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  • 2009
    • November
      • Hey! What's news?
        11/02/09
        I haven't posted since April, so you may be wondering what happened to me (and consequently the project). Well, after the last release, I decided to take a much-needed break and wait for some new people to take interest. That came in the form of i0lanthe last month.

        I know that there

    • April
      • Using KnitML, Part Two: Customizing the Result
        04/26/09
        Previously in this series, I showed you how I converted Jenna Wilson's Banff sweater to a KnitML pattern. In this post, I'm going to show you how you can customize the pattern to your preferences.

        For those of you reading this post who are not involved with the KnitML Project, I

      • Pattern Editor 0.2.0 and Core Tools 0.5.0 released
        04/25/09
        I am very pleased to announce the arrival of both the KnitML Pattern Editor 0.2.0 and KnitML Core Tools 0.5.0. This is the first truly usable version of the Pattern Editor.

        Features of this release include:Get yourself a copy here, and feel free to bring any of the samples into the editor

      • Very, very close to 0.5.0
        04/21/09
        At this point, both KnitML Core Tools and, more importantly, the KnitML Pattern Editor (formerly GPEC) are in Release Candidate 1 status. Visit the milestones links on the sidebar to download. (Sorry, the Pattern Editor at this time is only available on Windows. I don't expect it will be in RC1

      • Looking Forward: A Request for Help
        04/10/09
        With KnitML Core Tools 0.5.0 coming out in the next few weeks along with the new Editor 0.2.0, it's a good time to stop and reflect about the project and where we want to go next.

        I've learned quite a bit about myself over the years I've worked on KnitML. (Yikes, has it rea

      • KnitML Core Tools 0.5.0 RC1 available
        04/09/09
        All issues slated for the 0.5.0 release have been resolved. This includes adding stitch holders, charting support in three fonts (text art, Knitters Symbols, and Knitting Font 2.00), HTML patterns, and much more. The XML schemas have been finalized for the 0.5.x series and have been uploaded to the

      • Last Call for Bug Submissions for the 0.5.0 Release
        04/01/09
        If you want your opinions put into an actionable plan, submit an issue today. This is the last call before the list is frozen for the 0.5.0 relesae (and 0.2.0 of the GPEC release, which will include 0.5.0).

    • March
      • XText and KnitML
        03/25/09
        So I'm here at EclipseCon 2009. Someone tipped me off about XText a few months back, so I thought I would go to the talk.

        It sounds like it has a lot to bring to the table for the Knitting Expression Language. It has a way to express the KEL grammar in a formal way, which means that

      • Using KnitML, Part One: Creating the Pattern
        03/24/09
        With the upcoming release of KnitML Core Tools 0.5.0 (and the editor that goes with it), I wanted to show you how I approached converting an existing pattern, the Banff sweater designed by Jenna Wilson, to a KnitML pattern.

        First, I created a project named Banff.



      • Why an Expression Language is Important to Get Right
        03/18/09
        I heard Martin Fowler give a talk a few weeks back about domain-specific languages (DSLs) and their role in software development of the future. He validated a lot of the assumptions I have been making along the way with the Knitting Expression Language (a DSL for knitting patterns), so it certainly

      • KnitML 0.5.0M3 available
        03/14/09
        This is a milestone release only, which means there is a little ways to go before everything is ready for 0.5.0 final. However, I'm pretty confident that the "big" things for this release are in place. Please select the Milestone Releases link from the side menu to download the latest

      • Charts are Coming in 0.5!
        03/05/09
        Probably the most exciting feature of the 0.5 release is the ability to produce charts from KnitML patterns. Here is a picture of the Nutkin2 pattern in chart form:



        What you see here is the pattern produced in HTML format using a locally-installed knitting font (specifically t

      • Fixed version for Mac OS X 10.5
        03/04/09
        If you are running OS X 10.5 and were having trouble getting GPEC to work, try GPEC 0.1.1a. The short answer is that 10.5 runs Java 6, but Mac's Java JVM only runs 64-bit programs, and some underlying code in Eclipse still needs to run some 32- bit software. Since Mac comes with Java 5 as well,

      • GPEC 0.1.1 Released
        03/03/09
        A new version of the Graphical Pattern Editor / Composer has been released. Susan has been working hard to make it more usable and give it some pretty graphics. Thanks, Susan!

        Try it out and let me know what you think.

    • February
      • New Wiki Pages: Anatomy and Design Principles
        02/27/09
        Right now they are just outlines, but topics will include descriptions major components in a KnitML pattern, as well as some guidelines for developing KnitML patterns. My hope is that this will help people understand a bit more about how to go about writing a pattern in KnitML. (Samples help, but th

      • More New Stuff
        02/20/09
        I've updated some admin stuff.

