Ravelry

Ravelry combines the best of social media with an unparalleled database of knitting and crochet patterns.

Site owners are prompt to respond to issues, and frequently implement changes to improve functionality. The site is easy to navigate. If you want only patterns, the search function will allow you to find what you need without having to participate in the forums, and if you have questions about materials and techniques there is an enormous community of crafters who are happy to help.

Putting out a blanket insult to anyone who approves of our President is 'deplorable'... Owners of businesses are foolish to put their PERSONAL politics ahead of their business. Replacements are forming now and no one will care about this racist craft site...

Tons of patterns for knitting and crochet, as well as tools for tracking your yarn and all of that patterns you want to make up. The owners built the site themselves and have worked really hard to give us a great resource for our craft!

Everytime I go in it gives the blurb that my login has been hacked, so I ask for a newlink. I put in a new password etc and I still get the run around. Not only that, the site is damned hard to navigate and I give up most of the time. The politics just added another notch in it's demise.

I was a member of Ravelry for years, contributed many pattern books from the 60s-80s to their database.

My favorite button was "ignore this thread" which I clicked whenever subjects or commentary disturbed me. Obviously not enough members used this feature because the community imploded, and rather than getting control the owners threw gasoline on the fire.

I empathize with the advertisers and independent business owners that were heavily invested here. Several have publicly stated this has hurt their business, they had no warning and choosing political sides is unprofessional.

Since I started tracking they've lost 30,085 members, and I've attached screen shots to prove it. As members close their accounts, their data leaves with them and participation numbers continue to plummet.

They can keep their illusion of superiority; better sites that are truly neutral and inclusive are quickly stepping up to replace them.

The website is very primitive both, technically and ideologically.
Ancient, low quality, non-intuitive system, very poor, extremely sloooow customer service
(with moderators taking weeks to provide technical help or advise(if at all).
Recent totalitarian rules alienating over 60mln of US voters and anyone supporting free speech, tipped the scales. Keep away from the bullies.

I've been a member of Ravelry since 2008. I accidentally stumbled upon it during a quick search, and consider myself lucky to have found it.

With the amazing pattern databases, diverse discussion threads, lots of learning opportunities, my knitting and crocheting skills have flourished.

And some literal Nazis were banned, too. How fricking great is that?

Ravelry is a necessary resource for any knitter or crocheter. Information about every yarn and pattern in existence is listed and cross referenced with users' projects, stash, and library.
An independent designer can sell their patterns through Ravelry with the site taking only a tiny percentage, and only when the designer makes a certain $ amt in sales in that particular month.
There is also an extensive list of social groups one may or may not join, many based on other hobbies & interests, or offered by local yarn shops and other industry groups, to keep one in the loop and to offer a platform for respectful discussion. The owners are doing an excellent job of curbing hate speech against marginalized folks to make Ravelry's message boards a more pleasant space for all.

If they started out this way I would have never joined. But they sucked me in, took my money, then turned into a biased bigoted whining fest for wokeness but no fairness for any difference of opinion. Why not just ban all politics? Because it's just too much fun for them to bash Christians, Jews, conservatives or anyone they disagree with.
These forums are chock full of hate hate hate, nastiness and vulgar comments, but all that is A-ok if you agree with their bigoted ideas.

What Ravelry says and how they act are two very different things. Ravelry is no longer tolerant nor inviting to all groups. I suggest other knitting communities, https://fiberkind.com/ https://www.allfreeknitting.com/ and https://www.allfreecrochet.com/ for starters.

Ravelry is a knowledge site for crafters, run by real people who are some of the best coders, UI developers, knowledge managers and customer service team I've encountered, anywhere, in a 30-year (so far) IT career. The site aims to catalogue all things yarncraft and makes massive databases of patterns, supplies, and projects available for free to its users. It is a sustainable and ethical small business, subsisting on voluntary user contributions and relevant advertising content from human-vetted small business contributors.

An originally small part of the site was its extensive forums function, which is moderated by volunteers and governed by an exceedingly well considered Community Guidelines that the rest of the social media world could stand to take a few lessons from.

I was introduced to Raveley after being taught to crochet to cope with a cancer diagnosis. I have forged some of my most important friendships due to meeting people on ravelry. Casey has done such a magnificent job creating a site that is pleasing, operational an amazing amount of the time, despite heavy traffic, formatted in a groundbreaking way so as to combine a massive database with an inclusive, safe, and friendly social media platform. The attention to detail and personal safety of all members is truly visionary.

