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As a knitter and crocheter I purchase yarn, patterns, books, needles, hooks, notions, wool wash, project bags, and plenty of other stuff. My husband occasionally marvels at my stash of crafting supplies and how much money I’ve sunk in to it. Don’t get me wrong- I’m great at hunting for bargains. But* even all those small purchases add up.

If you are looking for a great source of knit and crochet knowledge without having to spend a lot of money, I highly recommend checking out the offerings at your local library. Most libraries have a decent offering. If they don’t have what you want, many libraries take part in exchange programs. They can request a book for you from a different library, and when it’s available, you can pick it up at your local library branch. Librarians will often take suggestions for book purchases as well. It never hurts to ask.

One big benefit of pattern books in libraries is that they have gone through a proper editing process, and are (hopefully) mostly error free. On the other hand, many of the free patterns on the internet are…well…disasters. (That’s a blog post for another day.)

So check out your local library, and see what they have. You may be pleasantly surprised.

*My English teachers from years past would flay me alive for starting a sentence with “but”. I tend to be a bit lax on some of that stuff when I write blog posts.