As much as I love pen and paper there are times when an app (or two) on your phone can come in really handy. Phone apps can always be a little tricky, some are free or have a lite version, whilst others have a small charge. And of course some aren't available across all platforms. But I thought I would have a little run through of apps I've used previously and that you might find useful.
Knit Companion: A very popular and widely used app for storing PDFs and tracking your progress, amongst many other things.
Bee Count: This is a really cute and functional counting app (android only though) which makes counting rows/repeats really simple.
Stash2Go: If you are a Ravelry user this is invaluable as it synchs to your Rav account - enabling you to check your stash/library on the go. There is still no official ravelry app so this is a useful fill-in.
Chart Minder: If you use a lot of knitting charts or like to create your own this is a great, free resource.
Toggl: Not specifically knit related. This gives you the ability to track the time you spend on individual projects. I love it for seeing where my knitting time goes.
My favourite apps for knitting pattern storage
Photo by Radu Marcusu on Unsplash
As much as I would love to say this is my library/craft room, in reality, due to lack of space (and an excess of kids and Lego) I’ve had to embrace digital storage of patterns and knitting paraphenalia. I access and store patterns almost exclusively in digital rather than paper format these days. The exception to this is the beautiful (print only) Laine Magazine and also a few treasured stitch dictionaries - the complete Barbara Walker series as well as my absolute favourite Japanese stitch bible.
In my quest for the perfect digital solution I’ve tried out a few different apps (I’m an Android user) and I thought it might be helpful to share them here:
KnitCompanion: I know this is really popular and I have bought (and used) the paid for version. There is also a basic, free version if you wanted to try it out. I really love the way it seamlessly integrates into Ravelry and if I were a really prolific knitter of other people’s patterns I think this would probably be my app of choice. As it is, I’m usually juggling knitting my own designs with knitting those of others, so I tend not to use this very much at the minute. It’s really great for saving your progress though and avoids that “where the heck am I?” feeling when you pick up a long-term WIP that you have mysteriously abandoned half way through the lace chart from hell.
Goodreader: This available for i-Phone/Apple users. I’ve no experience of this but I know that many people do use it and speak very highly of it.
Evernote: I’ve had an Evernote account for years now and I use it for all sorts of things, from household bills and storage of documents, to knitting patterns and clips for design inspiration. The platform is free to use, or you can pay a small amount (as I do) to access a greater range of premium features. I keep the vast majority of my bought knitting patterns in here, stored in folders along with useful articles, research articles and those all important size charts that I always need to reference. Whenever I buy a pattern - usually from Ravelry - I download it straight away to whatever device I’m on and then save a copy in Evernote. It synchs across all of my devices and it means that I can always access that crucial bit of pattern information no matter where I am. I love it so much that I am an Evernote affiliate. You can sign up by clicking this link for a free trial of their Premium service. This is an affiliate link which gives me points towards my own Premium membership.
Google Drive. I’m a real fan of Google docs and spreadsheets, and most of my design work and content creation happens here. I love being able to create specific folders for everything and the fact that it integrates so seamlessly into Trello (see below) is a real bonus.
Trello. This is where I do my day to day (and month to month) business planning. I love the calender function here and so this is where I manage my everyday tasks, set my editorial calendar and keep track of various projects.
Where do you stand on the issue of pattern storage? I asked this question in my Instagram Stories earlier today and so far it’s about 35% Team Paper and 65% Team Digital.
If you know of any apps or storage solutions that I haven’t mentioned, do please let me know. Like the search for the elusive perfect notebook, the search for perfect storage is always ongoing.