Ravelry is a site for people to share their love of fiber arts. Pretty hard to do if some people are doxxing and harassing some of their members, and others are blowing up public boards with horrible slurs and gleefully posting "designs" promoting racism and intolerance.
I've been a member since the wild and crazy beta testing days, and I'll be with Ravelry until the day they pry my knitting needles from my cold, dead hands.
I'm not much of a political activist, but I support their policy decision and more to the point, the site is a lot nicer without those people there. Discussions of everything from pattern design to fiber content are so much lighter and peppier, now that we don't have people afraid to join the conversation.

The political patterns and forum posts have gotten out of hand in Ravelry. And if you are to comment that Ravelry is supposed to be for fiber arts, not mean, hateful political stuff, you are bullied and attacked. Never mind that this behavior violates Ravelrys terms of service, they wont do anything about it. Ravelry does not care about a safe, peaceful environment for knitting, crocheting, etc. And why would they? They make money when someone sells a pattern, regardless of its content. If you dont want your kids exposed to such nonsense, keep them away from this site.

Been using Rav for over a decade. Couldn't ask for a better fibre arts website. Just when I thought it couldn't get better, the owners stepped up and proved that not only are they fantastic internet entrepreneurs, but they're also fantastic people. They stand up for what's right. Their morals and ethics put some chicken flippers and hobby stores to shame.
Ravelry Proud. Now more than ever.

If you want a fiber arts community that fosters left wing thinking and demonizes and censors folks on the political right, then this is the place for you! This online community has become a political site. The Ravelry owner has unapologetically banned most expressions of conservative views (under the guise of tolerance and inclusion, no less), equating anyone who would express such views with haters and white supremacists. The owner will allow conservatives to stay as members, but have made it clear they will not be afforded the same privilege of expression as left-leaning members. Go elsewhere if you just want a friendly and welcoming place to share a love of fiber arts. Way too much unnecessary controversy at Ravelry.

I was a member of Ravelry for many years and used it frequently. The owners of the site decided to employ fascist tactics by banning any discussion or patterns that were pro-Trump and calling anyone that supported Trump a white supremacist yet continuing to let anti-Trump, -Christianity, -Semite patterns, posts, etc., to flourish. I want no part of that regardless of how I voted.
The good thing that has come out of their stupidity is a lot of new sites and pages that we can go to and do the exact same thing but with more contemporary design and technology.
Enjoy your hate-mongering and bullying bubble.

I have been with Ravelry since the beginning. It is a great site for everyone, just not for hate. As you can see, those who are racist are mad because they can't espouse their hate anymore and are doing all they can to bring the site down. Love will win. Inclusivness will win.

A very supportive site for yarn, but unless you are socialist and far, far left, do not dare express anything on political or religious grounds. NOTHING! Must be extremely careful with anything posted! Anything!
Used to be a wonderful site - still one of the best for knit/crochet patterns, but THAT IS ALL!

Amazing amount of patterns and other users projects to browse. Unfortunately the site has become unfriendly place for those who disagree with them. Now after the new website skin causing migraine and seizures to many users Ravelry has called those liars and refused to go back to the old one untill the problems are solved with the new one. This used to be inspirational and important place to me but now I am planing leaving it.

This site is supposedly pro-creativity, but if you design anything political that the site owners don't agree with, you'll get your patterns removed at best and banned from the site at worst. Every kind of political "craftivism" is A-OK with the owners as long as they agree with it. I quit the site on 7/15/19 and haven't been happier. May their yarn always be tangled and knotty.

I used to love Ravelry. I joined all the way back in 2009. I really hate that the main pages are filled with lesbian, gay and sexual images. This has really no place on a knitting, crochet and weaving database and website. This was the straw that broke the camels' back. I've had quite enough of the US election and all talks of Trump and all those who hate him. Politics also has no place on a crafting website. I'm not American and I was pretty sick of the forums filled with political hate against the president of the USA. But the last straw is with this gay, lesbian etc drawings on the main pages. This is waaay too much.

Ravelry used to be a welcoming, inclusive place that always had a kind word and a beautiful design to knit or crochet. Not anymore. It is now full of hate and is no longer a nice place to be. It has become a place to use foul language and spew politics. I just want to knit or crochet something to relax, not read a preachy sermon from the site owners and their "fans" on how I should think.