Ravelry

Hands-down, the best-designed website, built with its users in mind. Ads are minimal and targeted and don't slow down page loading. Navigation is obvious. Users are encouraged to record and track their handwork and fibre collection with clean, well-designed data entry pages and easy to use photo uploading.

Thousands of discussion forums on every topic imaginable. Knowledgeable people to answer questions about knitting, crocheting, spinning, yarn composition, pattern reading, techniques, colour choices. It's easy to reach pattern designers - they run their own forums.

Lots and lots of cat photos. The intertubes, after all, is a system of transporting cat memes.

And rav has gotten even more awesome in the past month, as the site owner has been wielding the ban-hammer. From the site rules:
" * Spreading of harmful advice, hoaxes, or other disinformation is unacceptable.
* Reviews and criticism that are genuine are always welcome. At the same time, if we suspect that you are trying to leverage the site for the purpose of harming a business or person, your posts will be deleted and your posting privileges may be affected." (source: https://www.ravelry.com/about/terms) It seems that advertising Russian porn, white supremacy, website hacking and being an all-around jerk of the first degree is acceptable on other sites? It certainly isn't at Ravelry, and the owners are proud of their classy, informative, userful website.

Ravelry has been my go-to for knitting patterns for nine years. I often get lost in perusing this site and so appreciate the talented designers and their patterns (I have purchased many). However, I have never engaged in the "social" side of Ravelry. I have never made comments to other "Ravelers", (other than a question about a pattern, perhaps). It was so upsetting to see their announcement three weeks ago. To me, it was filled with hatred and the absolute OPPOSITE of what they were claiming to do. Just because one supports a president and an administration that they don't agree with, they are called White Supremicists? The hypocrisy of their "tolerance" astounds me. Should "hate-speech" be allowed? Absolutely not! So ban the perpetrators and hateful patterns (on BOTH sides!) and move on!
I feel rather foolish that this bothered me SO much, but Ravelry was one of my "Happy Places". Not anymore. I can live without their brand of tolerance. If I could give them zero stars, I would. They have hurt so many people through this, the least being me - this won't affect me financially at all. There are spinners and disigners that will have their livelihood endangered, I wonder how that makes them feel.
Adieu, Ravelry. I will really miss you.

Ravelry is the perfect social media site for knitters/crocheters/yarncrafters. I've been a member since the site launched in beta in 2007. I've made a lot of good friends, found incredible patterns, researched yarn and techniques. It's helpful as a resource and a fun place to participate. There are always improvements and developments being made to the site, and in the rare occurrence of a bug, it is taken care of swiftly. Easy links to other platforms make sharing fast and easy. Here's an example: if you link your IG account, post a photo with #ravelry on IG, you'll get a message in your ravelry inbox asking if you'd like to import this photo to one of your project pages!
There has been some recent controversy regarding the owners' choice to make this a safe space from hate speech and racism. Unfortunately, there have been members who are hateful and cling to that hate to the point that they feel the need to lash out and harass others both on the site and off. They continue to prove what led up to this and why taking this measure was necessary. They will tell you that this is about politics, but it is not. They'll have you caught up in the paradox of tolerance, try to convince you that their beliefs are sacred, while, unlike a person's race/ethnicity/sexuality/gender, their beliefs are a choice, and a terrible one for humanity.
If you're a knitter/crocheter/etc and haven't heard of ravelry, check it out-- it's a happy, yarny, creative, and fun space.

I joined Ravelry in the very beginning when you still needed an invitation. I enjoyed the forums a lot and met many friends in them that I'm still close to. Even back then there was a lot of garbage on the site and it has only gotten worse as people have become bolder. I knew people then who wouldn't open Ravelry if their kids were in the room because they couldn't predict what kind of nastiness they would see. There is a Lazy, Stupid, and Godless group that is exactly as vile as it sounds and they are proud of it. There is a Rubberneckers group where they make fun of conversations in other groups (no groups were private). The liberals would go into conservative groups and ask an "innocent" question, then their friends would come in and pile on then they flagged our replies as offensive. Those flags were one reason given to us for having our group shut down. Most of the group was banned shortly after when we took our political discussions somewhere else. These days you can post a "$#*! Trump" hat pattern but "God is love" is hate speech. An avatar with Whatsherface holding Trump's severed head is acceptable but Betsy Ross is offensive. I deleted my account months ago but many people I know are deleting theirs now. Seems most of us don't care to be caught under a blanket statement that covers easily half of the country. They claim that being a Trump supporter automatically makes you a white supremacist but a lot of these folks aren't white at all!

For a website which brands itself as trans friendly, black friendly, democrat friendly etc, it's sad that a recent website redesign has made itself disability UNFRIENDLY. This is a community website and many knitters find comfort there... and many people with and also without underlying medical conditions are now experiencing migraine from a website in which they have never had migraine before... from any website. And some people who have had past epilepsy's have had seizures and had to give up their driving license (as the law stipulates this). Ravelry response? "Tough", get over it. They are deleting any post that shows negative feedback to their redesign effectively brushing all problems under the carpet. If you dont like the migraine inducing website... leaves is their response. Despite this being AGANST W3C web guidelines as there is NO WARNING on the front page. To top this all off... if you say anything legally ok, but against the design. The admin delete your account!. It's become a dictatorship. No consultation, no discussion, we dont like your negative (though constructive) comments, get lost. Posts and accounts deleted within 5 min to avoid anyone else noticing issues from sharing thoughts with others. And to think the owners of Rav are Democrats... Theyre behaving like Republicans censor this, censor that... What the fxxx has happened? I think all designers/sellers/buyers should quit.