Pattern Chart Hack

For those of you who haven't seen this chart-tracking hack, I present it in the hopes it will help at least one person.  For complicated patterns, we often need to track what row we're on. Sometimes that results in a printed copy that you mark off and then erase the marks for the next repeat.  The trouble there is that after a few repeats, the paper wears out or turns too grey to see the marks. Yes, there are clickers you can use for row counting, but visually, it's easy to have your eyes jump to the wrong row.

I offer an alternative: place the page you need to track into a clear sheet protector and make your marks with a wet-erase marker.  The advantage is that you can make lots of marks and simply use a wet paper towel to erase them all later, e.g. between repeats.  The advantage of a wet-erase over a dry-erase marker is that once it dries, you're unlikely to accidentally wipe it off by brushing your hand or the work over the page. 

This wet-erase tactic is what I'm using for the Nordic Blanket pattern.  The written instructions are in one sheet protector and the graph in another.  You can see I've also marked in the graph where the written instructions change.  The beauty of this is that I can erase those extra marks along with the strike-through lines once I've completed the repeat.

Written instructions, including tally marks and struck-out lines in wet-erase marker.

Graphic chart with completed lines struck through in wet-erase marker.

If you're knitting in a place where you won't have easy access to wet paper towels, you can simply bring extra sheet protectors and move the page to a fresh one, or turn it over in the same sheet protector to hold you over until you can erase the marks.