Northern Lights Dress and Intarsia Knitting

The idea for this design came from the beautiful colours in the wool (James Brett), and also that I sort of love Polar Bears. I knitted a polar bear sample square a while ago, with the idea of using it on a garment. I have an idea for a polar bear hat, possibly with smaller bears.

The dress/top pattern is basically the smallest version of my Baby Daisy Dress, and although I love the finished result, I've decided not to publish this polar bear version as a pattern, mainly because it was such a tricky knit. I thought the snowflakes would make it a bit easier, as the white wool is carried across the back on the blue parts, but the blue is not carried behind most of the bear (except on the leg section), as it was such dark wool it would show. 

Here is a photo of the chart that I made to use on this design. As you can see it all gets a bit scrappy. When I make a chart it usually involves a lot of tracing paper and transposing marks. There is also then the problem of how to get a large chart into a pattern document. (I had the same problem with my Tree Cushion, where the chart was absolutely enormous.) 

There must be an easier way to make a chart I thought, and with a bit of surfing around, I have found it. The Knitting Site has software to convert any digital picture into a knitting chart. You can scale the chart up or down, according to the wool you are using and how much detail you want in your design. So although I didn't use it for this bear, and can see myself coming back here for some other intarsia designs.

And here is the little lady wearing it ...