23 Mobile Things #19: Hobbies

I figured this was a week to go off and find an app on my own. I just don't know enough about any of the hobbies for the suggested apps to know if the apps are any good or not. And since it had been a while since I'd looked for knitting apps, this seemed a good opportunity. I limited myself to free apps, since that's what we've been looking at so far, and I found a promising one called knitCompanion. (Which would work well for crochet too.)

For the past several years, I've been using PDF patterns rather than print copies. I've usually uploaded them to Evernote, which lets me write notes around my pattern and is available through all my devices and my desktop computer. But to annotate the pattern itself in Evernote, I'd have to subscribe to their premium service, which I wouldn't use enough to justify the expense. So I was happy to try a more knit-centric app.

I'm impressed by how much knitCompanion offers, even with the limited, free version. It connects to Dropbox, so that you can access patterns that aren't stored on your tablet to save space. There's a basic annotation ability: I can highlight text or add comments in a pop-up note. The highlighting is a bit awkward to do—I'd prefer just to swipe a finger along the desired text, but knitCompanion makes me shrink a box around it. But at least I can highlight text. (Take that, Evernote!) 

Those features are still pretty generic and would work for any PDF, but knitCompanion also had knitting-specific features. I was thrilled to see multiple knit counters, useful for when your pattern instructs you to "inc 1 st each end of every 4th row 18 times." The app lets you highlight the row you're working on, whether it's in a chart or written out. If you knit or crochet, you know how valuable this is. If you don't, let me just say that rows of pattern shorthand begin to look an awful lot alike after a while. I can see that upgrading would add more useful tools (and take away the ads), but unlike many free apps, this one isn't so limited as to be essentially useless. This app is definitely worth a closer look from knitters and crocheters.

in-between thing: youtube

Oops. I just realized that the "see alsos" at the end of YouTube videos change constantly. Between that and the fact that there are multiple videos on backwards Continental knitting (or is that Continental backwards knitting?) on YouTube, it might not be clear what video I was referring to. I meant this psychedelically-colored one:

Thing 18: YouTube & Other Online Video

I dunno...you're asking a woman who has the bare minimum Netflix subscription and hasn't watched TV in months to check out online video sites?

I think YouTube is a fine idea. It's one Thing, though, that highlights a digital divide: online video might as well not exist if you have a dial-up connection. So with my home computer not even in the running and with my laptop having a few connectivity issues, I'm doing Thing 18 off my work computer and am making sure to view only Very Inoffensive Videos.

That said, I love the "Introducing the Book" video--I'd've put it in this blog, but that would probably come across as a mite unoriginal on my part. So instead, readers of this blog (all three of you) will be treated to an instructional video on backwards knitting. I want to learn to knit backwards, so you get to learn to knit backwards. And I liked the 'see also' feature. The videos this "Backwards Knitting" video refers to include another video on the same topic but done by a Continental knitter (really, that last comment makes sense if you knit). This is a good video instruction-wise, even if it's grainy: it clearly shows how to perform the technique. What more can you ask of an instructional video?



I'm almost scared to get a fast Internet connection simply because I can see myself spending far too much time looking for interesting videos. I don't feel much urge to make videos, though. Of course, maybe that's because I haven't been exposed to enough amateur video yet.