A DUH moment.

I have a great book that I purchased at a local bookstore, off their sale table for 50% off, called "Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns". Now, I know there are a ton of books for both knitting and crochet that are compilation stitch books out there. However, I liked this one because as a beginner (though I can say with everything that I have knit since I learned in July, I am well past beginner stage)...anyway...the book explain the stitches in words and not in graphs. I also have another book "200 Knitted Blocks". Between these two books are there are some really interesting stitches that I would like to try out, plus the myriad of free patterns I have found over the net (more about internet patterns below). I wanted to see what alot of these stitches do without having to test them on my nicer yarn in my stash and I also didn't just want to make a bunch of blocks or swatcheds that would just take up space. Yes I know then I would have physical references, instead of just the pictures in the books (that is besides the point lol). A few weeks back I finished organizing my entire stash (took months, some cursing, and a bit of a mess in the studio/office), when I was done I had huge bags of arylic yarn that was given to me or I purchased ages ago before I knew any better. Seriously some of this acrylic yarn I have had so long that the labels yellowed or from stores that no longer exist (like Woolworth's...east coast 5 and dime). I was going to donate this yarn to the library group in Spanish Springs when it I had a "duh" moment. I want to do charity projects for next year. My LYS is going to collect scarves, hats and gloves for next fall to give out to the homeless in our area. So why not save the acrylic and practice the interesting stitches and make notes about what I learn from them. This way I make something useful, get rid of the acrylic, and learn new things. DUH! lol I can take pictures and save the notes along side the pictures for reference. Sometimes I am just slow, sheesh.

Now about Internet Patterns:
Ok I think almost all crafters by now know that the internet has become an infinite source of free patterns for all crafts. The quality of the patterns is sometimes not all that great but a good majority are. I have amassed a collection of knitting and crochet patterns that is as out of control as my yarn stash. To date I have about 3k+ in knitting patterns alone, never mind crochet. Un-freaking believable. Every time I come across something new I save it, whether I think I will ever make that item or not. So if anyone is looking for a pattern and does not want to search all over for one or wants to know where to find something just send me a message I probably have it stored or can guide you to a good site to find what you are looking for. There is also good ole' Google. Doing a search for "free knitting patterns", or a search for a specific item such as "free sock knitting patterns" will give you a huge list of sites to look at. It is not hard to find a decent pattern. There are great sites abound that have patterns all ready collected and sorted at sites likeKnitting Pattern Central and Knitty (just to name two), but there are a ton of others that very little effort will bring up. If you find a great site with nice patterns please do share it with me because I will add it to my list. I do not want to be come a blog that just lists pattern sites because there are plenty of those out there but I can be resource if you are looking for something and haven't been able to find it. I even have patterns from sites that have long ago disappeared because I began searching for patterns over 10 years ago. Is this another sign that I am well entrenched yarn addict? lol