I love Ravelry for finding patterns! It’s great to find out about problems or even what it looks like in different yarns. I also use it to look up yarn and see what people have to say about it.
I much prefer the forums here to Ravelry though. It’s nice for specialty things like a TV show, but people can get pretty snarky in some groups.
I agree with Jan! I appreciate all the direct help you get here when you are stumped for something…everyone here always has a great answer and solution. I also think this site is extremely encouraging to new knitters.
When i wanted to return to knitting after 30+ plus and couldn’t remember how to even cast on…I turned to knitting help.com and the videos got me started again!
I am on there, and the patterns are easy to find, groups, wellll, i do find folks friendlier here- i have a few groups i pop into there, i think its so big that you can get kindof lost… so each site has a different focus…
I love Ravelry because every time I start a new pattern, I can look at projects that everyone else has done & see what issues they are having.
That’s the one thing that’s different for me: those people have knit the exact pattern I’m working on, as opposed to here. Most people help out a lot here, for sure, but not everyone has knit the exact same project that I’m working on.
Either way, I think both sites are awesome & there are positive aspects to both.
I love Rav for pattern searches, yarn comparisons, and project & stash management tools! I also like what you do, being able to see my current project as worked by others. Where they put notes about the pattern and weirdnesses they found, that is.
Unlike some, I’ve been fortunate to have really good forum experience there. To me Rav vs. KH is an apples to oranges comparison. I love them both!
A different focus, well said. I joined Ravelry before I found KH, before I started to knit and was interested in crochet only. It’s so big and I wandered around and never found a place that looked inviting to me. At that time I was going to Crochetville a lot and even it wasn’t a good fit for me. I found KH and decided to ask for help when I first started knitting and found everyone to be so friendly and helpful that it never occurred to me to ask elsewhere. Ravelry can fill different needs for different people, at different times. I mostly look at patterns there.
I’m racinggirl on Ravelry. I too like the patterns, pattern notes, yarn and project management tools. I’m only in a few groups and my most active are two sock knitting groups and because they’re focused we keep on topic and help and encourage each other, so I haven’t experienced any issues there. It can, however, be incredibly overwhelming though, and I’ve found so many patterns to knit that I’ll have to live for a couple of hundred years just to make a dent in it all!
I like this site very much too, for some of the same reasons, and also because it’s smaller and more friendly. I LOVE Amy’s free videos and was so smitten with them that it took me months before I even noticed there was a FORUM tab! I’ve also knitted patterns from the extensive pattern list that’s here too.
Lot’s of good stuff on both site, I pick and chose more on Ravelry, but I read more forums and posts on this site.
I like that I don’t have to keep a notebook at home (adding to my piles) for my projects, just go to my page on Ravelry and there is the project, all the specifics and a picture. I also like that I can find patterns and how the patterns are rated as to whether or not others like the completed project.
Another thing I REALLY like is that I can search for a book/magazine I’ve used and store it in my library, so I don’t have to keep renewing it through my public library!!!
I have a Ravelry account (see my sig for a link to it) but I rarely use it. I find this forum to be friendlier and easier to maneuver through. I guess I just like using forums rather than communities like Ravelry.
I use Ravelry for finding patterns, looking at other’s projects and browsing for yarn. Like seeing how a certain yarn that you want to buy will look knitted up. I think I have over 200 patterns in my library. I belong to a sock knitting group where everybody is really friendly, but I got kicked out of the Lazy, Stupid and Godless group!
I guess I said something that wasn’t politically correct to a few folks, and the whole board just went crazy, sort of a feeding frenzy. I didn’t mind; I was holding my own, but then some of them started making some racist jokes because we have an adopted black daughter, which wasn’t cool, so when I told a few of them off with some less than elegant language, the moderator told me I could “take some time off for reflection,” and I figured I didn’t have to reflect very long to figure out that I didn’t need to spend time with cretins like that. I had already deleted myself from the group, actually, but they were gonna do it for me if I didn’t ‘behave’, I guess… Whatever, I have a million other better things to do. It was pretty funny, actually.
Yes, Ravelry is great for ideas and tracking projects. It is a world-wide area to get and give ideas and thoughts. Here at KH is smaller and easier to find answers.
Two different forums and can be used for the best parts of each.
I belong to 5 horse forums and 2 dog forums. They all have different areas of interest for my life and animals.
Good to have options for all your interests!:cheering:
I’ve also knitted patterns from the extensive pattern list that’s here too.