Ravelry woes

[ropergirl3]

Okay, no offese to anyone, but is it just me or is Ravelry really hard to navigate?? I hear people rave about it all the time, but I have just spent about 1/2 hour there, and I am so frustrated! Yikes! Isn't there an area there to just see all the boards like here or is it more of a group place? Oh well, just checking it out, I love it here!

[missmaxx]

I'm afraid I don't understand how Ravelry is difficult to use. I guess if you're looking for a site just like the ville maybe you'd be frustrated. It isn't the place I'd go to start a CAL or discuss crochet projects. I don't use Ravelry for any of the stuff I can get here. In fact I've never been to the boards there. Ravelry is great for keeping a notebook of current and finshed projects, gathering the stuff I need to get ready for a new project, communicating with friends about their projects, and I go there FIRST to find new patterns. I love the fact I can access other folks notes on where they had problems or read their notebooks for their ideas.

I love both sites. They are both great resources for crocheters.

Happy crocheting,

[Krystal16]

I had a really hard time trying to navigate when looking for groups like there are here. I have given up on that area, as there is no organization to it, from what I see.

 

However, I absolutely love using it to keep track of my projects and to search out new patterns with a search.

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

Don't feel bad I have a hard time too I can figure out some stuff but I'm completely confused about other stuff.

[rshseaeagle]

Ropergirl3

We must have the same thought process. I just started a thread under web sites that Ravelry had actually greatly improved the search engine for free patterns.

 

You are not alone by far in finding it very difficult to navigate. I do also. I haven't been able to figure out what to do with anything other than looking for free patterns.

 

The 'ville is still by far the best forum that I have ever seen. I print all my patterns. Nothing is stored on the computer. I have lived through one to many computer crashes to ever trust them to something like my patterns.

 

You can now actually search free patterns and narrow it down to just crochet and/or search for a particular type of pattern and the search engine works pretty well. Several months ago, you had to go through all the patterns and try to figure out what was crochet.

 

I guess I am just really slow:think with the other stuff.

 

TLOL,

Toni

[ropergirl3]

thanks gals, I feel better now!!!!

[Selune]

I don't use the boards because they are just too much of a hassle. I love using Ravelry to store my project info. For me, it's especially useful when I want to continue a project or repeat a project because I can look up and see what hook size I was using. For that alone, I love it. Plus, I have a place to enter my pattern modifications or corrections and can look them up easily. Despite the boards, I love Ravelry.

 

The only thing I really wish for is a way to show your projects to non-Ravelry users.

[Elle]

Like others have said, I use Ravelry only for project info and to see what is out there that people are working on. From what little I have been able to grasp about posting there, you need to join a group and then you post on the board for that group. It's not like here where you can post wherever you want because you belong to the site as a whole. If I am incorrect in that assumption, I hope someone will correct me.

[Empress Busy Bee]

I like Ravelry a lot.

You are correct when you say it's not set up like traditional message boards. I too had a hard time at first too but with some exploring it got easier.

There are several ways you can find boards that might interest you.

The first and hopefully easiest is to go to the tab marked Groups. Then type in what you want; anything from a tv show to a type of yarn. It might come up but it might. If it doesn't come up, you might find something else you like.

Let's say you type in wool. You like the sounds of the first thing that you get. Click on that. Have a look at the board, you like it, click on the Join this Group button. Then when you come back to Ravelry just click on Forums tab and there is your new group.

Or click on the Group tab and you'll see a shiny new button banner there. Click on that and you'll be wisked to your new wool group.

Or click on your name in the top righthand corner and it'll take you to your profile and again is your new group banner for you to click on.

Still another way is to click on the My Notebook tab then you can either click on About Me or without clicking the Notebook tab let the dropdown window appear and click on the Group selection.

 

To add more groups you can go back to the Group tab, click, browse by location, tag, swaps, or a longs. All found right under the search feature.

Also you can just scroll down and look at the new groups formed.

 

Another way is to click on the Forum tab and then click Radar. It will have real time posts scroll down. Just click on something that looks interesting and then add the group if you want. You can stop the scroll if it's going to fast for you by clicking the pause button.

Be aware though that you may read things you don't want to there. So I don't recommend this way for everyone.

