So Happy Together

Full disclosure:  I have sold my soul to Apple.  I have an iPhone, a MacBook Pro, and now, an iPad.  I’m not here to debate.  So, if you have a comparable tablet that you want to replace “iPad” with, go ahead.  I won’t be offended.  Honest.

The iPad is useful for many things.  You can write documents, manage your business, create new art, blog (hypothetically, I’m still waiting for a WordPress app that doesn’t make me cringe), and waste hours of your time with amazing games.  But at the end of the day, I don’t have rockets to launch or stocks to trade.  I have patterns to knit, and lots of them.

Paper knitting patterns are slowly becoming a thing of the past.  If not bought in a book, most patterns are simply printed off the internet, only to be crumpled, lost, stained, folded, spindled, and mutilated.  I have ADHD.  I’m pretty sure there are about five copies of the Monkey pattern around my house.  So here are some things I have done to make my life easier, reduce my paper use, and impress my friends.

1.  Add all your knitting patterns to your iPad.

Say what?  Yeah.  All your knitting patterns at your fingertips, to flick through, and zoom in at high resolution to better look at a tricky chart or tiny picture.  There are plenty of apps to store PDF’s, but….why?  Your iPad comes with iBooks, which is all you need.  Simply go to iTunes, click “Add Book to Library”, and add away.  All your patterns will be stored in the PDF section of iBooks.  I have a folder on my Desktop called “Knitting Patterns”, which I download all my Ravelry patterns to directly.  Easy as that.

2. Download some awesome apps.

While there aren’t many knitting apps, there is one that taps the true potential of the iPad for knitting.  It’s called Blendy Knits Socks, and it is and interactive sock pattern and tutorial book.  I can only hope that other knitting designers will catch on to this awesomeness.

There are also a few apps that are designed for the iPhone, but are still very useful:

• Tally Counter– very useful for keeping track of rows
• Vogue Knitting App
• Touch and Go Knitting HD
• iKnit Needle Sizer

3.  The Revolution:  Knitting Books in PDF form.

I was looking on Ravelry for my go-to sock pattern, Monkey.  Looking at the project page, I saw that it was available for download, and now in a book!  Being a total Cookie A. nut, I squeed with delight and now have Knit. Sock. Love. on my iPad. Never again will I lose my beloved Monkey pattern.

Things I would really like to see:

• A Ravelry iPad app.  Yes, you can access Ravelry on Safari.  But can you upload pictures? Browse forums with ease?  Have a very immersive and interactive pattern searching experience? No.  I join a very large amount of people who are literally begging for a Ravelry iPhone/iPad app and would be willing to pay for it.
• An app or update to iBooks which would allow me to “draw” on PDF’s. Maybe there is one, and if there is, please leave a comment and let me know.  In my opinion, this is one downside to having all your patterns on the iPad- no ticking off rows, making notes, and having to switch to a row-counting app or use an analog method, which defeats the whole purpose. UPDATE: Thanks to an awesome reader, I have found Goodreader, which allows you to annotate and draw on PDF’s, excellent for ticking off rows, etc.  It’s $1.99, but totally worth it.

Besides those two things, I am so glad that I have my iPad to help me with my knitting.  Now excuse me, I have some socks to work on.

Important Note: We here at Knitzengiggles, while endorsing some awesome businesses, do not guarantee that you will be satisfied with their products and can not be held responsible for any customer dissatisfaction.  Also,  the internet is a huge place.  In no way are we implying that a featured artist or shop is the only resource for a specific item.