Some knowledge of knitting is essential. The project could be designed for either hand knitting or machine knitting but not both since the techniques are very different. A basic project might have information to generate a single plain jumper or cardigan for a number of sizes and using two or three diffent thicknesses of wool. It should offer a choice of neckline and the option of raglan sleeves and calculate the amount of yarn needed to complete the jumper. Allow for some customerisation - e.g. if the person knits very tightly, allow for this by specifying a larger needle size. Allow the options of large, clear print for those with poor eyesight and simple patterns for those who have trouble with more complex instructions. This is the basic project and can result in a comfortable pass mark. To be eligible for first-class marks, you will need to add extra facilities.

a) Allow the designer to include Fair Isle or Jaccard patterns in the instructions and provide some way of designing these interactively on the screen. This will involve some restrictions in either the design or the pattern since the width of the garment must correspond to an exact number of repetitions of the pattern.

b) Allow the use of different stitches in the garment, giving textures, cables and lacy patterns. Again provide some method of designing these on the screen and then calculating the necessary instructions for the garment. At present textures and coloured patterns are not usually mixed. If this is desired, you must provide some way of showing the user what the result will look like, since it may not produce the desired effect.