ChatGPT vs Knitting: Can an OpenAI Write A Knitted Jumper Pattern That Works?

ChatGPT seems to have popped up all over the place for different things. I think it has definitely divided opinion. I don’t know that much about it but Chris was telling me how they were discussing it’s uses at work. I’m not sure I entirely kept up with what they were talking about using it for but it definitely sounded interesting.

Well, I was intrigued and wondered. Could it be used to create knitting patterns? Chris said yes without even hesitating. So… I grabbed some DK weight yarn and asked ChatGPT:

Can you write me a knitting pattern for a kids jumper in DK weight yarn? 

After realising this had automatically provided me with a bottom up jumper, this wasn’t a problem but I’ve definitely found that top-down are more flexible – especially when it comes to making sure that the body is long enough and the neck hole is big enough! Therefore, I changed the question to:

Can you write me a top-down knitting pattern for a kids jumper in DK weight yarn? 

Having knitted 4 kids sized jumpers across last year for Christmas gifts I had a rough idea what the shape would look like and what the pattern might be like even if I wasn’t 100% sure what the ChatGPT was talking about. (You can read about the French Macaroon Jumper here – there’s another post to follow with a finished Christmas Present too so ,

And this is what I got…

Here is a top-down knitting pattern for a kids jumper in dk weight yarn:

Materials:

• 4mm circular needles
• 4mm double-pointed needles (for sleeves)
• DK weight yarn (approx. 500g)
• Stitch markers
• Tapestry needle
• Scissors

That’s easy enough – all things that I have anyway – could do with the circular needle length maybe being specified but I grabbed an 80/100cm and went ahead with magic loop.

Gauge: 22 stitches and 30 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch

I grabbed some spare DK from my stash. The gauge square on this particular yarn was 20 stitches x 34 rows even though it is in theory standard DK. I did also check Stylecraft Special DK which is my usual go to and that comes up as 22 stitches and 30 rows. (I’m wanting to try the Yarnsmiths range from WoolWarehouse too so I looked at the gauge square for their yarns and their’s comes up at 22 stitches by 26 rows so if I was to use that in future I would definitely need to do a gauge square (And yes I should have probably done one this time… Maybe I do it retrospectively??)

Sizes: 2-3 years, 4-5 years, 6-7 years

Okay so this is a smaller range than maybe I was hoping for but a jumper for my youngest son (he’s 2.5 almost) wouldn’t take too long to knit for this experiment. (And if it doesn’t work or he doesn’t wear it then it can always be frogged or donated elsewhere). I chose to do a 4-5 years size as there are no chest measurements and there could be a lot of winging it in the process.

(Rather than go through step by step of the pattern, skip to here if you’d like to jump the pattern and just see my comments)

Instructions:

1. Using the circular needles, cast on 80 (90, 100) stitches. Place a marker at the beginning of the round and join to work in the round.
2. Work in k1, p1 rib for 2 inches.
3. Increase for yoke:

• Round 1: *K1, m1, k to 1 stitch before marker, m1, k1; repeat from * to end of round.
• Round 2: Knit all stitches.
• Repeat rounds 1-2 until you have 120 (130, 140) stitches.

1. Work in stockinette stitch for 3 inches.
2. Divide for sleeves and body:

• Place markers at the beginning of the next round to mark the beginning of the sleeves.
• Knit to 2 stitches before the first marker, bind off the next 8 (10, 12) stitches for the first sleeve, knit to 2 stitches before the next marker, bind off the next 8 (10, 12) stitches for the second sleeve, knit to the end of the round.
• You should now have 56 (60, 64) stitches remaining for the body.

1. Work in stockinette stitch for the body for 6 inches.
2. Decrease for neckline:

• Round 1: *K2tog, k to 2 stitches before end of round; repeat from * to end of round.
• Round 2: Knit all stitches.
• Repeat rounds 1-2 until you have 24 (28, 32) stitches remaining.

1. Bind off all stitches for the neckline.
2. Pick up stitches for the sleeves:

• Using the double-pointed needles, pick up 8 (10, 12) stitches from the bound-off edge of the first sleeve.
• Knit in the round for 4 inches.
• Repeat for the second sleeve.

1. Decrease for sleeve cuffs:

• Round 1: *K2tog, k to 2 stitches before end of round; repeat from * to end of round.
• Round 2: Knit all stitches.
• Repeat rounds 1-2 until you have 4 (6, 8) stitches remaining.

1. Bind off all stitches for the sleeves.
2. Weave in all ends and block to finished measurements.

Congratulations, you’ve finished your top-down kids jumper in dk weight yarn! This pattern can be easily adjusted to create different sizes by increasing or decreasing the amount of stitches casted on or the length of the body and sleeves.

My Comments

I grabbed my 4mm circular needles and got started. The first issue was not having the length of the circular needle. This wasn’t really a problem as I could just grab any length and magic loop it to begin with. Similarly for the sleeves, when I got to that point I would be using magic loop and a longer cable to do the sleeves. (In the end, I switch to my shorter length ones as I was getting a big gap where my round started/ended).

Cast on and neckline – My cast on took about 3 attempts because I had a really long tail the first time and the second time the tail was too short. Finally I resorted to a still too long tail but I wasn’t going to cast it on again! Clearly this is a me thing rather than something wrong with the pattern – I’m sure there are hacks out there for getting it just right and not wasting more yarn that you need to on the tail.

Increasing for the yoke – Specifying the time to M1 to use might have been handy but as with other patterns when not specified I pretty much always use a M1R (why? I don’t know but the advice seems to be just go with the one you like if it doesn’t specify).

AND HERE’S WHERE IT FAILS….

Most jumpers like the Flax by Tin Can Knits or the Tweedy Junior by Hedgehog Fibres (for instance – I knitted two Tweedy Juniors before Christmas you can read here.), tell you when it comes to increasing for the yoke to add extra markers. They are usually stitch heavy on the front and back so going back to those 90 stitches, you could expect it to be 30 for front and back and then 15 for each sleeve – for example. There would then be equal increases all the way around – whereas as you can see above – it just says to increase either side of the beginning of the round. Now I did think this was strange but was willing to trust the process and see what happened. I’ve got up to 106 stitches and retraced my steps etc and found the error – no trusting the process here because the pattern is missing a step.

Hannah 1 – ChatGPT Knitting Pattern Skills 0

What do you think? Can AI write patterns that work? Do you think it will come in time even if it’s not there yet?