Are you old school (paper) or new school (phone or tablet)
when it comes to knitting patterns? I am a little bit of both. Sometimes I like
having a paper copy of my pattern that I can make notes on (but always a copy…I
NEVER write in my books or magazines), but if I am making something that has a
small chart, I will upload the chart to my phone and use a app like GoodReader
to view it. And of course there are the times when I use a combination of the
two.
I want to tell you about a cool new way CEY is offering patterns. When we started our new
format in November, we wanted to not only have really nice books, but a way for
you to access the pattern online. We came up with a plan that will have many of
you jumping up and down for joy.
If you purchase the hard copy of the pattern book from your LYS, you will notice on the inside of the back cover
there is a scratch-off sticker and a link. If you follow the link and put in
the code, found under the scratch-off, you will be able to download a copy of
the book. Another great feature of this platform is that the download is
provided through Ravelry, which means will be able to store the copy of your
book in your Ravelry library and access it anywhere you have web access.
If you don’t have a Ravelry account*,
you can still use the link to download the PDF copy of the book. But you will
want to make to save it to your computer as this is a one-time only download. If you try to use the code a second
time, it will not work.
I love this. Now I can have access to my pattern no matter
where I am. How many times have you been at the doctor’s office (or dentist…or at
the auto shop…or on the subway…or just about anywhere you take you knitting)
and had to stop working, because you know you had to do something different
with your knitting, but couldn’t remember what? Now you can pull your pattern
up on your phone and keep going (now I just need to master the guesstimation of
how many balls of yarn I need to bring with me).
Please note this this feature is available only one way. The
download code is available to you if you buy a hard copy of the book.
Unfortunately we cannot offer it the other way around.
Now that you have this great new way to view CEY patterns, I have to ask again…are you old school,
new school or a combination?
Knit on!
*For those you who may not have a Ravelryaccount, I ask WHY NOT? Ravelry is an awesome tool for fiber enthusiasts.
You can see what other people are doing, talk about yarns and patterns (or just
about anything else on their forums), use their ‘library’ of patterns to search
for the perfect project, track your projects and so much more. The best part of
Ravelry? It’s free! If you don’t already have an account, I encourage you to
sign up today.
As someone who also likes to have it both ways, this is great news!
ReplyDeleteI've done both. I prefer paper because I can jot stuff down easily and quickly make notes about alterations as I'm knitting. I like to buy patterns electronically, but I will print and put them in a binder with some blank paper while working on a project for my notes and reminders about where to start when the project is picked up again. If I wanted knitting to be truly high tech, I'd be doing machine knitting not hand knitting. I love technology, but only up to a point. Knitting (and cooking) from a smartphone is way past that point.
ReplyDeleteI prefer printing my patterns too!
ReplyDeleteBecause I don't have a tablet I'm pretty solidly in the hard copy camp. Only when I forget mine will I bring up a pdf on the phone, and I like that they are stored in ravelry. If I ever do get a tablet I will try KnitCompanion, an app that you can use with pdfs. You can make notations, it has counters, a highlighter that you can use in text and on charts to keep your place, it sounds awesome and the people I've heard use it really like it. There are tutorials online to help with it and I've heard that you really should use them.
ReplyDeleteI like both and I just downloaded an ap called Knitting Buddy that let's you keep track of everything to do with your pattern and has a row/repeat counter on it as well as a page for notes. I really like it so far but I just downloaded it so we will see how it goes.
ReplyDelete