In Pattern Manager, repeats look a little different to how you may be used to seeing them.
All repeats are displayed between separator lines to help determine what information is and is not included in the repeat. You can expect to see repeats represented in two different ways. Either as a ‘simple’ repeat or a ‘nested’ repeat.
Simple Repeats
A simple repeat contains a header in bold followed by a list of indented instructions between a pair of thin separator lines. Each instruction can be ticked off as you work and the boxes will reset every time you increment the repeat counter.
Nested Repeats
A nested repeat is a repeat within a repeat. They look similar to the simple repeat, but display more information. The information continues to be worked in order, but any information in a nested repeat needs to be worked the required amount of times before moving on to the next instruction in the outer repeat. Nested repeats are also contained within separator lines but the heading is indented and uses a smaller font size than an outer repeat.
In this example, the inner nested repeat is worked 8 times before the decrease round instruction in the outer repeat is worked. In summary, you are being asked to work 8 rounds of stockinette followed by a decrease round a total of 7 times to finish this section.
The progress tracking counters are a great help in reading and tracking progress through nested repeats. Once all of the stockinette rounds have been counted, the repeat will remain checked off, signalling that it is time to work the decrease round. Clicking the outer repeat counter after the working the decrease round will reset all counters and check boxes ready to start another repeat. When all 7 outer repeats have been worked, all instructions will remain ticked and you are ready to move on in the pattern.
Tip: If you are unsure what information should be repeated, clicking on the repeat heading will collapse and expand all instructions within the repeat. For example, clicking on ‘Repeat: 8 times’ in the above example will collapse the nested repeat hiding the stockinette round instruction. Clicking on ‘Repeat: 7 times’ will collapse the outer repeat hiding the inner repeat and decrease round instruction. Information that doesn’t collapse or expand with the repeat is not associated with it.
Repeats in an exported PDF
If you export a project to PDF you will notice that repeats are separated by a pair of thick separator lines. For a single repeat, the lines display before and after the repeated instructions.
A nested repeat also contains associated instructions between separator lines but they are much thinner than an outer repeat as shown in the example below.
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