        First, the source code is now being housed over at Google Code. I was frankly getting really sick of massive timeout problems with SourceForge's repository. It was so bad that I could only commit 4 or 5 files at once without the entire transaction

      • Updated About page
        02/19/09
        The About page was getting pretty old (not to mention confusing to the non-software-oriented person). So I updated it. Please let me know if the new page is more (or less) helpful.

        I always appreciate comments. Don't be shy. :)

    • January
  • 2008
    • December
      • New Graphical Editor available
        12/21/08
        The all-new KnitML Graphical Editor and Composer (GPEC) is available. Edit KEL files in a graphical environment, then convert them to XML, validate the XML, and render into a pattern... all by simply clicking on tabs in the lower portion of the editor.

        It's available for Windows, Mac

      • KnitML 0.4.2 released
        12/14/08
        This is a minor enhancement release aimed to get some Knitting EL usability enhancements out the door. There are two notable changes.

        The first is that all function names can now optionally begin with a capital letter. That means that this:

        pattern {
        generalInformation {

      • A Simple Demo
        12/11/08
        Check out the 'A Simple Demo' link on the sidebar for some software 'screenshots.'

        Quick disclaimer: there are a couple of subtle extensions to the Expression Language format. They will be available in 0.4.2. They are the colon handling for row functions, and the optio

      • Gauge Transformer 0.1 Released
        12/06/08
        In order to demonstrate the usefulness of writing a markup language for knitting patterns, I have written Gauge Transformer 0.1, the first application in the KnitML Transform sub-project. It takes a pattern's original gauge and transforms it to the gauge you specify, providing simple, row-by-ro

      • KnitML 0.4.1 Released
        12/04/08
        KnitML 0.4.1 has been released. This is primarily a bug fix version (Bug 31), but also has full Spanish translations for the pattern renderer as well as annotation support for rows.

        The annotation support will be very important for the KnitML Gauge Transformer subproject, which will trans

    • November
      • KnitML 0.4 released
        11/27/08
        It is my great pleasure to inform you that KnitML 0.4 has been released. Perhaps most significant in this release is the completion of critical chapters to the User's Guide. The guide now provides a full reference to Knitting EL functions and their XML equivalents. Between the function referenc

    • October
      • Redesign complete
        10/02/08
        The code now uses JiBX to bind from XML to a native Java object model. dom4j is no longer used in the project. The repeat elements have been simplified and AspectJ / Spring contexts are no longer required for correct operation. So those issues are now put to rest.

        The instruction and row

    • August
      • Redesign
        08/28/08
        Wow, so having a little distance from the project has really given me some perspective about the code that I have developed thus far.
        Any code junkies out there want to help me fix these?

    • July
      • Well, It's Been Fun
        07/20/08
        It's been nearly a year since KnitML first got off the ground. It has taught me a lot about open source, given me the chance to stay on top of some of the latest technologies, and taught me a lot about software architecture. Perhaps the best part about the project is that it's been my chan

    • June
      • KnitML 0.3 Released
        06/06/08
        I am very happy to announce that KnitML 0.3 has been released. This release includes a much-needed user's guide and solidifies support for the KnitML Expression Language (a.k.a. GroovyKnit). GroovyKnit should make writing KnitML files a breeze.

        Give it a try and let me know what you

    • May
      • Upcoming KnitML 0.3 release
        05/28/08
        After a bit of a hiatus to concentrate on a software release for work (and a nice vacation to the Pacific Northwest), I am now gearing up to release KnitML 0.3, hopefully within a week. Not only will it include a series of bug fixes and enhancements, but I hope to have a fully annotated schema as w

    • March
      • KnitML 0.2 released
        03/23/08
        KnitML 0.2 has been released! New features include:Here is an example of how to apply the domain-specific language. Instead of writing this:
        <row type="round">
        <repeat until="end">
        <purl>1</purl>
        <knit>2</knit>
      • Peeling Back the Onion: KnitML Core
        03/01/08
        Now that you have hopefully had the chance to play with KnitML, I thought I'd blog a mini-series about each component to give you a better understanding of how everything works.

        The core project provides building blocks for defining and parsing KnitML documents. This includes:The XML

    • February
      • KnitML 0.1.1 released
        02/25/08
        This is a minor enhancement / bugfix release which provides the following functionality:So now all of you running 32-bit Mac OS can celebrate!

      • KnitML 0.1 Released!
        02/19/08
        Ladies and gentleman, we have a release! I have put it up on SourceForge. Please download it and let me know what you think. Choose your download format (tar.gz or .zip) and unpack it to the directory of your choice. All files in the archive start with the knitml-0.1 directory, so you can unpack it

      • KnitML 0.1 achieved!
        02/15/08
        After several months of planning, designing, coding, and debugging (as well as an almost two month break on the project completely), I can confidently say that both the validator and the pattern renderer for the basic sock pattern works! This means that KnitML 0.1 has been accomplished! Thanks to ev

  • 2007
    • December
      • New Bug Tracker
        12/28/07
        First, I would like to wish everyone and their family very happy holidays! We just received 5 inches of snow here in Chicago, and it's quite delightful to look at.

