Where do you find fresh design ideas?

Dear users and authors,
let me know where you’re currently finding your fresh design ideas.
I’m curious. :-)

Most of the time, my ideas stem from a need, and then the first images of what it should look like start to form in my mind. Or a friend who works in a clothing store gives me ideas when she tells me what customers are really into right now. That’s how the little bag for tissues came about.

Sometimes I also flip through catalogs, and that’s how new ideas come to me.

And yes, it can also happen that I see a pretty skein of yarn and immediately get an idea of what I could make with it. There are so many possibilities...

Actually, I’m not really sure. Design ideas are everywhere. Most of the time, they just strike like lightning, and then I have to act on them.

Ideas just come to me out of the blue, and then I have to get started right away. If I think about them for too long, I don’t come up with any ideas at all.

I find that when I’m talking with friends, relatives, or kids, ideas often come to me. Often, it’s based on what others want it to be.
And when I see the colors in the yarn cake, waiting to be worked up, the ideas come too—roughly what kind of pattern would go well with them.
And then the experimenting begins. But after the second or third try, I’ve got it.

And my son is an unrecognized genius when it comes to fantasy animals. I have a picture hanging here that he painted when he was 4. “The Zoo of Fantastic Animals.” Someday, I’m going to crochet every single one of these creatures for him.
The first one is in the works....

In my head ;-)

Either inspiration strikes the moment I see the yarn, or I spot something amazing that’s been industrially manufactured and think about how I can knit it myself with a personal touch.
Of course, I also have plenty of pattern books, and I think about how different elements can be combined in the most beautiful way.

Ideas come anytime, anywhere. When I’m on vacation, I check out what’s currently popular in the countries I visit—it usually takes a while before it shows up in the stores here. Trendy colors or details are combined in different ways. I ask young female colleagues what they would dress their children in and what they might be missing. Whether modern, sporty, or retro, the ideas these young women have are very diverse. I also find a lot of inspiration in old and even very old magazines, true to the motto that everything comes back eventually in one form or another. Reworked, adapted to today’s materials, remixed, and varied in new ways.
Sometimes I’m surprised myself at how different a pattern can look in another variation.

My ideas also come from my head.