Technical editors do not knit (or crochet) the pattern - that's what pattern testers do.

If you have ever tried to knit a pattern and struggled as it's unclear, confusing or just plain doesn't work, it's highly likely it has not been through a technical editor’s hands!

Technical editing explained...

Designers design. Editors edit. They complement each other to produce user-friendly, error-free, reproducible patterns.

Designers have the ideas. They turn that vision into a written pattern to allow others to reproduce their idea. That sounds incredibly simple, but it’s a LOT of work.

Technical editors have undertaken specialist training. They work with a designer to ensure the pattern is error free, without which a pattern might be difficult, frustrating, or even impossible to reproduce. In a similar way proofreaders and copyeditors work with authors to make sure a reader’s experience is the best it can be, technical editors work line by line, word by word, number by number, symbol by symbol to ensure:

• yarn, needles, gauge and notions are present and correct

• the product photo(s) is clear and appropriate

• ALL the numbers add up (stitch counts, decreases, increases, and that the numbers work across all sizes)

• symbols used are correct

• the wording makes sense

• there are no spelling errors

• abbreviations are correct, consistent and used correctly

• charts of colour work or intricate stitch patterns match the finished product and the written instructions

• the language used is appropriate for the desired market (aran, worsted and 10 ply anyone?)

All this (and more) is completed with spreadsheets, calculators, formulae, and some fingers and toes!