Does anybody know a tutorial for designing the Mountain Lion background pattern?

Question

Does anybody know a tutorial for designing the OS X Mountain Lion background pattern? I am referring to this commonly used background pattern:

enter image description here

JohnB · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-21 04:03:49Z

It'll take some tweaking to get the result you want, but you can achieve something similar using the Crosshatch filter:

Step 1: Start a new document with a layer filled the color of your choice

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Result

Some fine tuning: I added a Gaussian Blur to make the crosshatches a little less harsh.

If you're alright with it not tiling nicely then you can add a gradient to the base color layer.

Result 2

Thanks John. One question: how would one know what tools should be used and what needs to be done to achieve a desired effect? Experience? Playing with lots of tools/filters? Are there any helpful books?
A combination of experience and playing with the filters. I've never tried making this before, but I recognized that the "brushed aluminum" looked similar to the effect the Crosshatch filter produces. From there I fiddled with the settings until it looked similar to the sample.
I got the same effect using motion blur with a high pixel setting. More than one way to skin a cat :)