Let’s say you want to knit a hat for your 2 year old son (theoretically, ha ha!).
Would you pick the pattern you want, THEN get the yarn you need?
Or do you find some beautiful yarn, THEN find a pattern than uses it?
Curious how others go about this. 
Either way for me. I have yarn that I don’t have a project for, and patterns that I don’t have yarn for. If I see a pattern that I’m going to make right away, I’ll buy the yarn, or find it in my stash.
If I needed to make something specific, however, I’d find the pattern first and then get the yarn I need so I know I get the right weight and yardage.
If I have a specific item in mind, I’d probably pick the pattern first, then look at available (suitable) yarns.
I used to grab the yarn that I wanted & figured I find something for it. Now, generally speaking I have a project in mind, then get the yarn bc I buy 95% of my yarn from the net…BUT, when I am on vacation & checking out LYS…I get yarn bc I like it & then find a pattern for it 
[color=violet]I will usually purchase the yarn I like first… unless I’ve found a pattern that I love, then I’ll go purchase yarn specifically for that project. One of the first books my husband purchased for me was "The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd. Depending upon your gauge, the pattern is easily adjustable.
I also purchase yarn in advance so I always have pleanty on hand to knit up random projects. 
[/color]
I usually see yarn I have to have then try to get the pattern LOL although in some cases its the other way around… I usually mess up though cause I have the yarn and the pattern but they don’t match up and then I have either hats or ornaments that are HUGE!!! :rollseyes:
What Ingrid said
right now I have the yarn for like 6 projects - just trying to find the right patterns and time to work on them.
I am new to this but usually I find a project and look for a yarn. But last time I went to the store I got some yarn that I don’t know what to do with it yet.
I find a pattern first then the yarn. Only because it’s usually a pain in the arse to do it the other way around. But I still buy yarn with no pattern all the time, because, well, I’m glutton for punishment.
I really chuckled to myself on this one…I have no choice but to find patterns for yarn I already have. I can’t seem to go into a yarn store and buy yarn for an actual project. I just buy whatever yarn I love or is on sale and hope I can figure out a way to use it later!