Graphghan stitch programs?

[craftyjean]

I have done several crocheted baby blankets using charted graphghans patterns that I have purchased from different vendors, however I am looking to upload a picture and create a graph.  I see there are several software programs that do this, I am willing to pay for it, but would love recommendations.  I am looking at stitchfiddle and stitch board.  An added bonus is if I can print out written instructions, as I believe stitch board does but not stitch fiddle.  Any others you would recommend??

 

Thanks,

Jean

[Granny Square]

Knitpro is another one, it's free and you can choose knit or crochet graphs (knit graphs aren't square), but it does not write out crochet instructions - I would think that would be some pretty complex programing and cost an arm and a leg. 

I prefer a stitch symbol-graphed pattern for lace items, a color graph for colorwork, but a written pattern for other things. There's no way I'd follow a written-out colorwork or filet pattern, it is so much easier to orient yourself with a graph.  The trick is to cover the rows ahead of you (I print out my filet patterns and block the rows ahead with a piece of cardboard on a clip board), so all you can see is the row you are working on, and what went before, as a constant double check that the 'picture' is coming out the way it is supposed to; in other words you can SEE that the leaf-tip block you are making is at the tip of the rest of the leaf where it belongs.  With a written colorwork/filet pattern, or a graphed pattern if you cover up the rows below, it is a LOT easier to make a mistake (learned that the hard way). 

 

[MaryPat]

I've only tried stitch fiddle and knit pro.  Like you, the actual counting of the colors is pretty tedious.  So tedious that I purchased my last one from an Etsy seller.  They included the directions in 3 different ways.  It was only $11 for the largest graph.

Even with that, I still needed to figure out bobbin sizes and knowing how many stitches of red in a row until you change the color does not give me an idea of just how big of bobbin of red I'll need. 

I've used a cross-stitch program called KG-Chart which allows color changes pretty easily and gives you a summary of how much of each color, but not how big a pool of color might be.