for this project and write that convention in “Making notes”; otherwise a saved number can become ambiguous when you return.

Try a small progress example before committing

Suppose your own motif is 6 rows high and you plan to work it 4 times vertically, with no additional rows. The calculated total is 6 × 4 = 24 rows. After completing 14 rows, you have finished 2 full repeats and 2 rows of the third repeat. Your next row is project row 15, which is motif row 3, and 10 rows remain.

Enter 14 under “Completed steps / rows” and 24 under “Total steps / rows (0 if unknown)”. In “Making notes”, write “Next: motif row 3 of repeat 3; project row 15.” Save the details and reopen the project to check that the record makes sense. These are calculated example values, not numbers the tracker derives from your knitting. If you stop partway through a row, add the stitch position yourself.

Check what survives a device change

Purlgrid’s projects stay in the browser on the device where you saved them. Clearing browser data removes them, and there is no automatic account sync. “Export backup” saves the project records; “Import backup” reads a backup on another device. Keep a backup after meaningful progress, and check the imported record before relying on it.

The editor’s “Share” link carries a design, while the project backup carries your saved project record and notes. Do not expect a design link alone to transfer your progress log. For reference outside the editor, “Download image” exports the knitted preview, and its adjacent menu offers “Chart table (CSV)” and “Written instructions (TXT)”. When repeats are enabled, the text describes one chart repeat and states the repeat counts; it does not list every repeated project row separately.

Choose by the feature you need to resume

Choose a PDF tracker when your essential requirement is a marker on the original pattern page. Choose Purlgrid’s chart maker with My projects when you want an editable colour grid plus a manually maintained progress record. Both can have a place in one project: keep the garment instructions in their original document and use Purlgrid for your own motif and design notes.

knitCompanion’s official free-use and paid-options pages describe free Basics and an optional annual Setup+Essentials subscription. Its Markers page places marker customization under Setup+Essentials. Check the current feature list and device requirements for the exact workflow you need; do not assume every advanced feature is included in Basics.

Before you continue

1. Decide whether you need to follow an existing PDF or edit a colour grid.
2. Check whether you must remember a whole row, a repeat or a stitch within a row.
3. Define what your completed-row number means and record the next action.
4. Save the project details, reopen the record and check your stopping point.
5. Export a project backup before moving devices or clearing browser data.