Can someone point me to a tutorial on using the node tool to modify a fill pattern? Ideally, I'd like to make a cross-hatch pattern, but I would even settle for thin stripes. When I use the fill pattern, I get big, thick stripes. I've searched around and have found reference to using the node tool to modify the pattern, but no directions on how to do that exactly. I'm a bit of a novice at Inkscape and graphics in general. My main use for Inkscape is in making figures for academic papers, so I don't need to do anything fancy. Still having a thin stripe or crosshatch pattern would be nice.

Also, if anyone has publicly released their inkscape patterns for others to use, it would be cool to see some!

You should see a set of handles to modify the pattern when Node edit tool is selected. The handles are in the form of a cross, rectangle and circle if I remember correctly. They should appear at the top left corner of the object with pattern, but if you don't see it there try zooming out maybe they are further away from the object, possibly top left of the page.

If the handles are too close to each other you'll have to zoom in to grab the one you want. One handle moves the pattern, you should use that one if the handles are far away from the object, to bring them closer so you can see what you're doing. The other 2 are for scaling and rotating the pattern.

You can read more in the Inkscape guide, link is in my sig.

OR, in the Fill and Stroke dialog, having clicked the Pattern icon, you'll see a dropdown list (huge) with all kinds of sizes and frequency of stripes. At the end of the list are many non-stripe patterns (checkerboard, circles, wavy, dots, etc.), which can also be adjusted as prkos indicated.

Thanks! I've been looking for those handles everywhere, but I didn't think to zoom out the page! Also, thanks for referring me to those other patterns, I hadn't seen those either.