Different Approaches to Choosing Patterns and Yarn

One of the fun things about belonging to a knitting guild is getting to talk to other knitters and hearing how differently they approach the aspects of knitting. At our last meeting Terri commented on a recent post Tips for Using Ravelry when Choosing Patterns and shared some of her tips with me. 

Terri starts with the yarn, she buys what she likes and then goes into Ravelry and searches for patterns which match the parameters of her yarn. She inputs the yarn weight and yardage and then looks for a pattern which appeals to her. She prints off the pattern and stores it with the yarn. Then she's always ready to start something new when one project ends. 

Here's an example of a search for 600 yards of worsted weight yarn. I could further narrow the search to patterns in my library or free patterns, or patterns for children only etc.

I think I'm going to set something up like this for myself. I have on occasion been scrambling around for something to knit because my current knitting is too big, too complex or too early in the design process to be taken to knit night, a guild meeting or while traveling.

Terri's other tip was about choosing some yarn which she normally would have by passed thinking the colours were wrong for her. As she searched through a display of hand dyed skeins she suddenly noticed the plaid cuff of her raincoat coordinated perfectly with a skein of yarn she would have normally passed by as "not her colours". The tip here is, it always pays to be open minded and to keep our eyes open too. What you don't see won't go home with you to become a project which is outside your normal range and could become one of your favourites.