Hi, I am new to this, I have managed to work out the system and have produced a few cross stitch charts with success, however the last two days I am getting the correct amount of colours but thousands of skeins, what am I doing wrong please. Thanks Mark.

You are doing nothing wrong, the software has been recently updated 

The color list now shows the number of stitches, rather than the number of skeins. There are a few reasons for this move.

• First of all, the number of skeins has always been a guesstimate, not an accurate number. Depending of the aida count of the fabric, how colors are distributed over the pattern and the skills of the user, the actual needed number of skeins may differ
• Some people have asked for the option to manually replace colors if only a handful of stitches have to be stitched. With only showing the number of skeins, it is difficult to detemine if a color is only used for two, or twohundred stitches.
• Last but not least, the pattern generator is not only used for cross-stitching, but also for other hobbies. For these users, the number of skeins gives little information but the number of stitches can be useful.

For these reasons, the number of skeins has been replaced by the number of stitches. If you still need to know a guesstimate of the number of skeins, I will now disclose the secret formula used in the previous software version to you:

Pic2Pat previously divided the number of stitches by 1600 to calculate the number of skeins. You should be able to do this by hand 

It also appears because of this change, the app "Pattern Keeper" no longer displays colors correctly. The app is trying to read the stitch count as a color code, resulting in wrong color displayed or no color at all. They still function together, but not as nicely as they had.

You should contact the Pattern Keeper developer for that. I am not able to change the app. They have a Facebook group which is used as a support method at https://www.facebook.com/groups/363515547861846

Already before the change of the number of skeins to stitches in the PDF, I have seen examples of Pic2Pat patterns where the color codes weren't interpreted correctly in Pattern Keeper, so these two issues might be unrelated.

You should contact the Pattern Keeper developer for that. I am not able to change the app. They have a Facebook group which is used as a support method at https://www.facebook.com/groups/363515547861846

Already before the change of the number of skeins to stitches in the PDF, I have seen examples of Pic2Pat patterns where the color codes weren't interpreted correctly in Pattern Keeper, so these two issues might be unrelated.

That is just what I suspect, hadn't had any problems prior. I have notified both parties.  Cheers to your site! Great service at an extremely reasonable rate!

As a follow-up, I just imported a pattern in Pattern Keeper which was generated in February 2020 and the Pattern Keeper app also refuses to read the color list correctly. So this seems to be an issue with the current version of Pattern Keeper, rather than something directly related to the switch from skein to stitch numbers.

That is just what I suspect, hadn't had any problems prior. I have notified both parties.  Cheers to your site! Great service at an extremely reasonable rate!

So I figured out my specific problem, or what is happening at least. If the skein/stitch number comes too close to the color code, Pattern Keeper is taking the last digit or two from the stitch column and putting it at the front of the color code. If it happens to be a 0 no harm, if it is any other number it causes a problem. Just some info, don't know if it will benefit you.

I fixed confusion among some users by adding separate columns for skeins and stitches to the pattern.

I have read what has been replyed to about the number of stitches.     I don't have this     where can i find it ?( I saw what you put about the number of stitches divided by 1600 should give the number of skeins )