Ravelry.com: Augmenting Fiber Craft Communities and Social Making with Web 2.0
A thesis presented to
the faculty of
the College of Fine Arts of Ohio University
In partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree
Master of Arts
Hannah R. Thome
May 2018
© 2018 Hannah R. Thome. All Rights Reserved. 2
This thesis titled
Ravelry.com: Augmenting Fiber Craft Communities and Social Making with Web 2.0
by
HANNAH R. THOME
has been approved for
the School of Art + Design
and the College of Fine Arts by
Samuel Dodd
Lecturer of Art History
Matthew R. Shaftel
Dean, College of Fine Arts 3
Abstract
THOME, HANNAH R., M.A., May 2018, Art History
Ravelry.com: Augmenting Fiber Craft Communities and Social Making with Web 2.0
Director of Thesis: Samuel Dodd
Ravelry.com is a social networking website for fiber crafters, launched in May
2007 by Jessica and Casey Forbes. The Forbes’ main goal had been to help makers who were previously frustrated by the insubstantial, inconsistent fiber craft information on the internet. One decade later, the site has spawned a sizable niche community of over seven and a half million dedicated members. In 2017, I surveyed over three hundred members of Ravelry.com to glean information on crafting trends within the twenty-first century. From their answers I investigate fiber arts in contemporary spaces of social making. I put my research in dialogue with craft theory, digital production and gendered craft research to explore how fiber crafting has arrived at its current incarnation. According to my survey respondents, Ravelry.com has evolved to fulfill multiple purposes in the lives of crocheters, knitters, spinners and weavers.
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Dedication
To my friends and family, especially my mother.
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Acknowledgments
First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Samuel Dodd, for his enthusiasm, encouragement and advice. I want to thank the entire Art History department at Ohio University, especially Sarah Grabner, for the continued support. My last thank you is to the Ravelry.com users who participated in my survey, without whom I would have no thesis.
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Table of Contents
Page
Abstract ...... 3 Dedication ...... 4 Acknowledgments ...... 5 List of Figures ...... 7 Introduction ...... 8 Chapter 1: Digital and Physical Spaces of Making ...... 16 Chapter 2: The “Patterns” Page Reflecting the Uses of Ravelry.com to Members ...... 36 Chapter 3: Crafting as Resistance—Another Function of Ravelry.com...... 49 Conclusion ...... 60 Figures ...... 63 References ...... 71
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List of Figures Page Figure 1. “Ravelry.com Login Page.” ...... 63 Figure 2. “Ravelry.com Shop: Ravelry Button Pack.” ...... 63 Figure 3. “Ravelry.com Forum post: Ravelry Study” ...... 64 Figure 4. “4943 Ravelers are online.” ...... 64 Figure 5. “Eye Candy: Pink.” ...... 65 Figure 6. “Groups Page.” ...... 65 Figure 7. “CAL- Crochet A Long.” ...... 66 Figure 8. “Ravelry.com Patterns Page.” ...... 66 Figure 9. “2017 superlatives.” ...... 67 Figure 10. “Road Trip Planner.” ...... 67 Figure 11. “Patterns Matching ‘harry potter’ search query.” ...... 68 Figure 12. “Pussyhat Patterns: Projects Spotlight.” ...... 68 Figure 13. “Pussyhat Project Patterns Page” ...... 69 Figure 14. “The Pussyhat Project Knit Pattern.” ...... 70
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Introduction
The login page of Ravelry.com showcases the sites light-hearted identity and ease of use, as well as referencing inside information for crafting community members (Figure
1). On the left of the screen, stylized cartoon animals play in a mountain of magenta yarn, which peaks and descends before running along the length of the webpage. The color of the yarn pile visually matches and therefore draws the eye to the circle of the Ravelry logo in the top right. The circle image before the logo name with two overlapping marks is most likely the abstraction of a yarn ball with knitting needles. It also may be a circle around a stylized letter “F;” for the Forbes husband and wife team who created
Ravelry.com.
Ravelry.com is a website driven by involved users who create and spread fiber crafting content, thus fulfilling the definition of Web 2.0.1 Due to the organic nature of fiber crafts the study of historical knitting and crochet objects is limited to deteriorated socks, cushions, and some primary writings.2 Ravelry.com displays one community’s connection to material fiber culture in the early 21st century. Members of Ravelry.com define the site as an accessible, organized, digital record keeping space. Ravelry.com also continues the historical crafting trend of community-building through physical making.
1 As suggest and defined by Darcy DiNucci, "Fragmented Future," Published by Print magazine. (1999): 1- 3. Author posted PDF on website: http://darcyd.com/fragmented_future.pdf. Jonathan Strickland, “How Web 2.0 Works,” 28 December 2007, HowStuffWorks.com. https://computer.howstuffworks.com/web- 20.htm, (accessed 17 February 2018) and David Gauntlett. Making is Connecting, the Social Meaning of Creativity, from DIY and Knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0. Cambridge: Polity Press, (2011). Print. See later chapters for more discussion on this topic. 2 See Richard Rutt’s A History of Hand Knitting Interweave Press, 2nd part. edition (June 1, 1989) for more on the spread and practice of knitting from when it is believed to have started to modern times. 9
Any person may start a Ravelry.com account, needing only a pre-existing email before choosing a username and password. There are many features of this site that only someone with a Ravelry.com account can view, including but not limited to: forums, groups, messages, and members’ projects. The simple login page does not mention much information other than the username, password, login, and join now! boxes, next to which is a small description of Ravelry.com as “a free site for knitters and crocheters.”
