A couple years ago, I did a tutorial for creating schematics in Illustrator, which is my preferred method. But I realize Adobe products are expensive and not necessarily easy to learn, while almost everyone has Microsoft Office, or a less expensive or free alternative. This tutorial will walk you through creating simple schematics in Microsoft Word. You may also download the file I created so you can play around with it and use it as a jumping off point for your own schematics. Links at the end of this post.
This tutorial is a two part video tutorial. I strongly recommend you enlarge these to full screen and watch them in high definition, if your computer will allow it.
There are usually a dozen different ways to get the same or better results so play around with the program and feel free to experiment. If you have any tips, tricks, suggestions or questions, leave them in the comments below, I love to hear what you think.
Download a copy of the sample file for MS Office 2008 here
Download a copy of the sample file for older versions of Office here
Check out all my design related tutorials here.
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Comments (10)
Thank you so much for this fab tutorial! I drew up a very decent schematic on my first attempt just a few minutes ago. You made what is incredibly difficult for me into a fairy easy and painless process :) I had been floundering in Inkscape, but this is great and useful info for new designers like me...thanks again for sharing!
Posted by Tori | July 28, 2010 4:46 PM
Posted on July 28, 2010 16:46
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Posted by Bunny Salafia | July 28, 2010 1:31 PM
Posted on July 28, 2010 13:31
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge (again), Marnie. I spent the better part of the weekend hacking around in a vector-drawing program, trying to make a schematic. I should have watched your videos first!
Posted by Becca | July 27, 2010 8:58 AM
Posted on July 27, 2010 08:58
This is great - thank you so much for doing these tutorials.
Posted by AmyP | July 24, 2010 4:30 AM
Posted on July 24, 2010 04:30
You are made of awesome. Thank you.
Posted by Amy | July 23, 2010 8:42 AM
Posted on July 23, 2010 08:42
Can't wait to get back home to the computer next week to try this. Thank you so much for putting this together. You ARE a knitting superhero.
Posted by Tanya | July 23, 2010 5:37 AM
Posted on July 23, 2010 05:37
Wow ... you are one of the unsung heroes of the knitting-design world! Thanks so much for helping those of us less techy ...
Happy knittin'
Posted by Mary G | July 23, 2010 4:26 AM
Posted on July 23, 2010 04:26
Great tutorial !!! I noticed a little blinky thing on the top of your screen in the first video. What software are you using to record your tutorial?
Posted by Shweta Shankar Khatri | July 22, 2010 10:43 PM
Posted on July 22, 2010 22:43
Thanks, Marnie! This is definitely going to be useful, as I don't have Adobe (yet) and generally wind up with hand-drawn schematics! This will be way better...
Posted by The Sexy Knitter | July 22, 2010 9:51 PM
Posted on July 22, 2010 21:51
you're the best, you know that? seriously. you rock! thank you so much!
Posted by Mary-Heather | July 22, 2010 9:00 PM
Posted on July 22, 2010 21:00