Patterns

Two kinds: PDF patterns you've bought or downloaded, and written patterns you type into the app yourself. Both live in the Patterns tab; both can be attached to a project; both have a reading mode that tracks where you are.

Importing a PDF

Tap Patterns → + Import. Pick a PDF from your phone (Downloads, Drive, Files, anywhere). Purl copies it into its own storage so you can delete the original if you want.

The first time you open the PDF, the app generates a page-1 thumbnail for the cover (takes a second or two); the cover shows up on the pattern card afterwards.

You can replace the auto cover with any photo via Edit details (the pencil on the pattern card).

The PDF viewer

Tap a PDF pattern to open it. The viewer has a lot of tools, see PDF tools for the deep dive. The basics:

Scroll through pages with your finger.
Pinch to zoom in. Pull to refresh isn't a thing; the page just stays where you left it.
Tools dial (the floating button): pen, marker, ruler, counters, sticky notes, bookmarks, terminology, calculator, more.
Done in the toolbar closes the drawing mode but stays in the PDF; back in the corner returns to the patterns list.

Your drawings, notes, bookmarks, and reading position are saved automatically. Close the PDF and come back days later, you land back where you were.

Writing your own pattern

Tap Patterns → + New. The editor is structured around sections + steps:

A section is a chunk like "Cuff", "Body", "Sleeve", "Increase rounds".
A step inside a section is one row or one instruction.

For each step you type a label (often the row number) and the instruction text. Steps stack up; sections stack up. As you build, the right-hand column shows what the reader will look like.

Other fields:

Title, designer (autofills from past patterns + imported PDFs), craft (knitting / crochet), photo, category, folder.
Sizes, gauge, materials: free-text, useful for the reader to see at a glance.
Abbreviations: your pattern-specific glossary (k2tog → knit 2 together). The bundled terminology glossary is available too, but per-pattern abbreviations let you override or extend.
Notes: free-text. Links get auto-detected and become tappable.

Reading a written pattern

Tap a written pattern to open the reader. Two modes:

Read mode: just scroll. Useful for skimming or referring back.
Track mode: highlights the current step. Next marks it complete and moves to the next; Prev un-marks the previous. Progress percentage at the top.

Your last-opened position is restored on return, both your current step AND your manual scroll position. If you scrolled ahead to peek at row 17 before closing, you land back at row 17 on reopen, not at your current step.

The header buttons:

Terminology: opens the glossary in the pattern's craft.
Calculator: opens the calculator (gauge, resize, shaping, skeins).
Pattern info: gauge / sizes / materials in a sheet.

Pinnable counters: tap the counters tool to add a draggable counter pill (e.g. "Decrease row", starting at 12, decrement each time). Position them wherever they're out of the way.

Sharing a pattern with a friend

Patterns you've written (not PDFs you imported, those have their own copyright) can be shared as a small .purlp file:

Open the pattern's detail / preview pane.
Share sends the .purlp via the system share sheet (email, AirDrop, Drive, etc.).
Your friend opens the file on their phone. If they have Purl installed, it opens straight in the Patterns tab and the pattern is added.

PDFs share the same way except you use your phone's normal share flow on the underlying PDF file.

Organising

Categories: Sweater, Hat, Mittens, etc. Custom; you add what you want from the picker.
Folders: groupings independent of category. A folder might be "Knit-along 2026" or "Christmas presents".
Group by: at the top of the patterns list: by craft, by designer, by category. Or none.
Sort: by recent (last-opened), by added (when you imported), by name, by usage (how many projects).
Search: folds accents, matches title / designer / category / craft.

The "Continue Reading" strip

On the Projects tab, the strip at the top shows the 3 most-recently-opened patterns that have active or planned projects. Tap one to jump straight into reading, skipping the project-detail step. The list refreshes every time you open a pattern, so your "recent crafting" stays at the top.