If you’ve been into our Bristol yarn shop, No Frills Knitting, you’ve probably heard us chatting about Ravelry. You might have even heard of it yourself but never actually used it. So, what exactly is Ravelry and why is it something every knitter or crocheter should know about?
Ravelry is one of the biggest online databases of knitting and crochet patterns in the world. It's like a part pattern library, part social media platform, where almost every knitting and crochet designer, whether independent, associated with a bigger pattern house or a yarn brand (like Sandnes Garn or Knitting for Olive), uploads their designs.
You can buy knitting and crochet patterns, you can browse for new patterns and add them to your favourites list. You can keep track of your own WIPs, finished objects and future projects and see how other makers have knitted or crocheted the same pattern you want to cast on next.
Ravelry is one of the best resources for knitters and crocheters
Seriously, once you know how to use it properly, Ravelry is hands down one of the best resources out there for knitters and crocheters. We recommend it at least once a day in our knitting shop and regularly use it to look up yarn suggestions or check out the details of knitting patterns our customers want to knit.
Unfortunately, it’s not always the easiest website to get your head around. We often give out advice to beginner knitters and crocheters on how to use Ravelry, so we thought we’d share our 5 top Ravelry tips to help you get started too.
1. Ravelry works best on the largest screen you've got
There is a lot to see on Ravelry, so trust us when we say it’s a good idea to browse on a larger screen, like a laptop or iPad, rather than your phone. It makes a massive difference to your Ravelry experience, and it’s so much easier to see all the search filters and bits. Using your phone is just asking for a headache.
2. Use the ‘Advanced Search’ to find the knitting pattern you want
Ravelry works best when using the ‘Advanced Search’ function to find your next knitting project. This allows you to filter by category, yarn weight, gender, age, techniques, design characteristics… loads of options to help you if you are browsing for something specific.
Use the tick boxes down the left-hand side of the page to narrow down your search so you’re not just trawling through the thousands of patterns available.
See, patterns aren’t named by what they are exactly. For example, you may find that the ‘Textured Knit DK Sweater’ you’re searching for is actually called ‘Lucy Sweater', but you wouldn’t know that unless you’ve gone through the Advanced Search. You wouldn’t think to type in Lucy Sweater, but you could think to look for Clothing > Sweaters > Pullovers, then tick DK, Gender > Female, Age or Size > Adult, where it then shows up.
It’s a one-way ticket from endless scrolling to finding something that you actually want to knit.
3. Pay for your knitting patterns, if you can
There are loads of free knitting and crochet patterns available to download on Ravelry, and some of them are fantastic (like our free knitting patterns, obviously!). But if you can afford to, we’d always recommend supporting independent designers and paying for your knitting patterns.
See, when you buy a knitting or crochet pattern, you’re paying for so much more than the PDF. Your money helps support the design process, the hours spent writing up and editing the pattern so there’s something to work with, not to mention the professional tech editing, pattern testing, photography, and often, pattern support if you get stuck halfway through your knitting project.
Free knitting and crochet patterns are a great way to discover new designers (and are often the ‘gateway drug’ into buying more from them!), but paid-for patterns are usually more thoroughly tested and edited. Professional tech editing costs money, so it’s not always something designers can justify for no financial return.
If you’re a relatively beginner knitter or crocheter, that can make a really big difference in how fun your project is to work up. You want to be able to rely on your patterns so you can enjoy the knitting itself, rather than second-guessing the instructions because something doesn’t seem quite right.
4. Spend 20-30 minutes learning how to use Ravelry properly
We always say, make yourself a cuppa, sit down and spend a good 20-30 minutes getting to know how Ravelry works. That quick tea break is going to be invaluable once you’ve figured out how to navigate the advanced search filters, had a nosy at other people's projects and added a few knitting patterns to your favourites list. Before you know it, you’ll have discovered a thousand more patterns you want to knit right this second now.
There are plenty of YouTube tutorials around that can instruct and direct you, or you can just play around until you become familiar with it all.
5. Ravelry is a website, not an app, so view it in your browser
Finally, we know it's handy to have an app to download to your phone, and if you've searched your device's app store for Ravelry, you may well have found something. But it’s not the official one. Ravelry is a website, and any apps claiming to be Ravelry are third-party. The quality of these really does vary, so we prefer to use it through our browser.
Now you’re ready to give Ravelry a go!
As we said, there’s a lot on Ravelry, and it’s not always the easiest knitting website to navigate. But stick with it, because once you've got the hang of the Advanced Search function, learnt where things are, and have a bit of confidence in narrowing down the thousands of patterns available, you’ll never go back.
It's SO good in helping you figure out what to knit next and keeping all your knitting and crochet patterns in one place.
We use Ravelry every single day in the shop to help customers find knitting patterns, check yarn suggestions and look up pattern details so we can kit our customers out with the needles and yarn they need to get started. We genuinely think it's one of the best tools a knitter or crocheter can have - we don’t know what we’d do without it, and we're certain you'll feel the same once you're on there!