What's Inspiring Me - Knitting Patterns

Hi Everyone!

Last week I wrote about finding my inspiration from new fashion trends and what's on the runway. This week I want to share one of my favorite ways (I have a few favorites, mind you) to find inspiration.

I believe I wrote a few weeks ago about wasting my time on Ravelry. Well, I still do that, but I try to be more effective in my time wasting! I enjoy looking at all of the lovely crochet patterns, but I try to focus on knitting patterns. There are so many more knit wear designers than there are crochet wear!

Today, I went onto Ravelry to see the ratio of knitting patterns to crochet patterns. I wasn't really expecting to see that there are nearly 2.5 knitting patterns out there for every 1 crochet pattern! But, this isn't what I want to talk about :)

If you look at the number of those patterns, knitting would seem to be far more fashionable than crochet. And, while I could see that being true, I think crochet is every bit as fashionable and WAY  cooler. After all, we're not confined to two different stitches and their variations! And when you factor in different crocheting styles, like tunisian crochet, we can make pieces that look knitted, even to an experienced eye. (True story. Just last week at Knitting Guild I modeled a tunisian crochet shawl. Before I modeled I was examining it's construction and had decided it was knit. Boy, was I wrong!)

Looking at knitting patterns always gives me ideas of where crochet could innovate next.

When I designed the Lena Wrap pattern, I had never seen a side to side constructed shawl in the crochet market, but they were extremely popular over in the knitting country! Shortly after my design hit Ravelry, there were many many side to side shawls that were hitting Blogs and Ravelry stores.

Crocheters, in my opinion, limit themselves when they don't open up and look for inspiration in the yarn industry!

I thought it would be fun to take a screenshot of what is Hot on Ravelry in knitting patterns right now! These 10 patterns are hugely inspirational to me...what do they say to you?

As for me, I'm getting ready to go visit a new yarn shop this morning before heading off to my favorite Open Knitting afternoon! I'm in search of the perfect yarn for this new design I have conjured up this week. Yes, it was partly inspired by a knitting pattern, but there was inspiration from somewhere else too...I guess you'll have to wait and find out next week!

Happy Crocheting!
Chelsea