How knitting charts from my aunt cleaned up my messy schematics

I was stuck on electrical schematics with lines everywhere. My aunt showed me her knitting chart for a sweater pattern. It used simple symbols for each stitch type. I thought, why not try that for my components? Now I use a legend with icons instead of crowded labels. My drafts are neater and faster to understand. My coworkers asked how I improved so fast. I just pointed to my aunt's craft basket.

3 comments

3 Comments

uma_martinez1mo ago

Sometimes a practical fix is just that. Overanalyzing it can miss the point that the solution simply worked well for the task. I'd leave the brain science out of it.

willow1741mo ago

Seriously @dakotajones, do we need to overanalyze a simple drafting tip from knitting?

dakotajones1mo ago

That's actually a deep point about how our brains read pictures faster than words. Your aunt's stitch symbols work because they turn labels into a visual language, which cuts down on brain work. It's why road signs use shapes instead of sentences. You basically built a sign system for your schematics. Makes me wonder what other fields could steal from craft patterns. Maybe cooking recipes with icons instead of paragraphs.