How to Organize Knitting Patterns
Today I’m sharing how to organize knitting patterns. As a knitting designer and mom of four, I collect a lot of patterns and have found what works best for me to keep it all straight.
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Do you ever walk through JoAnn’s and collect those free patterns hanging on the rack? Now let me ask you this: did you ever knit said free patterns? If not, do you plan to knit the patterns?
Today I’m walking you through how I organize my knitting patterns. I’ll be sharing what I do with:
- Patterns I designed
- Patterns I’ve purchased
- Patterns I’ve printed and collected in a craft store.
- Patterns still on my computer (downloads, Ravelry, etc)
This is part of a spring clean your knitting series I’m doing on the blog, which you can read through here.
>>>You can watch my very first yarn hutch spring cleaning here.
How to organize knitting patterns
Printed patterns
I keep a giant knitting pattern binder. I mean, this thing is probably 3 inches thick. While that may seem excessive (or not, depending on your own pattern stash!), once you start gathering knitting patterns you’ll see how quickly you accumulate that many!
The two things I recommend most for printed out patterns are:
- Page protectors
- Binder dividers
And here’s why:
Page protectors not only prolong the life of knitting patterns, they’re also easy to write notes with a dry erase marker as you work on the pattern or have yarn ideas before you even start. Plus, they have hole punched edges so you can organize them into a binder.
Binder dividers are how I keep my patterns separated into categories.
I keep patterns that I designed in the front of the binder so I can easily pull it out for pattern support. Within those designs, I separate the patterns into categories like “socks”, “hats and headbands”, and “home”.
Then, in the second half of the binder I do the exact same thing for patterns that I’ve saved but aren’t mine.
You could even separate patterns by who its for (by family member, friend, size) or by its purpose (to gift knit, to donate, to sell).
For those small free patterns from the craft store, or patterns someone scribbled down for me, I keep a folder in the back of the binder.
Online patterns
Often times, I add patterns to my Ravelry favorites. I drag and drop patterns from blog posts to a folder on my desktop. I have a folder in my phone gallery of knitting pattern screenshots. Sometimes I have pictures on my phone that I’ve snapped from a book at the book.
It can get really overwhelming to not only gather, but also organize knitting patterns that are digital.
I try to work with technology and not against it.
If a pattern came from the computer, I make one folder there to keep them. I download anything I actually purchased (or a design I own) to keep in that folder. Then I drag and drop blog posts with patterns in there, too.
Patterns that are on my phone are kept in a knitting folder in my photos. Screenshots, photos of patterns I took, or anything else I downloaded are there.
OneNote App for Knitting Pattern Organization
I’m actually in the process of transferring all of my digital knitting patterns on my computer and phone to the OneNote app. With that, you can add images, links, and text. Then I can keep all media types together, and not just photos! I’ll let you know how I like it after some time!
>>Check out my yarn hutch makeover playlist here.
Now is a good time to clear out any patterns you no longer want to knit, or patterns that you realized you only kept because they were free or gifted.
It’s also wise to pull and toss any knitting patterns that you made and your project went wonky.
We’ve all had at least one knitting pattern that made us pull our hair out and vowed to never knit again. Before you forget that sweater-that-shall-not-be-named, do yourself a favor and take the pattern out of rotation. Save yourself the future heartache!
Pin It For Later:
I hope this helps you organize knitting patterns in a simple and sane way, and give your knitting a spring refresh!
Happy knitting!