The animals on the login page are symbolic, referring to objects, skills, and stories from within crafting society both online and in the physical world. On the top of the yarn pile is a sheep. Sheep are the most widely and publicly recognizable creatures associated with hand crafts like knitting and crochet since yarn was traditionally made of sheep’s wool. Today, the most affordable crafting yarn is machine-made acrylic yarn. However, hand-spun wool from a variety of sheep breeds has created a niche consumer market, which Ravelry encourages by being a specialty online presence.
Below the sheep are Angora rabbits, one of the oldest types of domesticated rabbits valued for their soft, wooly fur. The short, fluffy fibers of the Angora rabbit require skill to spin and the size of the animal means the fiber is rarer. Angora rabbit yarn would be considered a luxury yarn and newcomers to fiber hand crafts may not know about or be able to afford such yarn. The next animal on the Ravelry.com login page is an alpaca, a small South American camelid also kept for its fiber. The other representative images are of a bison and angora goat, both which are involved in (usually high-end) yarn production. 10
The final animal, a Boston Terrier, is the Forbes’ long-time pet and mascot of
Ravelry.com. Named Bob, he is often featured in official website merchandise and has his own Ravelry profile page (Figure 2).3 Ravelry users even celebrate April 11 as
“Bobmas,” not just because of the furry mascot but also because that was when Jessica
Forbes “dreamed up” the idea for the website.4 Sadly, on July 11, 2017 a post on the front page of Ravelry.com (usually featuring a Ravelry-dedicated blog post called “Eye
Candy”) announced Bob had passed away. The post expressed condolences to the Forbes couple, included photos of the dog in question and had crafting patterns to honor Bob, such as dog toys and Boston Terrier stuffed toys.5
Analyzing the website “Ravelry.com” (hereafter Ravelry or Ravelry.com) will further the study of fiber craft in meaning making and knowledge sharing discourse. My thesis explores the adaptive possibilities of Ravelry.com as a valuable digital space to fiber crafters and art historians. Ravelry.com is an active, evolving archive of fiber crafting process, projects and people. Content can be altered by users and the interface of the website promotes social engagement in both physical and online realms. Mapping the parameters of Ravelry.com will show the direction of mainstream maker culture in relation to fiber arts (such as knitting, crochet, spinning and weaving).
3 “Bob,” Profile page, Ravelry.com, accessed March 8, 2018, https://www.ravelry.com/people/bob. 4 “A video message on a special day,” Unraveled (Ravelry blog), accessed March 8, 2018, http://blog.ravelry.com/2009/04/10/a-video-message-on-a-special-day/. 5 “Eye Candy: Good Boy Bob, ” Unraveled (Ravelry blog), accessed March 8, 2018, http://blog.ravelry.com/2017/07/11/eye-candy-good-boy-bob/. The emphasis on animals as both beloved pets and useful to the creation of crafts is not uncommon for Ravelry users, as there are seventy-one groups in the category of Family: Pets and Animals as of November 18, 2017 (the total of all the animal groups is around 30,000-32,000 as numbers change daily members total). Animals are just one of the niche interest groups that operate inside the digital space of Raverly.com, reflecting user interests and popular culture. 11
Sociological methods of data collection and analysis, when applied to craft making websites like Ravlery.com, continue research concerning digital and physical spaces in current crafting culture. Ravelry.com has been defined by members as valuable because of the collection of fiber art knowledge. Members explain that interacting with both the website and other members expands their fiber craft knowledge. To accurately present the impact technology has had on these makers I included sociological qualitative methods, such as an online survey (Appendix A).
Sociology and art history are not incompatible; Sarah Thornton narrated the workings of the contemporary art world, including anecdotes on Takashi Murakami’s studios in her book Seven Days in the Art World.6 Thornton used ethnography, a subset of qualitative sociology. I will also use qualitative methods such as historical analysis, comparative analysis and ethnography. I will be relying on members themselves as well as a mapping of the site/community in comparison to past fiber art communities. Artists that use fiber in their works, such as Judy Chicago, Eve Hesse and Kiki Smith, have been widely studied but are not considered “fiber artists” like Olek and Joana Vasconcelos.
Both “living histories” and fiber arts have only recently become “worthy” areas of study. There is little space for amateur artists’ opinions in the lofty grandeur of academia.
My respondents would not be considered fine artists by much of society, so I refer to the respondents as fiber crafters. The purpose of this particular paper is not to argue for the merging or separation of “fine art” and “craft.” I am an art historian in the sense that I am presenting a topic that will add to one of the multiple histories of art, but I have more
6 Sarah Thornton, Seven Days in the Art World Kirkus Media LLC, 2008. 12 interdisciplinary leanings; my research is better suited to dialogue with scholars who are not typically defined as “art historians.”
