I needed to digitally graph some knit patterns and I was sick of doing it by hand. So I found some great knitting fonts.
I originally started looking for knitting software. But the learning curve just seemed too steep. Especially when I wanted to start knitting asap. Then I came across the fact that there are free knitting fonts. And they seemed a much better alternative. With the added bonus that I did not have to install additional software on my system.
An Example of Knitting Fonts correspondence to Keyboard
2 Main Free Knitting Fonts
I came across 2 popular knitting fonts in my research:
- Knitting Font ver 2 by Aire River Design [Unfortunately, this site seems to have gone down. I am leaving the link in case it becomes available again.]
- Knitter’s Symbols by David Xenakis
I was originally going to go with Knitter’s Symbols but in the end, decided against it. Here are some comparison points to help you choose your knitting fonts.
Knitting Font
(by Aire River Design)
- totally free even if you use fonts to commercialize your knitting patterns (but not for distributing the fonts themselves. Read license details at site for more information.)
- fonts compatible for PC and Mac
- can download self-extracting files
- more practical and useful as it has more knitting fonts / symbols
Knitters’ Symbol
(by David Xenakis)
- seems easier
- clear charts
- less documents to read
- BUT downloads as .sit (StuffIt) file; might need The Unarchiver to open it
- need you to install the fonts yourself
- limited knitting symbols
- (I had to download twice. I first downloaded TypeOne font for Mac but that didn’t work. Then I tried TrueType font for Mac. That worked.)
What I really like about David Xenakis’s Knitters’ Symbols is that each symbol is “boxed” so that you can use the fonts in a word processor or spreadsheet. Because of the “boxing”, you don’t need to rely on or create grids to place your knitting font symbols.
How to Install Knitting Font by Aire River Design
[Knitting Font ver 2 by Aire River Design] seems to have gone down or has “forbidden access”. Link is left here in case they become accessible again.
I will just shortly note here some installation details and stuff.
When you go to the site Knitting Font ver 2, you will need to click agree before it takes you to the download page.
On the download page, there are a number of download links – for Mac and Windows. Choose the appropriate one.
The downloaded .zip files contains a number of other files (which is listed on the site’s download page). Don’t be discouraged! You only need one or 2, depending on your system.
When I extracted the .zip file, I think that it also automatically installed the requisite font (knitpurlcbl.ttf) for me. It put it automatically into my user Library (not the system Library – which I think is safer even though for me it does not matter as I am the sole user of my laptop.)
How to use the Knitting Fonts
From the extracted files, you can print out a few useful reference charts. I chose 2 image charts (showing what keyboard keys for what knitting symbols) and the symbol reference document.
Once you have your printed reference, you can easily start using your knitting fonts.
They are exactly like any other fonts in that, in your working document, you choose which font to use and then, refering to your printed reference, you just type away.
Note however that since Aire River Design Knitting Font ver 2 does not have box outline for each symbol, it is best to use a spreadsheet (rather than a word processor), change the cell size to be like grids, and print out your knitting patterns with the grids showing as well.
You will, at some stage, be able to see some of my knitting pattern outputs (fingers crossed that it will all work out) at my arty-crafty site: ClearlyHelena.com
if you right click the link and choose to copy link location then go to https://archive.org/web/ (the wayback machine) and you can find it using the 2008 (i think.. it’s the oldest year).
🙂
Thanks tink for the tip on using the wayback timemachine. Good one!
It works! I just downloaded the Aire River Font for my daughter.
Thank you tink!
Excellent rescuedbeauty! Yes, thank you tink!
When I click on link for Aire River Knitting Font, I get an error message: “You don’t have permission to access /~ardesign/knitfont.htm on this server.” Am I missing something?
Hi Suzann, thanks for pointing that out. Yes, it seems they might have revoked access to the site. I have updated the page to reflect that but left the link just in case they become available again. You might want to give David Xenakis’ Knitting Symbols a go instead.