Where my stitches at?

I have been an avid knitter and crocheter for about two years now. I think the younger generation of knitters, such as myself, view the craft differently from those of older generations. For example, I use the Internet to look up patterns and techniques.

One resource I came across that I use every day is Ravelry. Ravelry is a virtual community for knitters and crocheters, which offers many resources, like forums to talk with other crafters, collections of patterns, and even a database of yarn! Ravelry is a great way to connect with other knitters and crocheters around the world. I use Ravelry frequently to ask for help when I get stuck on projects, and the members are very willing to help each other out!

Here is the Ravelry login page (Click on the photos for a larger view):

See the Boston Terrier in the middle? That's Bob. He's Ravelry's mascot! 

In order to use Ravelry's resources, you need to sign up for a free account. But after that, you can organize your own knitting and crocheting projects, yarn stash, and your needles and hooks.

This is my profile:

Profile pages are like your "home base" on Ravelry.

My profile page shows my username, my profile pictures, some information about me, a thumbnail of my blog, and a collage of some of my finished objects. It also shows how many projects I've finished, how many patterns are in my queue, how many projects, patterns, or yarns I've saved as my favorites, and how many friends I have.

This is my project page:

This is just a small sampling of some of the projects I have made.

As you can see, there are tabs across the top to navigate to the patterns, yarns, forums, and groups pages, among others. The links on the left-hand side correspond to my profile. People can see what projects I've made, projects in my queue (projects I plan on knitting but haven't started yet), projects, yarns, or patterns I have saved in my favorites, and patterns I have in my library. You can also hook up your blog to your Ravelry profile, so other Ravelers can see my blog posts, too!

The numbers underneath each project correspond to how many people have commented on my project, or have added my project to their favorites list. Cadmus, my angry cat, is my most "favorited" project, with 38 favorites!

Most people use Ravelry to search for patterns:

I spend at least an hour a day deciding what to make next!

Ravelry's search function is excellent. You can narrow down your choices to only knitting patterns or only crochet patterns, or you can choose to show only free patterns. You can search by category, keyword, or tags that other people have used to categorize their projects and patterns. Ravelry is also a great way for designers to post their patterns for sale or for free use!

Another great feature on Ravelry is the forums:

I ask people for help on the forums when I get stuck!

Ravelers love to chat. And they love to help and encourage each other too! I've used the forums many times to ask for help if I get frustrated with a pattern or don't understand the instructions. I've also used the forums to participate in "swaps," where I'm assigned a "swap partner," and we send each other themed gifts (usually yarn is involved in some way). I've kept a pen pal in Montgomery, AL from a journaling themed swap!

Another way Ravelers chat is through groups. The forums pictured above are actually the forums of specific groups that I am in. I'm in the "Yarnaholics Anonymous" group, the "College Knitters" group, the "We Love Lucy" group (a fan group for a knitting blog), and the "Boston Terrier Owners and Lovers" group. In the Boston Terriers group, for example, people like to post pictures of their dogs wearing handmade sweaters!

This is Jenny's dog, Franklin!

Ravelry provides crafters around the world with a great way to communicate and organize their crafting supplies. I even persuaded my mom to sign up! I love sharing my finished projects with fellow Ravelers, and I especially love that I can ask for help when I get stuck. I usually receive a response within an hour, since so many people use Ravelry -- 1,186,900 people, to be exact! That's a lot of crafters!

At the time of writing this post, 3,957 users were online:

There are even Ravelers in Pakistan, Romania, and Hungary!

Most of the users live in the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom. But Ravelry connects users all across the world. Ravelry also won a .NET Magazine Award for the Best Online Community, beating out both Facebook and Twitter for first place! This just goes to show that social media can help create specialized communities for any interest, not just general friend-adding ones.