Four crochet resources to help you get your stitch on.

A Guest Post by Jane Johnson.

I find that when I’m tasked with doing a lot of technical jobs at work, my creative side really rears its head and expects an artistic outlet. That’s why I picked up crocheting about 2-years ago. I find that it helps me really unwind when I pick up and devout a few hours to some stitch work.

Now when the technical side of my brain collaborates with the artistic side of my brain—which isn’t very often—I use my T-Mobile Samsung Android phone to look for crochet tools to satisfy both sides of my personality. And I’ve uncovered quite a few useful crochet apps for cross stitch and knitting that can help both stitch newbies and pearl veterans alike prefect the craft of crocheting.

Here are my tops picks for getting my stitch on…

1. Easy Stitch ($2.99 – for iPhone)

The Easy Stitch app is a tool for crochet beginners or those returning to the craft after a long hiatus. This app provides step-by-step crochet instructions accompanied by full color illustrations for learning or mastering the craft of crochet, embroidery, and knitting. The app guides you through your craft of choice with step-by-step instructions; a key that describes various crochet materials, supplies, and tools; pattern abbreviations so you can find patterns at your local craft store; a handy conversion chart to convert measurement for materials; plus a few patterns to get you started!

2. Knit/Crochet Tools ($2.01 – for Android)

The Knit/Crochet Tools app gives users access to tons of useful stitching resources—including stitch row counters, a mini-ruler for measuring materials, a calculator, references for various needle and hook sizes, the international symbols associated with crocheting and knitting, as well as crochet and knit abbreviations. This is a great tool to have on hand at your local craft store. I consult it before I make any materials purchases.

3. Crochet Handy ($0.99 – for iPhone)

The Crochet Handy app helps crafters determine exactly how much yarn they’ll need for the next crochet project. Created by Ann Budd, best-selling author of Crocheter’s Handy Guide to Yarn Requirements, this app is a must-have reference for crocheters of all skill levels. Crochet Handy provides visual yardage requirements for sizes ranging from baby to large adult for eight of the most basic and popular crocheted patterns:

• Afgans
• Caps
• Scarves
• Ponchos
• Baby sweaters
• Skirts
• Tops

I consult this app whenever I’m buying a pattern online, or buying materials at a yarn shop!

4. Crochet 101 ($2.05 – for Android)

Another great crochet app for newbies, the Crochet 101 tool will teach you the basics thanks to multimedia technology. This app provides an excellent teaching tool for newbies and intermediate crafters alike—with fully-instructional video guides; a guide to pattern reading; sample patterns for beginners; and resource tables to help you decipher, yarn types, hook sizes, and clothing sizes.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 5th, 2012 at 12:00 AM by A Guest Writer and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.