Helpful Kindle Apps for Knitters
Help with Color and Stitching
Digital Tools for Better Knitting Results
Why do I keep my Kindle Fire and my knitting in the same basket? Because I love my knitting apps, e-books, and PDF patterns! Here I'd like to share some knitting apps I find helpful in my daily knitting. As a designer and publisher of knitting patterns, I always have multiple projects on my many needles. Any tools that help me track my stitches, choose harmonious color combinations, or find patterns (when I don't want to make up my own) are welcome additions to my e-reader library.
Most of these apps are either free or under $3. That's far less than the price of a knitting magazine. Try one or more and let me know if your knitting becomes easier, more fun, or more creative as a result. I welcome your comments.
Choose Colors Like a Professional--With a Color Wheel
Your color choices could make or break a project. You don't need an art degree to use these color selection apps. These apps are great for home decorating, painting, and graphic design, too. Choose embroidery floss, quilting fabrics, or yarns with confidence.
Choose colors that go together with this app. The dashboard is simple: Just slide RGB indicators to change a color by making it more blue, less red, etc. until you have 5 colors you like together. Save the color scheme and take your Kindle to the yarn shop to match colors.
Yarn Goes Well with my Kindle
Save Time and Clutter with e-Books and Apps
Advantages over Magazines and Books
With an e-book knitting pattern or app, there are no physical pages to wrinkle or to wear out. There are no more battles to keep the book open to a page while knitting. You also will not run out of room on your bookshelf when it is a digital bookshelf.
With wireless access, you can also use your Kindle Fire to find a video if you get stuck on a special technique or pattern stitch. The Ravulous app lets you refer to Ravelry's huge, searchable database of patterns. Stitch counting apps are a big improvement over those little red plastic frames with the white pegs, too.
Yarn and needles are ancient tools, but modern technology can help us use the old tools even better. I'm sure my ancestors would have used some of these knitting apps and e-book patterns if they had been available!
Note for Nook or Kobo users: Plenty of pattern books are also available in ePub format for those who prefer devices other than a Kindle. Smashwords has a variety of craft titles available in formats for any e-reader.
Apps for Counting Stitches or Calculating Yarn Yardage
Knitting does involve a bit of math, but help is available for those times you need to recalculate row/stitch counts to a different gauge or use a different yarn than the pattern used. Try this app: it works well and is simple to use.
Switch to a yarn with different yardage and easily calculate the number of skeins you'll need.
