We’ve always loved Ravelry – we appreciate the connections with knitters around the world and who wouldn’t love such a huge online library of designs and patterns from an amazing range of designers?
If we had to set out five tips for making the most of Ravelry, they’d have to be:
• Be part of the community – Enjoy seeing what a global community of fibre enthusiasts is creating – and share your projects too. Ravelry is used by knitters everywhere around the world, making our planet seem a really small place and making connections across the miles.
• Enjoy a world of design – It’s great to be able to access such a huge pattern database and find specific designers or a choice of approaches to an item using Ravelry’s advanced search features.
• What’s Hot Right Now? – We love seeing what patterns are inspiring makers in the moment with the Hot Right Now list. It’s also a good reminder that the seasons in Europe or the US are not those elsewhere in the world – helps us to think globally.
• Keep learning – Thursday Tips are a chance to learn something new in small bits every week. Even after several years of Ravelry, there are still tips and tricks that make things easier or there’ll be advice from users on things like adding photographs. It’s good to have these in small doses but, when more is needed…
• When you need help, Help’s there for you – Ravelry has a very helpful Help section. It seems so obvious but, as we all know, a Help section that speaks our own language rather than getting too technical is always a relief. And you can tell that Ravelry Help has been written by other knitters and users so it’s really clear and practical.
There are lots of other features that help and inspire us but only now, with the involvement of our new Ravelry Community Manager, Kimberly Villareal, are we really able to give our group the attention that it deserves.
It’s called i-heart-the-fibre-co and you’ll see that there are plenty of recent posts there, including a German-language thread of the Brenna KAL that came out of a Ravelry discussion. We’re keen to build up our global connections, suss out any queries on our yarns and designs and also use the group to explore new ideas.
Want to save these tip for later? Here’s a handy graphic for you to pin:
If you’re not already a member, please join us, follow a few threads and, of course, join in. And if you’re already a member, we’d love to see your works in progress and finished objects in The Fibre Co. yarns. Please share your ideas and keep in touch.