I think I've just started a steep learning curve

I'm a more than competent knitter, knitting doesn't scare me, I'll tackle most things. However, and its a big however, because most of my output is destined for the 'historic' market, almost everything I knit on a day to day basis is in plain stockinette, sometimes with a few purl stitches if its something really racy.

This means I'm rather behind the times when it comes to translating ideas I have for more modern pieces of knitwear into patterns that will be understood by other people. Right now, I have three designs whizzing round in my mind, and I lack the language to put them down competently on paper. Ideally, I'd have time to quietly knit them and do the notation as I go along, but I don't, so I should really be combining pattern notations with my scribbled sketches so that when I do get a chance to write them up, I won't have had all the detail leak out of my ears somewhere along the line.

The problem is though, I can see what I want the stitches to do in my head, but I don't know how to put that down on paper. One idea for example has a shoulder cape as part of it, the underlying sturcture is simple, its 8 increases on each second row, just like making a beret, but how do I write that out so it also includes cabling, lace and similar details, its not a regular stitch count so I can't use a graph as the design won't evolve properly on it.

There must be a way to do this, but my brain hurts.