Whether you are a beginning knitter or have been knitting for 30 years, there comes a time when it's nice to feel like you have a community of knitters sitting by your side, ready to help you through a difficult project or provide creative inspiration for your next one. The internet has an abundance of websites for knitters, including thousands of knitting blogs, magazines and discussion forums. Here are four indispensable online knitting resources for knitters of all skill and experience levels.
Ravelry
Ravelry is a website of enormous scope, size and power, and once you are in you'll never look back! What is Ravelry? It's a community of knitters, crocheters, spinners and weavers who all gather together online to discuss every possible aspect of the fiber arts.
There are discussion boards, featured yarns, designers and spinners, powerful search tools to help you find the perfect project for that new yarn you just picked up, and the ability to look at pictures of everyone's finished projects. You can also put pictures and notes on your own works in progress on Ravelry, to keep track of what you are working on and to share your inspiration with others. Ravelry is brand new and still in the Beta testing phase, but you can put your name on the waiting list and will be invited to join in a short amount of time. It's well worth the wait.
Knitty
Love knitting but hate paying for knitting patterns? Knitty is the place for you. This free online knitting magazine offers a new issue for each season. Each issue features a dozen or so fun, new patterns to try along with articles, tutorials on various knitting techniques, and personal essays. If you design your own knitting patterns, Knitty is also a great place to submit your pattern to be published and shared with the knitting community.
Knitting Help
If technical instruction is what you're after, the best place to look is at Knitting Help. The free instructional videos are clear, good quality and very easy to understand. If you're a visual learner who can't figure out those line drawings in knitting books, these instructional knitting videos are the next best thing to having an experienced knitter sit beside you and help you through each step.
Knitting Daily
This daily email newsletter, produced by the good folks at Interweave Press, contains a new free knitting pattern each week and a daily blog entry from Sandi Wiseheart. Sandi discusses topics such as how to frog or rip out mistakes, how to figure out the correct size to make a sweater, why it is important to knit gauge swatches, and what it means to be a fearless knitter. With a whole lot of useful information and an equal helping of fun and good humor, Knitting Daily is a little bit of joy in your inbox each day.
With so many websites for knitters available, a community of fellow knitters who are ready to help you learn how to knit cables, find a free knitting pattern or knit your first sock are only a few mouse-clicks away whether you live in the middle of a big city or miles away from the closest village.
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