What drives your project choices in your knitting, the pattern or the yarn? For me, it’s very much the yarn. More often than not, a yarn from my stash calls my name, and then I have to hunt down the right pattern for it. I think that’s partly why I’m struggling with finding patterns away from Ravelry: they built such a robust search and there’s no equal just yet. I’m working on that though, and building a list of designers I like so I can browse their sites when I have yarn in need of a pattern.
But every once in a while, a pattern jumps out at me first and demands to be made. That happened to me recently when I was digging through Ravelry trying to find a good pattern for mini skeins. (Those are the hardest patterns to find, I think!) I was so excited when I found this, but then I saw it was designed for sport weight, not fingering, and the few people who had modified for fingering weight had some challenges. I tried to forget this pattern but it kept haunting me.
Then I gave in, decided I needed to make it after all, and dug through my stash for sport weight yarn. I don’t have much, and certainly not in similar colors. Knitters, you know what happened, don’t you?
This arrived Friday. I believe this is the first time I’ve fallen in love with a pattern and bought the exact yarn it was designed for. Here’s the Ravelry pattern link, because I can’t find this pattern available anywhere else.
What about you, are you pattern first or yarn first?
bonnyknits 
Ooh beautiful! I think I’m a pattern first kind of knitter
I am working down my stash, so at this time, I am a yarn first gal.
That is a beautiful shawlette! I’m mostly pattern first.
Yarn, but it often catches me out, which is why I end up with loads in stash!!
Haha, yep, me too! Yarn is just too darn pretty.
Minis are definitely the hardest to find good patterns for, I think. I am a bit of both – I have patterns that drive yarn purchases, and yarn that drives pattern purchases.
Sounds like a good balance!
That’s a neat wrap! I am about 50/50 yarn-first and pattern-first. Just like I’m about 50/50 process-knitter and project-knitter. 🙂
That sounds like a really good balance! I think I start each project as a process knitter and end up as a project knitter, haha!
I mean… this makes it sound intentional. It really isn’t. 😂 It’s all just what I end up feeling like doing at the time, and it works out to be a good (accidental) balance.
That is going to be beautiful! That shawl is just you 🙂
Minis are definitely hard to find patterns for. And I have a ton of them. so always on the lookout 🙂
Thank you, I think it is too! As popular as mini sets are, you’d think there would be more patterns geared toward them.
Definitely! I know I have a bin of the darn things that I would love to use!
I think I’m a pattern person, then leave the project abandoned for two years while I move on to something else.
Haha! I only do that with really big projects like sweaters and blankets!
I’ve never yet found the pattern first and bought the yarn specifically for it, but I’m hoping to once I’ve got stash mountain a bit more under control. That looks like a gorgeous wrap and I love the colours in the photo so it’s definitely going to look good!
LOL stash mountain is right. I might have given up control, though every January I make the attempt.