Patterns, patterns everywhere by guest blogger Annie
It is so wonderful to awake early each morning to the crisp
pre dawn air. It actually makes me want to get up earlier each day so I can enjoy
the cool quiet morning and get in some extra knitting time.
There are lots of choices to be made lately in knitting land
this time of year, new yarns, new pattern collections, and what to knit for the
holidays if you are so inclined.
The shop has some really wonderful new Rowan in stock Lima –
an alpaca blend, & Felted Tweed, to name a couple. They also have the
heavenly soft Eco Cloud and the solid color version of Eco Duo. New sock yarns
continue to arrive including Pagewood Farms, Heritage 150, and new colors of
Petals sock.
Once you’ve picked your yarn of choice then it’s on to
pattern selection – though I know that many of you do this in the reverse order
I seem to be first drawn to the yarn then search for a pattern. There are of
course the pattern books in the shop which offer an overwhelming selection but if
you don’t find anything of interest there you can browse the many individual
pattern notebooks and magazines for inspiration. If you still can’t find just
the right pattern might I suggest heading to Ravelry for a search? You can search by yarn/project/designer/level,
etc. Searching Ravelry often leads to mind overload and an exponentially
expanding queue but I’ve found some really lovely patterns and reminders of
patterns I’d seen in the past while browsing there.
Other sources of patterns are of course the multitude of
websites devoted to knitting. One favorite that is celebrating its 10th
anniversary and just posted its latest edition is www.Knitty.com
all of their patterns are free for the downloading and the entire archive
is online. One of my favorite’s websites is www.brooklyntweed.net where designer
Jared Flood has a series of download only pattern books as well as individual
patterns. Last but not least on my list for patterns on the web is www.twistcollective.com they publish
4 times a year and have a great selection of designers from all over, patterns
can be purchased individually.
Post a comment and let us know you’re favorite sources for
patterns – and if you chose yarn or pattern first, I’d love to know!
