Free C2C crochet graph maker: turn a photo into a corner to corner pattern

Each square of the graph is one block. The work starts with a single block in the bottom right corner, which is row 1, and grows in diagonal rows. Odd rows are right-side rows, worked from their top-right end down to their bottom-left end; even rows are wrong-side rows, worked back up the other way. A graph W blocks wide and H blocks tall has W + H - 1 rows. On the graph from this tool, row 1 is outlined in red and a yellow line marks the end of every 10th row, with its number at the line's lower-left end, so you can find your place without counting from the corner.

In US terms, a C2C block is a chain of 3 and 3 double crochet worked into it (in UK terms, 3 treble). Rows of blocks are joined by slip stitches into the chain-3 spaces of the row before. The graph does not change with the stitch you use for a block; only the finished size and the yarn do.

Because both depend on your yarn, your hook and your tension, and a guess would be wrong for most people. Crochet a few blocks, measure one across, and enter it as the block size: the tool then gives the finished size. Unravel one block (or weigh a few) to find the yarn it takes, and enter that: the tool multiplies it by the blocks of each colour and adds a spare allowance you can change, 15% to start, for tails and joins. Without them you still get the exact number of blocks of each colour.

Every row spelled out in the order you work it: the side, the direction on the graph, the number of blocks, and then the colours as runs, such as "4 White, 1 Forest green". They are under the colour key on the page, in the PDF with a box to tick for each row, and as a text file. The shaping is written out too: increase at both ends until the work reaches the first edge, then on a rectangle increase at one end and decrease at the other, then decrease at both ends to the last corner.

As few as keep the picture readable. Every block is worked by hand, so a graph of 60 by 60 is 3,600 blocks in 119 rows, and 100 by 100 is 10,000 blocks. Bold shapes and a plain background stay clear at small sizes; faces and lettering need more blocks. If a picture has thin lines or lettering that will drop out at the size you chose, the tool says how many blocks across would keep them, and you can use that number with one click. The graph is limited to 200 blocks across and 300 up.

Fewer than you think: each colour is a yarn to buy and a bobbin to change to. 4 to 8 suit a logo, a pet or a simple portrait. The limit is a ceiling; the tool may use fewer when the picture has fewer colours. Specks of one block are tidied into the colour around them, with a control to keep them if they are real details.

No. The colours are either the picture's own or the nearest of about 60 generic yarn colours with plain names, each with a hex code. Yarn makers dye and name their own shades and we have no colour values from them to match against, so take the name and hex code to your yarn shop and match by eye.

A PDF on US Letter or A4: a cover with the picture, the size, the shaping and the colour key with the blocks of each colour; the graph in colour and in black and white with symbols, split over overlapping pages when it is big; and the written rows with tick boxes. Also a graph PNG with the numbers round the edge, a CSV of the grid with the key under it, and the written rows as a text file.

No. The picture is read, graphed and drawn in your browser, and the files are saved from memory on your device.

Yes. Everything Makerfern makes is yours to use and sell, free or Pro, as long as you have the right to use what you start from: your own photos and drawings, or pictures whose license allows it; somebody else's art or characters only with their permission. Makerfern adds no watermark and takes no rights in your file. One Pro covers every tool: there is no per-tool plan.