Crochet charts

Draw crochet charts with the symbols a pattern uses: chains, single and double crochet, shells, puffs, popcorns and more. Draw by hand with a finger or an Apple Pencil, or build whole rows and rounds from written steps. A finished chart exports with a legend under it.

Crochet charts is a Beta. Using a crochet chart inside a pattern or a project comes later.

Opening it

Tap More, then Crochet charts in the Tools section.

The screen lists every crochet chart you have made, each with a small picture and its number of stitches. Tap a chart to open it.

Starting a chart

Tap New crochet chart.
Pick the drawing guides: Circle, Square, Oval, Spiral, or None for a blank page.
Change the numbers if you want to, such as Rounds and Divisions.
Tap Start drawing.

Type a name in the box at the top of the editor. Purl saves the chart on its own while you work.

Drawing stitches

The stitch buttons run along the bottom. Tap one to pick the stitch you draw with. A new chart has the common stitches, from chain up to double treble, plus the magic ring, decreases, a cluster, a puff, a popcorn, a bobble and post stitches.

Then pick a tool in the tool row:

Stitch: tap to place one stitch.
Line: drag from start to end for a straight row of the stitch.
Curve: draw freely. Close the loop to make a round.
Fan: press where the fan starts, then sweep round. You get a shell, or a whole round from one point.
Eraser: drag over stitches and labels to rub them out.

Line, Curve and Fan fill your stroke with evenly spaced stitches. On a curve the stitches stand outward; on a straight line they stand up.

Right after you draw a row, a Distribute evenly pill shows over the chart. Tap minus or plus to take one stitch out or put one in, and the row spaces itself out again. Its Flip button turns the row upside down.

Snap

The Snap pill sits at the top left of the chart. It starts on.

With Snap on, a new stitch stands on the top of the stitch below, the way you would work it. While you draw, dots show the tops your stitches will stand on. A row snaps whole or not at all. Chain spaces count as places to work into.

A snapped stitch stays attached. Move, turn or resize the row below, and the stitches on it follow.

Tap the pill to turn Snap off. With Snap off, each stitch goes exactly where you draw it.

Moving around the chart

Pinch with two fingers to zoom.
Pick Move (the hand) and drag with one finger to move the chart.
Touch a second finger down to cancel a stroke you are part way through.
Use the buttons at the top right to zoom in, zoom out, or show the whole chart.

If you draw with an Apple Pencil, Purl notices. The Pencil draws, a finger moves the chart, and a resting hand is ignored. A pill says Pencil draws, your finger moves the chart. Tap it to let your finger draw again.

Rows and rounds

Rows and rounds is the first button in the stitch row. It builds a regular chart the way a pattern is written, then puts the stitches on your chart for you to change by hand.

Pick the shape: Rows, Rounds, Square or Oval.
For Rows and Oval, set the Foundation chain. An oval is worked round both sides of it. Rounds and Square start from a magic ring.
Build the first row or round by tapping stitches, Chains and Skip.
Tap New row or New round for the next one.
Tap Put on the chart.

To build faster:

Stitches per tap puts several stitches into one place with one tap. Pick 3, tap a double crochet, and you get "3 dc".
Into the same place sends the next stitches where the last one went.
Repeat: tap [ Start here, add the steps, then close the repeat with a count or with "in each". With no mark, the repeat takes the row so far.
Tap a step under Steps to remove it.

Each row shows its written text as you build it, for example "[3 dc, ch 2] 4 times". If a row works more or fewer stitches than the row below has, it says so: "works 14 of 12". If a step has nothing to work into, a line under the row says why and what to try.

A Square stays round until a round has four corners. Make them with chains between four equal groups, as a granny square does. Or work 3 or more stitches into one stitch at four even places.

Drawing guides

Guides are faint dotted rings and spokes under the stitches, like the lines printed on paper for round charts. They help keep rounds even, and they never show in an export.

Tap Guides at the top of the editor (the round target button) to change them:

Circle, Square, Oval, Spiral or None.
Rounds and Divisions: how many rings and spokes. A spiral counts Turns.
Rounds of: the stitch the rounds are made of, which sets the gap between rings. Each round lets one round use another stitch.
Snap to guides: with Snap on, a stroke that does not stand on stitches is laid along the ring or spoke it is drawn on.
Centre on the stitches moves the guides to the middle of what you have drawn.

Selecting and changing stitches

There are two ways to select:

Pick Select in the tool row, then tap stitches. Tap a stitch again to take it out. With nothing selected, a Select all pill shows over the chart.
Hold a finger still on a stitch for half a second, then lift it. This works with Stitch, Line, Curve, Fan and Move. Tap the tick to finish, and you are back in the tool you had.

The Pencil never selects this way, so it can rest on a stitch before you draw.

A selection gets a box around it. Drag inside the box to move it. The round handle turns it, and the square handle resizes it. Resizing spreads the stitches out or draws them in; the symbols keep their size.

The selection row has these buttons:

Whole row: when on, a tap selects the whole row or round.
Change to: makes every selected stitch the stitch you have picked.
Flip: turns the selection upside down.
Delete and Select all.
Round, beside More: marks the selection as a round. See Rounds below.
More: Mirror left to right, Mirror top to bottom and Repeat around.