 

Still another way is to click on someone you like or a pattern you like, click on their name and see what groups they are in. You might like some of them and then you just click on the button, get taken to the group, join if you wish.

 

After you've joined a few groups you can go and arrange them how you like.

Click the Forum tab then click the Rearrange tab. There click on the Add New Tab tab, name it what you want like: Wool, TV, Movies, Books.

Then drag your groups to their new tabs.

 

Ravelry has many many sections for other things besides yarn, hooks, and crocheting. You can find a group for a certain tv show or book you love. There is homeschool, beading, and politics. Support groups for nearly everything.

 

Don't forget you can click in the right hand top to add projects to your favorites or your queue.

 

Oh and you don't have to join a group to post. It will say under your name Guest in Group for those that you are not in.

You CAN post wherever you want. The only exception that I know of was during the US election where they had to stop cross posting in the opposite camp boards because it got ugly on both sides as politics often does.

 

I hope this has helped you and others some and I'll be glad to help more if I can.

 

[Amy]

Yeah, Ravelry's "board" or "group" concept is totally different than what we have here. They are organized more into thousands and thousands of special interest groups: it might be those who like a particular store, a particular yarn, a particular knitting or crochet technique, or even something non-knitting or crochet related like a particular tv show.

 

You then go visit each individual group to see what discussion threads are going on there. Each of these individual groups is run by an individual user or group of users.

 

Ravelry doesn't maintain the individual groups, although they do have six main boards they monitor/maintain: Yarn, Techniques, Patterns, For the Love of Ravelry, Needlework on the Net, and one more. Or some arrangement like that anyway.

[Sugarcoatedlies]

I find the pages there take ages to load :/

[Elle]

I find the pages there take ages to load :/

 

I can see where it would take a long time to load without a high speed connection, and I don't know how someone with dial-up could ever get anywhere over there. I am glad I have a high-speed connection, and even THAT takes a while to load sometimes.

[Yarnluver]

I remember once wanting to check somebody's stuff there and found you can only get in there if you're a member, at the time there was a long waiting list. I just went back and they say one would get an "invitation" in a day, however, I'm the kind of person that I must "try" something out before I decide if I want to join, how could I judge beforehand??? That's a reason why I don't like most Yahoo groups either, after going through the whole process I found they really weren't my thing.

 

I keep track of my projects, yarns I've bought, RAOKs sent, etc. through my personal crochet journal which I keep in my laptop and through my Photobucket album, so I'm still not curious enough to "request an invitation" to see for myself what this "famous" ravelry is really all about.

[marikamum]

One nice side benefit to me of Ravelry is that at least one of my local yarn shops has a Ravelry member discount... mmmmmmm

 

I am slowly getting into arranging and posting my projects and stash on Ravelry, and I participate as a group instructor on the Learn Crochet board (much as I will pop in and answer questions on the Crochet Help board here ), there are also some Australia specific groups, which is helpful when so much pattern and yarn information on the web is US-centric with Europe being the runner-up and Australian materials etc seeming a bit of an also-ran so getting info on yarns and patterns and materials available in Oz is a definite benefit

 

The very first online community type thing I joined was Shelfari - a book oriented site. That platform is similar to Ravelry's platform, so that helped me orient to Ravelry more quickly, I think. If you think Ravelry is difficult to navigate, all I can say is - stay away from Facebook!! My mom got me onto Facebook (she is in the US, I am in Oz, it is her way to try to keep in touch on a more daily basis...) ARGH! It drives me bananas ...

 

Cheers,

[Sugarcoatedlies]

I can see where it would take a long time to load without a high speed connection, and I don't know how someone with dial-up could ever get anywhere over there. I am glad I have a high-speed connection, and even THAT takes a while to load sometimes.

 

Oh gosh, yeah I had dialup up til last year, now i'm on wireless dsl, which my brother plays video games on and slows things more >.<

[CrochetAmore]

Okay, no offese to anyone, but is it just me or is Ravelry really hard to navigate?? I hear people rave about it all the time, but I have just spent about 1/2 hour there, and I am so frustrated! Yikes! Isn't there an area there to just see all the boards like here or is it more of a group place? Oh well, just checking it out, I love it here!

 

YES IT IS!! I've been a member there for sometime and have yet to figure it out. I keep going back once every few weeks hoping something will finally "click"... but it never does.

