My grandmother never used a pattern when knitting socks. She must have had some formula in her mind. She'd start - then hold a partially knit sock up against my foot to check the size... and adjust accordingly.
Likewise, when I was in university, my Polish landlady would knit a pullover for her son every winter as he grew - also without using a pattern.
I've knit garments for years - never without using a pattern. My mother did the same.
When and why did that switch from intuition to written patterns occur? I wonder.
Formerly, when the knitting "bug" "bit" - often in winter - I'd head to a yarn shop in search of a new knitting project, the pattern and the yarn.
How different things are now!
Now I find patterns online and purchase them - often directly from the designer. They arrive immediately on my Iphone - as a digital download. Then I print them up using my printer.
The process seems truly magical. I don't understand it.
Since I started downloading patterns, I've become a fan of certain knitwear designers in different parts of the world - checking out their latest collections on Instagram or Ravelry - just as I formerly used to check out patterns in magazines and pattern books in yarn shops. Then I had no idea who the designers were.
How different from what my mother and grandmother ever experienced!
I sometimes think how shocked they would be if they could see how things are done now!
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