Repeat around copies the selection round a centre point, like slices of a cake. Set how many with minus and plus, tap the chart to move the centre, then tap Apply.

Rounds

A chart knows which stitches make each round or row, so you can follow it round by round when you crochet. A chart made with Rows and rounds has its rounds already, with their written text.

To mark rounds on a chart you drew:

Select the stitches of one round. Whole row on selects a whole stroke with one tap.
Tap Round in the selection row, then New round (or New row). For the magic ring or the first chain, pick Start.
Do the same for the next round. To add stitches to a round you already have, pick it under Add to. Stitches already in another round move, and a message says from where.

Tap Rounds at the top of the editor (the list button; the number on it is how many) to see them all in order, each with its number, its text and its stitch count, for example "47 sts, ch 3":

The arrows move a round up or down. Numbers follow the order.
Tap a round to give it your own Number (such as "3a") or Text, which shows in place of the written text. Select its stitches shows them on the chart. Remove takes the round off the list; the stitches stay.
On a chart with no rounds, Rounds from strokes makes one round of each stroke, in the order you drew them.

Every change is one step that Undo takes back.

Labels

Tap Label in the tool row. A pill over the chart offers three kinds:

Text: tap the chart to write a label. Tap a label to change it.
Number: tap to place the next number. Hold your finger on the chart to start again at 1.
Start: tap where a round begins to mark it.

A label takes the colour you have picked.

Colours

The colour row runs along the very bottom.

Tap a colour, and the stitches you draw next are in it.
With stitches selected, tap a colour to paint them. To colour a whole row, turn on Whole row, tap a stitch in it, then tap the colour.
Tap + at the right to add a colour of your own, then Use this colour. The picker offers the same saved colours as Colour charts.
Hold one of your own colours to take it off the row. Stitches already in that colour keep it.

Your own stitches

Tap Make a stitch in the stitch row, then choose:

Height: the stitch it is built on, such as dc.
Kind: Plain, Cluster, Puff, Popcorn, Bobble, Front post, Back post or Together (decrease).
How many: for a cluster, puff, popcorn, bobble or decrease.

Tap Add to palette. The stitch gets its own button, ready to draw with, and every chart you start later has it too.

Hold any stitch button for a small menu:

Edit: change the stitch. If the chart already has some, Purl asks whether to change those too.
Remove from this chart: stitches already drawn stay, and so does their line in the legend.
Arrange buttons: drag the buttons into a new order.

With Purl in English, the Terms button at the end of the stitch row switches the stitch names between US and UK.

Undo

Undo and Redo are the arrows at the top of the editor. Every change is one step: a whole row, a whole Flip, a whole repeat.

Undo keeps up to 200 steps while Purl is open. When you leave a chart, its last 50 steps are kept, even if the device closes Purl.

Folders, sharing and deleting

On the list, hold a chart to select it, then tap any others you want. A bar at the bottom offers Folder, Share and Delete.

Folder: pick a folder, or type a new folder name and tap Create. Folders then show above the list, each with Add, Rename and Delete folder. Deleting a folder keeps its charts.
Share: sends one chart as a Purl file. Another Purl user opens it and gets a chart to edit, not just a picture. On an iPad or iPhone the file shows as a "Purl pattern".
Delete: asks first, then moves the chart to Recently deleted in More, Backups & history, where it stays for 30 days. Restore there brings it back with its undo history. To delete one chart, you can also swipe it to the left or tap the bin on its row.

To bring in a chart file, tap Import on the list and pick the file, or open the file in Purl from mail or Files. It is always added as a new chart.

Exporting

Tap Export at the top right of the editor. Export chart shows a preview of the page and three formats:

Picture (PNG): print quality, 300 DPI on an A4 page.
Vector (SVG): sharp at any size, for design programs.
PDF: one A4 page, ready to print.

Every page has the chart's name as its title and the legend under it. Legend names changes how a stitch is named in the legend, in every export. With Purl in English, Stitch names picks US or UK.

Then tap Share. On Android you can also Save to device.

Tracking

Purl follows a crochet chart round by round as you work. Tracking needs a pattern or a project to keep your place in, so it opens from there:

From a pattern: open a pattern that holds a crochet chart and tap the charts button at the top. On the pattern's page in Patterns you can also tap the chart's picture under Crochet charts.
From a project: make the crochet chart the project's pattern (Choose a pattern, then the chart), and tap Open & track.

The rounds you have worked are drawn solid, the rounds still to come are faded, and the round you are on is highlighted. Under the chart you see its number ("Round 4 of 22"), its stitch count ("47 stitches, ch 3") and what to work. Tap Next when a round is done, Previous to go back. Tap the round's number to see every round and jump to one, or hold a stitch on the chart to go to its round. Pinch and drag to move around; double tap to see the whole chart.

Your place is kept for each project, and the project's card shows it. Just opening the tracker changes nothing. A chart with no rounds yet opens too, and says how to add them. If the chart was edited since, Purl stays on your round, or tells you where you are now if that round is gone.

A chart a project uses as its pattern cannot be deleted. Purl names the project, so you can take the chart out of it first.