Are you ready to step into the designer role and draw your own custom Doodle Charts? Our DIY Blank Doodle Mini Charts include empty charts of varying heights, ready for you to add your own creative flair! 

And because they're part of the Doodle Framework, these FREE charts are designed to mix-and-match with all your existing Doodle patterns and charts!

Download the FREE DIY Blank Doodle Mini Chart PDF now!

How to use DIY Blank Doodle Mini Charts

Although we have dozens of unique themes, we might not yet have exactly the chart you want - so here's where you can design your own! Follow these simple steps and get creative!

STEP 1 Download or print our DIY Blank Doodle Mini Charts

Now you have a ready-to-go template for designing custom colorwork charts. No need to be tech-savvy or learn how to use a new app. No need to carefully draw out grid lines. Our Blank Mini Charts are already formatted for you - all you have to do is color them in!

Grab some markers, colored pencils, or whatever else you'd like to use and start designing.

 

STEP 2 Choose your chart size

All of Pacific Knit Co.'s Doodle Charts are 24 stitches wide, but many can be broken down into even smaller repeats. The same flexibility applies when designing your own! You can create a full-size chart, or something small and simple enough to fit into just 4 stitches - the choice is up to you!

Curious about standard chart repeats for Doodles? Check out our post about Doodle Repeats

You can also get creative with the height of your charts! The Blank Doodle Charts come set up for 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 rows - but you can make them as tall or as short as you want!

Want to try some Doodle Math? Check out our post about using your swatch to figure out your Row Gauge and Chart Height.

STEP 3 Draw your custom chart

This is the part where you really get to have fun! Get out some colored pencils or markers and start drawing out your ideas.

You can re-print the page as many times as you need, so don't be afraid of a little trial and error - that is all part of the design process (trust us, we know). Try various versions of the same idea until you find the one that you like!

Here are some general guidelines to follow when designing your own charts:

Start and end with a solid round of main color. This helps provide a border or gap between this chart and adjacent charts. If your illustration goes all the way to the edges, your chart may end up running into the chart above or below it.

Consider float length between stitches. Ideally floats are between 3-5 stitches, which means that there isn’t much need to catch them. Anything longer than that will need to be caught or trapped when working the chart. 

Consider the number of colors used per round. For beginner-friendly charts, you’ll want to stick with just 2-colors per round. Adding a third color can become more difficult to work without practice, however, it also allows for much more dynamic motifs. 

Duplicate Stitch your Third Color! If you have a single stitch of an accent color within a round (like a snowman’s nose), consider using a Duplicate Stitch. To do this, simply knit the round as if that stitch was the background color. Once you complete the chart, you can come back with the accent color on a tapestry needle, and thread it through for just that stitch. 

Check horizontal repeat. Doodles are worked in the round, repeating charts horizontally. This means that each chart will begin with where the chart left off. Ensure that your chart matches up from stitch 24 to stitch 1, so that repeats align. If doing this check by hand, you’ll want to look at each row and see where it starts and where it ends.

Want to quickly check your design repeat? You can work up your designs in various tools that have automatic repeat generators so you can quickly check to ensure that everything is lining up nicely!

Other than the basic guidelines above, you can really do whatever you’d like to design your own charts! Find inspiration in nature, your favorite animals or holiday, or even let you kids pick the motif to design into your project! Personally, I love to ask my kiddo for motif ideas and then translate those sketches into my charts. 

Want to see how your new charts look within your total design? Try assembling them on the Master Doodle Chart to create a full chart up to 60 rows tall!

STEP 4 Start knitting!

You can start simple by just swapping out a single chart in a Full Pattern you already have, or get creative and add a whole suite of your custom charts to any of our Base Doodle Patterns!

Every one of our Base Patterns is designed to mix-and-match with every Doodle Chart - so any chart that YOU design with our template will work as well!

Want to make sure your custom chart works? If you aren't quite sure your custom chart will work once it's knit up, try swatching it first. We have a whole post about Swatching Colorwork in the Round.

Time to design your own!

Download our DIY Blank Doodle Mini Charts now, and have fun combining your new design with ANY of our other Doodle Collections!

 

Happy Doodling!

 

Blog co-written by Jamie Lomax and Grey Lundy