[Roli]

Thanks Empress and Amy for the explanations. I've looked around Ravelry quite a bit but found it to be too labor-intensive and time consuming. I still prefer the 'Ville and like to keep my project notes in a notebook so I don't always have to drag out and boot up my laptop. There are so many groups and forums on the net that I could spend hours there if I didn't want to do anything else!

[rshseaeagle]

Well more of my 2 cents fellow members,

I have been clicking around and have found that the only thing there for me is possible patterns. I have so many sites like CPC that are easier to navigate that the pattern portion is a weak possibility.

 

I keep all my notes about my projects right on the pattern sheets. If I make a pattern from a book, I copy the pattern, put it in sheet protectors and put it in my notebook which contains the projects I am working on. Then any notes or modifications go right on the pattern and when I am done the pattern goes back into it's file.

 

I have heard alot of people love Ravelry for keeping track of projects and stash, I just really don't want to take what little time I have and use it for entering all that I would rather crochet and have the info right on the pattern instead of having to drag around my laptop.

 

TLOL,

Toni

[Empress Busy Bee]

Thanks Empress and Amy for the explanations.

You're welcome.

I'm glad someone took the time to read what I wrote.

 

One of the things I like about looking at patterns there is that usually more than one person has made the project. If you go to CPC (which I still love), click on a pattern for mittens, you only get that person's version and a lot of times it's only one photo.

If you go to Ravelry and click on those same mittens, you can get two to 20 or more people who've done them. You can see their photos all in one place. You can see what colors and yarns they have used to see if something different will work for you.

 

Another fun thing is the library. Not only can you enter your books and magazine, you can look at other people's. Always fun when thinking about getting a new book. Not all books and magazines are on there yet but so many are. Oh and old magazines and books, too.

 

As for entering your data, most of it is just click and pick. It's pretty easy really.

 

It's not for everyone but if you give it a little time and really put a little effort into it, it can enhance your internet and crochet experiences.

[MrsD]

I'm not an intensive Ravelry user, but that's the great thing about it -- you can use it for as little or as much as you want, and for many different reasons. For instance, I have a designer page to share my patterns, but I don't post my own fo's. I belong to one special interest group, but never check out the other message boards. Crochetville is my home, but Ravelry is like a little vacation!

[cgd]

I haven't tried to join it, in part because months ago the waiting list was forever. Is it like trying to get into a cool Manhattan night club or something? If so, they probably won't let me in!

[ropergirl3]

I guess I really need to go look at that place again just with a different mindset!!! Thanks to all of you for your input!

[kazily]

I haven't entered many of my projects & barely any of my yarn there but I do like Ravelry for patterns & seeing what people are making. Like mentioned, you can see many variations of the same pattern, which is great! It really helps when you can't decide what colors to use. When you find a favorite, add it to your favorites there or queue the pattern so you can find it again when you're ready to make it

 

It seems time consuming to enter everything there but I appreciate everyone that enters their projects & patterns that they used, or even adding the PDF pattern to be able to download it directly. I hope as time goes by that I can add more of my projects.

 

Ravelry is more of a tool for me. I am a member of several groups but I rarely post. There are so many groups that I don't think some of them are very active, or at least not as active as posting at Crochetville. Some are probably more active than others though.

 

Basically I like Ravelry but I like it for different reasons than Crochetville. For message/chat about crochet, or almost real time support, to ask a crochet related question, get help with a pattern etc, IMO Crochetville cannot be topped! I also think members are better known here because they are mostly all crocheters (or crocheters who also knit, read, chat). Ravelry is made up of crocheters & knitters & maybe even some people that do other crafts or none at all, like family members of a crafter. It's a big place with it's own niche. But so is Crochetville.

 

Thanks for the tips above empress, I didn't know some of those things. I mostly just wander around or search & then add patterns to my notebook, or print them out.

[SlowCrocheter]

I signed up but quit fooling around with it quickly.

The groups I am intested in have no activity and I use photobucket and dont care to sign up for Flicker too and it is pain to navigate too.

So no your are not alone. Maybe in time they well make it more userfriendly.

[nss]

Empress

Thanks for the info for Ravelry

I too,find it very hard to navigate