Review of Free Online Crochet and Knit Patterns from Various Yarn Manufacturers

Not surprisingly, yarn manufacturers have free patterns available for all to use. On their website, you can most likely find the free pattern that was on the label of the yarn. If you picked up one of the free patterns at the store then lost it before you could finish your project, you can probably find it on the manufacturer's website also. Most have easy access and you can print all the patterns you want. A few yarn manufacturers want you to register before they will let you look at the complete pattern.

I rate each website on a scale of 1 star (bad) to 5 stars (great). To be fair I looked for the same item on each website a child's sized hat that was easy to crochet.
Bernat http://www.bernat.com/pattern.php
5 stars

Bernat's requires you to sign up to be a member before they will let you have access to their free patterns. You only need to give your first and last name and an email address; you are not required to fill out the other fields. You have your choice in languages between English or Spanish. You also can choose between crochet, knit, craft or all. You can choose whether to get their e-newsletters, announcements or to let them share your information with other companies. I personally said no to all that, I just wanted to see the patterns.

The patterns are divided into categories: child, kids, ladies, accessories, boys, men, craft, home décor, baby, pets, teen, learn to and family. Each category has the choice of crochet, knit or both. Every pattern has a photo, clear directions, which type of yarn to use, and it indicates the skill level needed to make the pattern. Bernat also has a yarn converter for you to use to find the right and perfect Bernat yarn for non-Bernat patterns.

Berroco http://www.berroco.com/
2 stars

Berroco provides access to their free patterns without registering; you can however sign up for their free KnitBits newsletter. Berroco also features a blog "Notes from Nora" that is hosted by Norah Gaughan & Cirilia Rose where you can find more patterns, helpful hints advice and learn what's going on at the Berroco Design Studio.

I didn't find Berroco's website nor its patterns as easy to understand; the website and patterns are not impossible to understand, it just takes a little more effort. Berroco doesn't make it clear how to find just crochet or just knit patterns. I had to click on many patterns before I found the first crochet pattern. I quit looking after that so I don't know many more crochet patterns are on their website holds.

The categories are a little different: Top 10 free patterns, Most recent free patterns, fall & winter sweaters, spring & summer sweaters, vests, scarves, hats & accessories, bags & totes, shrugs, shawls & wraps, coats, dresses & skirts, for children & babies, men & boys, home décor, yarn crafts, felt & needle crafting, for the holidays, and poncho fever.

Cascade http://www.cascadeyarns.com/
½ star

I totally dislike Cascade Yarn's website. Their patterns are listed by the type of yarn instead of the type of project so going in you need to know which yarn you will be using, I clicked on a few of the different yarns and found a group of photos of finished products. No categories to choose from, nor was there a way to find only crochet or knit patterns. I also found by clicking on some of the photos that some lead directly to a pattern others just a bigger photo. Overall, I found this website frustrating, the only good comment I have to make is you don't have to register to use it.

Caron http://www.caron.com/
5 stars

Caron calls it's free patterns "free projects" and organizes them three different ways: knit or crochet patterns ; type of yarn ; or category. The categories are: fall/winter garments, spring/summer garments, afghans, throws & pillows, babies & children, scarves & more, ponchos, wraps & shrugs, big & beautiful-xxl and up, or craft.

The patterns are easy to understand, with photos, clear directions that do not have abbreviations and the skill level needed is clearly indicated. Caron's patterns are pdfs so you will need to download an Adobe Reader. You do not need to register to see the patterns or print them. There is a Caron Connections e-newsletter you can sign up to receive.

Coats & Clark http://www.coatsandclark.com/
3 stars

To find the free patterns from the Coats & Clark's home page, click on needlecrafts. There are many ways to search for the right and perfect pattern: by just typing in keyword(s) ; by category: crochet, knitting, hand embroidery, machine embroidery, quilting, sewing, fun crafts or free projects ; or by using drop downs to search by yarn brand, craft type, and/or project type.

I searched seven different keywords in the project search (hat, hats, child, accessories, kids, crochet, easy) and the search engine came up with zero patterns. When I tried to search using the drop down choices, I only got results when I choose free projects alone. Every other combination resulted in no hits. With the free projects, 33 patterns came up, but I found none interesting. When I clicked on the crochet project type, I was sent to a page of different project types. I then clicked on accessories and got 157 hits.

It was at this point that I finally found a free crochet hat pattern that I liked. Coats & Clark has the pattern set up to print using a Adobe Reader; the pdf page did not have a photograph of the hat. So after all my hard work I still didn't get the result I wanted. I am not particular fond of this website, but if you have patience and are able to stick with it you can find patterns that are easy to understand.

Lily http://www.sugarncream.com/
4 stars

Lily is another website that restricts its free patterns to members only. To become a member you need to give them your name and choose one of the following types of patterns: crochet, knit, craft, or all. Lily's sign up form looks a lot like Bernat's where you only are required to put your name and email account and pick a nickname. Lily's membership signup page looked so close to Bernat's that I decided to sign in with my Bernat's member nickname and password. It worked. Interesting isn't it?

I like that you can search for either crochet or knit patterns then look within a category at the patterns. The categories are ladies, kids, baby, home décor, accessories, décor/pets. The free and easy to understand patterns are available for print using Adobe Reader. I found that the pdf file did not include a photo of the project. I prefer a photo so I didn't print the excellent pattern I found.

Lion http://freecrochetpatterns.lionbrand.com/
3 ½ stars

Lion requires that you become a member before you are able to see the free patterns that are available. Before you begin the registration process, you need to enter your email address. Then you will be required to give your name, address, and come up with a password. If you want to you can opt to have a weekly pattern newsletter, monthly kid's newsletter, get on the Lion catalog list, to be notified of local crochet/knitting events, large type, text to speech browsing, or formatted for Braille display.

Let me give you the good news first: all the patterns come with a photo, clear directions, names the type of yarn needed, and it has a link that makes it possible to view the pattern as Braille input. For the annoying news: When I used the search terms +children +hat in what I thought was the free pattern section I got a mixture of free patterns and some that were to be purchased. I don't like getting all excited about a free pattern then finding out I have pay for it, not even a couple of dollars.

Pattons http://www.patonsyarns.com/
2 stars

Pattons also requires you to become one of their members before you can see their free patterns. The only required fields are your name, email address, member nickname and password; the rest you can leave blank. The form looked familiar again so I tried my password for Bernat/Lily, but it didn't work.
Once you get to Pattons' free pattern webpage you have to choose pattern category and type. Categories listed are: craft, ladies, babies, men, family, accessories, home décor, pets, child and toy. Then you pick whether you want crochet, knit or all. There were not many patterns listed under any of the categories.