The internet and digital era have given us so many amazing designers and websites for knitting / crochet patterns. I love it and have fully embraced digital patterns to the point where I haven’t bought a physical book of patterns in years. I like having all my patterns available at my fingertips.

One common complaint I hear about digital patterns, is that that you can’t notate / mark them up the same way you can with physical patterns. And it’s true, one of the great things about physical patterns for a lot of people is the ability to cross-out and make notes while you’re working. I am not one of those people. Call me weird, but I don’t like making notes in books or anything printed. I don’t like the permanency of it.

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How To Mark Up Digital Knitting/ Crochet Patterns

There are two ways I’m going to share, depending on wether the pattern is a webpage or a downloaded file like a PDF. 

You don’t need any special app or software, or really any tech skills.

The device I’m using is a 10.2 inch iPad with a 1st generation Apple Pencil. I’m also using a paper-like screen protector give a better feel when writing. 

This tutorial will work with any iPad, and really any Apple device. While I prefer doing this on the iPad due to the bigger size, I have also done this on my iPhone when I’m traveling. 

While this tutorial is specific to Apple products, there are similar features with other brands of tablets and even laptops.

I should also note that the web browser I’m using is Apple’s default Safari, rather than an installed browser like Chrome or Firefox. Although most browsers (at least the major ones) have very similar features.
The pattern that I’ll be marking up in this tutorial is my popular Small But Mighty Tote (free pattern).

How Do I Use This?

There are so many different ways you can utilize this. Basically anything you can do with a traditional pen and paper copy, you can do digitally. Some of the ways I most frequently use this include:

• Writing down the number I cast on / chained if different from the pattern
• Writing down the number of repeats I’ve done. Frequently I do this as a series of tally marks in the margins.
• Striking through the parts of the pattern that I’ve already completed. This is great for lace patterns.

The biggest advantage is that once I’m done, I can erase all of the marks when I’m finished and it’s as good as new.

How to digitally mark up a pattern on a webpage 

In the upper right hand corner of your page click on the “share” icon. Scroll down and select the “markup” option.

This will bring up a set of pens and markers/highlighters that you can use to markup the pattern to your hearts desire. You could also add text (or use the Scribble setting to convert your handwriting to text).

When you’re done with your notes, just hit “done”. It will ask to save your work as a PDF of the webpage (with your markups) and ask where you want the PDF saved to. Be sure to give it a relevant name, otherwise it will save under the date and then it gets easily lost (I speak from experience here).

Later on in Files, you can go into it like any other PDF and continue marking it up if you want. You can also delete / erase any previous markups.

How to mark up a pattern that’s a PDF

If the pattern is already a PDF (such as a pattern you’ve already downloaded), the process is very straightforward. 

Go into Files and open up your PDF. In the upper right corner, select the marker icon.

This is going to bring up that same set of pens and markers that you can use to make notes on the pattern.

After you’ve finished making your notes, hit “done”. Unlike the previous tutorial, this will not ask you to name your PDF. Instead, the mark ups will save with the PDF that’s been downloaded. These edits can also be changed later.

I hope this tutorial was helpful, let me know if you have any questions! Be sure to save and share this post!