Opening Screen

How SymblCro Works The first time SymblCro opens, it has two empty vertical panes.  When the user opens a pattern, SymblCro puts the graph into the left pane and user entered text in the right. The user can add rows and stitches to the graph pane with mouse clicks and menu commands.  On the right, the user can edit verbal instructions for the pattern. Stitches may be added singly or in multiples evenly along the row.  SymblCro can delete the last stitch or row, or any selected stitch, or selected portions of the graph. "Mistakes" can be undone. SymblCro recognizes basic stitches: crab and those from slip to quintuple-treble, in American terminology.  SymblCro maintains a catalog of user created custom stitches formed by "decorating" basic stitches, such as front post double or back loop crab, or combination into cluster, popcorn, etc. The user can also create specialized picots, bullions, and Clones knots, and knot stitches. The user can select portions of the graphed pattern and delete and/or copy these selections.  Copied selections can be edited independently and merged back into the graph one or more times. SymblCro has a motif editor to create a mini pattern and insert it one or more times into any graphed patterns. SymblCro can print the chart and the verbal instructions with additonal descriptive text. SymblCro aids in drafting completely general patterns with a round design. This means it can't predict where the next stitch will go, so it does little for you automatically. (This also means you can leave out the chains until the "shaping" stitches are in place.) You can play with SymblCro as soon as you open it, but you might miss several of its features and give up in despair if you do not review the Help file.  You can print out the Help file for more ease in reading it.  At least read through the Help\Overview so you have a flavor of SymblCro. If you find the help file unhelpful, please let us know.  You might find some of your questions answered on the FAQ page.

The Demonstration Version The Free Demo version of SymblCro available on this site is a functioning edition.  It has been tested only as far as we can test it.  As experienced software developers, we know that a product can only be thoroughly tested by people who were not involved in its development.  That's you.  We believe that the worst that will happen is that you will lose a few hours of your time because SymblCro crashed before you saved your work. Rule of thumb: Save your work frequently. The Demo version of SymblCro has no monetary costs and can be easily removed from your computer, should you choose.  We used it ourselves to graph several antique patterns, and became more proficient with continued practice. SymblCro was developed and tested with Windows2000 and WindowsXP.  The Demo version has been tested in a Windows98 system and works there, also.  So it should run in WindowsME.  It most likely will not run on Windows95.  No further versions of SymblCro will be tested with Windows98 and ME. Windows Vista is a whole new can of worms.  I can't test SymblCro on Vista, since I don't have it installed.  In some cases the Vista security setup prevents installation of new (or old) software.  This varies from user to user, and unfortunatetly, the security defaults are the most restrictive.  So if you have Vista and have trouble installing your favorite games or charting software, you may have to tweak your Vista setup.  Since every user has her own needs and preferences, I can't provide specific fixes.  Then there is Win7.

Features Missing from the Demo The Free Demo version of SymblCro lacks certain features of the Retail version.  It cannot save a drawing to a file that can be inserted into a document, but you can print the diagram and the text.  It lacks the ability to display a background for the graph.  It does not allow selection of colors for different stitches.

The Retail Version The Retail version has the Missing Features listed above.  In addition, it allows you to change some cosmetic features of the interface. You can flip the diagrams in the motif pane before pasting them into the pattern diagram.  You can enter HowToMake text for Custom Stitches. You can save the graphs as bmp files. You can put up a background picture as a template for a pattern graph. All this for a mere $50.00.  We accept only PayPal. Delivery is immediate via download.  Please register so we can send you notifications of updates and new versions.

Contacting us We want to hear from you about your experiences with it: problems, frustrations, missing features, tips.  If you download and install the Demo, please fill out the Feedback form.  This site has a  Forum Page  so users can exchange opinions and ideas and a FAQ page where we have answered Frequently Asked Questions.  In addition, Yahoo has a SymblCro users' group  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/symbolcrochet/group  for your participation.