Explicit and implicit repeats

Explicit Repeats

Explicit repeats are those that are explicitly added by the user using the Place Stitches in Selection into a Repeat command. Although they are usually not visible in the charts, explicit repeats can be selected and their properties edited.

Currently users can add two different types of repeats; 'Asterisks' and 'Round Brackets'.

Asterisks have the following format;-

*k, p ; repeat from *

whilst Round Brackets have this format ;-

(k, p)

Repeats have an optional qualifier that is used to define the number of times that a repeat will be worked. There are two formats available;-

1. *k, p ; repeat from * 3 times

2. *k, p ; repeat from * x 3

Explicit repeats are not expanded when parsing from the written format to the chart. Hence in the above examples, the repeats are represented by two stitch cells on the chart regardless of however many times the repeat is worked.

Implicit Repeats

Implicit repeats are repeats that are automatically discovered by Stitchmastery and used to compact written instructions.

These repeats are of the 'Square Brackets' type and have the following format;-

[k, p] x 3

Square Bracket repeats are added to the written instructions by Stitchmastery when it discovers a repeat in the stitches in a row. For example in the following chart

the user has not added an explicit repeat to the chart but the alternate knit and purl stitches give an implicit repeat. Instead of generating written instructions of the form;-

Round 2: k, p, k, p, k, p.

Stitchmastery automatically adds an implicit repeat so that the instructions have the form;-

Round 2: [k, p] x 3.

Implicit repeats are always expanded when parsing from the written format to the chart. In the above example, the implicit repeat of two stitches is repeated 3 times, hence this repeat is represented by six stitch cells on the chart regardless of however many times the repeat is worked. Implicit repeats can neither be selected nor their properties edited. The Square Bracket type is used to distinguish the implicit repeats from the explicit repeats when parsing in the Input Written Instructions View.

When exporting the written instructions the Square Brackets repeats are converted to the format for Round Brackets.