        You may have noticed the new KnitML Issues Tracker link on the sidebar. Matt, our fearless web admin, has installed Bugz

      • MusicXML: A Case Study
        12/18/07
        In perusing the web recently, I stumbled across MusicXML's successful attempt to standardize an interchange format for many different music softwares. They have several recommendations to make regarding incubating standards for a niche market. Read the full article here, or just the highlights

      • What You Can Do!
        12/13/07
        If you are looking for ways to help (and I know that many of you are), here are some things that you could do:

        The possibilities really are endless. If there is anything else you'd like to do, including helping me refine the pattern renderer or expand the validator, please let me kno

      • Pattern Renderer Uploaded
        12/13/07
        After poring over the KnitML Pattern Renderer code base for awhile, I decided that it is finally time to check the project in to SVN. Run com.knitml.renderer.driver.Driver and see what happens!

        Right now, the driver program renders much of the pattern, with some quirks and omissions (and

      • FishEye for the Knit Guy
        12/05/07
        So the KnitML subversion repository is now being monitored by FishEye. Thanks so much to Atlassian for free software licensing for open source projects, and to Cenqua for free hosting. Check out the URL on the Links navbar to see what's been happening to the code base.

        Right now, it&

    • November
      • Update
        11/28/07
        No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I have been working on KnitML quite a bit, though probably not as much as I would like to.

        The biggest change has been with project structure and refactoring. There is now a KnitML Core project which houses functionality common to multi

      • SourceForge
        11/08/07
        Our KnitML SourceForge project was approved. I've uploaded the most recent copy of my Eclipse workspace to Subversion. If you don't have (and don't want to use) Eclipse, I will be working to get an Ant build script. In the mean time, it should be relatively easy to build. Just compile

      • Website updates
        11/02/07
        I've added an About KnitML link to the sidebar to give an overview of the project and its goals. I also restructured the links a bit to make it a bit clearer as to what they do. Let me know what you think.

        Also, I'm accepting candidate knitting patterns for KnitML transformation

    • October
      • Engine complete!
        10/30/07
        The basic sock pattern passes through the engine with no validation errors! I've updated the code, the pattern, and the schemas on the sidebar, so take a look at the newest. The schema and the pattern haven't changed a whole lot, though there are some minor tweaks to the pattern. It doesn&

      • Ravelry Rocks!
        10/29/07
        I am absolutely amazed that the KnitML group on Ravelry has grown from just me to 51 members in 4 days! It's so nice to meet all of you, and I look forward to discussing and sharing code and ideas with everyone.

        Ravelry users: you've read what's below already.

        Ho

      • An Explanation of the Code
        10/26/07
        Okay, it's clear I need to explain this a bit further. Here is what you will ultimately find when you unzip the Java project.

        .classpath and .project are Eclipse artifacts. You can essentially ignore these, except that you will need to make sure that every JAR in there is on your cla

      • Java snapshot
        10/25/07
        Now that I'm up on Ravelry, there have been a few inquiries after the source code. Being that Subversion isn't ready to go yet, I am furnishing a ZIP file with Java code and library dependencies. It's about 7 megabytes.

        The project requires Java 5. Eclipse 3.3 is also recom

      • Up on Ravelry!
        10/25/07
        I made it to Ravelry! My handle is fiddlinfool. If you're on Ravelry, please join the KnitML group.

      • Sample XML and schema uploaded
        10/23/07
        Check out the KnitML for a basic sock pattern. Once the software can completely validate and render this pattern, KnitML 0.1 will be complete.

        Here is the main and header XML schemas which support the basic sock. These have settled to the point of relative stability, I think, so your feed

      • There is Progress!
        10/19/07
        Ironing out the corner cases on the engine has been a very involved process. It takes a lot of work to make the engine a real-world simulator. If you can't do it in real life, you should not be able to do it with the engine!

        I think I'm definitely close now, though I haven'

      • <repeat> vs. <repeat-instruction>
        10/05/07
        I was asking myself the other day why I included two different ways to indicate a repeat. One is <repeat> and the other is <repeat-instruction>. I realized that it was something instinctive, and today I think I figured out why I did this.

        Let me illustrate with a bit of KnitML

      • Recent Successes
        10/04/07
        Well, I am making progress. Just ask my wife who knows that I stayed up way too late last night working on a programming problem I was having.

        The knitting engine itself is pretty much fully functional and has a robust set of tests which validate its behavior. I'm now starting to bui

    • September
      • Up and Ready to Blog
        09/26/07
        So that I don't have to bore folks on my knitting blog about the progress of KnitML, Matt has graciously allowed me to run a blog off his web server. So Kudos to Matt for getting this off the ground!

        More will be forthcoming as I start formalizing the KnitML Project.