Top 5 Free Knitting Apps

Last Updated on Thursday, 27 January 2011 06:41 Written by Victoria Thursday, 27 January 2011 06:41

1. Knitting Daily

Knitting Daily is a magazine app to help serious knitting fans keep on top of all that’s new in the world of wool-crafts. You’ll find it in the App Store as the most popular free knitting application for iPhone and it has a cute logo with ball of duck egg blue wool with criss-crossed needles.

Basically, this has everything you need for those in-between moments, not enough time to pull out your latest project and work on a few rows, but long enough to check out the three tabs worth of content. The first, latest updates from knitting blogs; the second, video how-tos and tutorials; and the third, an extensive glossary for jogging your memory on those more out of the ordinary techniques. There is also the option to sign up to the Knitting Daily mailing list to receive all this to your inbox, but with it handy on your phone for bus journeys and coffee shop queues, you’ll probably find that this is all you need.

2. Knit Counter Lite/StitchMinder

Counter style apps have been long available in Apple and Android App stores and do the job quite nicely, thank you. However, there are two specific free apps aimed at knitters that you can take a look at and try. Obviously, you’re unlikely to need both, but there are a few handy extras that may swing your attention to one or the other.

Knit Counter Lite is the most popular in terms of number of downloads and although it looks quite simple, it does its job very well. Inside the app, you can create numerous personalised and custom counters to suit your projects, each with specific information that you can keep handy for reference, such as which yarn and needles you’re using. You have the option to link two counters together and the ‘frog’ button help you to get back to where you want to be if you find yourself having to go back to correct an error.

StitchMinder may have a more elaborate design scheme, but actually appears to do less than its competitor, with only four counters available for customisation. Nonetheless, you can still keep a good track of your projects using this app and the user ratings are very positive.

3. Lion Brand Yarn

The Lion Brand Yarn app allows you to search specific criteria to find the right pattern for your project. Once you find the right pattern you can bookmark it, make notes and even use the handy map to see your nearest Lion Brand stockist to get what you need.

4. KnitMinder Lite

My personal favourite app on the list and one that I’ve found myself using at home, KnitMinder Lite allows knitting hoarders like me to audit and organise all of their equipment, patterns and ‘part-way through until I got frustrated and threw it under the bed/on top of the wardrobe’ projects.

Inside the app are four tabs: projects (subdivided into planned, in-progress, finished and on-hold categories), patterns, yarn (arranged by weight, colour or brand) and needles (types and size). This app really helps you to see which projects you can manage with the equipment you’ve got, when you could do with stocking up and when you need to stop starting new projects and finish what you’ve started!

5. Knitted Cam Lite

This is just a fun little app for anyone who enjoys crafts. You’ll find it with the cool retro camera on the logo and once you’ve downloaded it you can have lots of fun turning your photos into images worthy of a Christmas jumper! Just tap the bottom-right corner of the screen when you open the app and choose a picture from your albums, take one or go for a demo shot. Then, the app will manage to transform the image into a knitted swatch while you can tamper with the colour ways to make it look perfect. It’s sometimes a bit hit-and-miss, and pictures that are too light or dark can be tricky to perfect, but this app definitely survived the delete-list just for kitsch value!

About the Author: Victoria Crowdell writes articles on family, home & garden and crafting – her passion is decorative candles.

Featured Artist – Dream Beads

Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 October 2009 04:37 Written by Manic Butterfly Friday, 30 October 2009 06:00

Dream Beads was established by me, Renata Pilikinaite, when I decided to share my creative and colourful ideas with others. My handmade jewellery is made from natural merino wool using some 925 Sterling Silver, Tibetan Silver and Silver-plate elements together with some glass beads to be suitable for every occasion and pocket.

Felt is the oldest man-made textile, but there is nothing primitive about woolen fleece felted bubbles as they are beautiful adornments, which will make a brilliant impact on a grey day! Although wool is a very unlikely component of jewellery, these giant felt beads have an unexpected extrovert appeal. The colour is so rich, the texture so dense, the completed item so light to wear, and so dramatic to look at, that you may have to reconsider all your preconceptions as to what constitutes jewellery.

Check out Dream Beads.

Featured Artist – Mamma 4 Earth

Last Updated on Thursday, 22 October 2009 12:56 Written by Manic Butterfly Wednesday, 21 October 2009 06:00

 I am a home-schooling mother of four wonderful children. I love working with natural materials and really enjoy creating knitted and felted treasures for my family and my shop….

My mom was always knitting when I was little and she taught me how to knit when I was 5 years old and I have always loved knitting since then. I was always keen to try and knit whatever she was busy making and she always took the time to show me how to make my own version. Fond memories…

At Mamma 4 earth you will find the most delightful hand knitted treasures. All my items are knitted with the most beautiful pure Merino sheep wool from the Cape in South Africa and they are filled with pure fleece. The wool I use is very precious to me because it has been handspun and hand dyed. It has such a lovely soft texture and the most beautiful hues and colour variations that knit up into the most wonderful farmyard characters and gnomes.

In my shop you can expect to find all types of Waldorf inspired creations, farmyards, gnomes, ribbon sticks, farm animals etc… I will add new items often, so be sure to check back on my stores soon.

Visit my Etsy shop.
Find yarn supplies at Mamma 4 Earth Supplies.