iPad Knitting Apps

I have been using my ipad as my main home "computer" pretty much since I got it.  I'm not doing school work anymore, so once I get from work I'm just web surfing, and of course using it for knitting. I've found it's a really great knitting tool and there are a lot of apps out there for you to find.  These are my top favorites:

Goodreader - $4.99

Goodreader is a great pdf app.  You can open and edit any pdf.  I love it for simple patterns that don't have charts or really complicated directions.  The highlighting and strike through tools work almost magically and make it really easy to highlight just your size and strike through just one line of the pattern by taping.  You can also add text right on the pattern for notes either by drawing with your finger or typing in text.

knitCompanion - $14.99

This is the King of all knitting apps.  The price is high for an app but it can do so much, that it is really like a mini computer program.  It's great for keeping track of charts and sorting through complicated patterns.  It was just upgraded too and the new format is even easier to use. If you really want to learn all the features this app offers check out the web tutorials on the designer's website; she has a ton of videos.

Dropbox - Free for limited storage

Dropbox is an online storage app.  You can use it on any device (PC, Mac, iPad, Android, etc.), add your PDF (or any format) patterns from your computer and access them on the iPad.  Dropbox can be used on it's own to access, store and read PDF's but you can also use it to store PDF's that you access through other apps.  Goodreader and knitCompanion work directly with Dropbox. I have put tons of patterns in my dropbox and haven't reached the free storage limit.

PDF Printer - $5.99

Some patterns only are available on a website, like Knitty.com patterns.  To download them, so you can then use them in programs like knitCompanion and Goodreader, they need to be converted to PDF's.  This PDF printer works great to do just that.  You navigate to the website within the app and then virtually print it to a PDF.

Another recommendation that isn't in app form, is that if you have a lot of magazines and books that you would like to use on a virtual medium, a wireless printer/scanner would be the way to go.  Last year, I upgraded my printer after it died to a wireless one. I was then able to download a free Espon app on my ipad and scan patterns directly to it.