How to tweak normal patterns for segment knotting

Segment knotting is when instead of knotting row by row you try to knot in diagonals as often as possible. This will safe you time because you only need to switch one string instead of two between knots.

Most people who have done the candystripe #1 or chevron #2 have already segment knotted. Most tutorials on YouTube that teach you how to do a certain pattern also teach you how to segment knot that pattern.

Most normal patterns can be segment knotted. Normal patterns that can't be segment knotted as easily are patterns that mainly consist of fb and bf knots (they're sometimes referred to as 1212 patterns). Alpha patterns can never be segment knotted.

- a printed out pattern or a screenshot of the pattern you want to tweak
- a pen and graph paper

You can use the printed pattern or the screenshot to draw on. On the graph paper you can make sketches of your pattern.

There is also a tutorial on how to draw patterns using graph paper named "Designing Normal Patterns" by @WWJCD.

In this tutorial I will teach you how to tweak an already existing pattern to make it easier to segment knot. Since the pattern already exists the tweaked version isn't meant to be submitted as a new pattern. It is only meant for your personal use.

If there are major differences between the original pattern and your tweaked version you might be able to submit the pattern but please talk to one of the moderators or @Admin about it. An example where a tweaked pattern was accepted is #35707 which is a segment knottable version of #6390 which is a 1212 pattern and therefore not good for segment knotting.

You can also use the technique described in this to tweak your own normal patterns before submitting them. This will give them better chances of being accepted and make it easier for people to knot them.

When trying to make a pattern easier to segment knot it's important to minimise the amount of fb and bf knots.

I'm using pattern #6368 to show how you can do it.

Disclaimer: I do not mean to criticise the pattern or its creator. It is an amazing pattern!

As you can see there are many fb and bf knots between strings of the same colour. These can be replaced by f and b knots because if you have two strings of the same colour it doesn't matter which knot you do between them.

I recommend to do f knots on the left and b knots in the right because that way you're knotting towards the middle and the bracelet doesn't get pulled wide.

It doesn't really matter which kind of knot you do in the middle of the pattern. Most people prefer f knots over b knots.

Another advantage of using mainly f knots on the left and b knots on the right is that it makes it easier to follow the pattern in a sort of of chevron shape. It's basically like knotting a chevron with only some knots changed.

Not all patterns work well with that chevron shape. Sometimes it makes sense to use just f or just b knots between strings of the same colour so that it's more like a candystripe. Other shapes might also make sense depending on the pattern.

Sometimes the amount of fb and bf knots can be made even smaller. If you look at the pattern you can see that the green strings move in a zig-zag shape.

In this pattern you can't fully avoid the string to move in a zig-zag but you can make parts of the zig-zag bigger so that the string switches directions less often. That way you can reduce the amount of fb and bf knots even more. It's not much but now the pattern has one less fb and one less bf knot.

Another advantage of this change is that the green and the red string now move parallel. The movement of the green string is also more regular now. This makes it easier to memorise the pattern. This way you don't have to look at the pattern all the time which will save you time too.