About Pattern Tamers

How it all started

Knitters follow patterns. Quite often, these patterns feature pretty detailed line-by-line instructions. If we skip a line by mistake, or repeat a line by mistake, we end up somewhere we didn't necessarily want to go.

So we try to keep track of our place in patterns. We make photocopies and put checkmarks next to each row after we've finished it. We take sticky notes and line them up with the row we're working on. We use colored marking tape, paperclips, rulers with clamps on each end—you name it—we'll try anything if we think it'll help.

Kelly Black was no exception. A working mother of three, she was constantly being interrupted and grew tired of losing her place in her patterns. But checkmarks, sticky notes, and clumsy magnet clipboards didn't suit her. She seized on the magnet concept but took it in a different, decidedly more portable direction.