In 2017, I conducted an anonymous online survey of self-identified "crafters" who are also users of the website Ravelry.com. My respondents were all over the age of 18 and had a Ravelry account. I posted my survey on the forum 'Loose Ends,' which includes subjects somewhat relating to Ravelry.com, as a sort of miscellaneous or catch-all place for social connections. I introduced myself and explained my interest in Ravelry.com before posting the links to my survey and anonymous online consent form. Over the course of six days (November 27- December 2, 2017) I collected responses to open- ended questions that define Ravelry.com through its members (Figure 3; see Appendix
A). Any information in this thesis gleaned from that survey will be cited as:
RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017.
Ravelry.com is useful for more than its capabilities as a digital archive and social network site for fiber crafters. Ravlery.com is one case study that can connect to hundreds of other studies about past making traditions, including craft theory. If one considers creation or making the highest form of thinking, then craft can logically be counted as a way to process and present knowledge in physical form. As with “art” the term “craft” has developed a highly detailed rhetoric of its own.7 Consider Glenn
Adamson’s definition of craft:
7 RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017: respondent 36 says crafting is an “[a]ct of creativity, stress relief, providing warmth for my family, connection to the family generations before me who did what I now do.” Respondent 62 says “Crafting is life. It is making. It is achievement when other things are out of reach.” I framed this question for a more personal, rather than scholarly, definition of craft. 13
Craft only exists in motion. It is a way of doing things, not a classification of objects, institutions, or people. It is also multiple: an amalgamation of interrelated core principles, which are put into relation with one another through the overarching idea of “craft.8”
The focus of craft theory in this light is the process or act of creation with skill, material and more in mind. It could be argued that the participants in my survey and members on
Ravelry.com go through the motions that define the action of “craft.” Adamson goes on to explain these core principles as he understands them in the shifting art world. The principles are: supplemental, material, skill, pastoral and amateur. Each aspect corresponds to chapters of his book Thinking Through Craft, as complex and dynamic expansions on the theory of “craft.” Survey respondents either directly or indirectly exemplify these core principles. Their creation of contemporary crafts are supplemental or parallel to contemporary art, just as Adamson supposes “…the history of modern craft to be a mirror image to the history of modern art: a supplement to its narrative of progress and conceptual discovery.”9 Kirsty Robertson and Lisa Vinebaum warily critique the rise of crafting as integrated into fine art in their article “Crafting Community.” While the authors exhibit how fiber arts “have seen a dramatic increase in the exhibition of fiber and craft in a wide variety of prominent museums and galleries,” Ravelry.com has proven its place in contemporary craft history by gaining prominence on the Internet.10
8 Glenn Adamson, “Introduction,” in Thinking through Craft (London: Bloomsbury, 2013): 1-6.
9 Ibid., 14. 10 Kirsty Robertson and Lisa Vinebaum, “Crafting Community”, TEXTILE 14 no. 1 (2016): 2-13. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14759756.2016.1084794?needAccess=true 14
Continually returning to Adamson’s principles (supplemental, material, skill, pastoral and amateur) highlights how craft is used by Ravelry members. For example, material for fine artists has been a way to physically present conceptual ideas. This is true with Ravelry members who are presenting a loved one the gift of a scarf or hat. Knitted and crochet gifts are imbued with conceptual thoughts and “social meanings, and they
[textiles] serve to bring people together and to foster social bonds.”11 Adamson believes craft is also “pastoral,” which combines levels of meaning related to idealization, narrative and our own response to said narrative (as we exist in reality, though the pastoral exists only in a constructed work).12 Pastoral can best be connected to craft in the manner of utopian philosophy: crafters on Ravelry.com want to make something to alter the current narrative of the world, whether it be a hat for a cold child or a sweater covered in political statements. Rozsika Parker explored the connection between needlework and subversion of the patriarchal hegemony in her book The Subversive
Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine.13 She explained “[t]he processes of creativity—the finding of form for thought—have a transformative impact on the sense of self. The embroiderer holds in her hands a coherent object which exists both outside in the word and inside her head.”14 Fiber crafters may be considered amateur artists, but they easily fulfill Adamson’s definition of skill as “knowing how to make something,” with their successful fiber objects. Indeed, making something with skill “is a precondition
11 Ibid., 7. 12 Glenn Adamson, “Thinking through Craft (London: Bloomsbury, 2013): 104. 13 New edition published by New York: I.B. Tauris and Co Ltd, 2010 (first published by The Women’s Press, Ltd. in 1984). 14 Ibid., 7. 15 for all art making—one might say, its craft foundation—but at best, it seems to be taken for granted.”15 Without Ravelry.com, the study of contemporary fiber crafting and its impact on fine art and social making would be difficult.16
In this thesis, chapter one will focus on the interwoven nature of Ravelry.com as evident in how users discuss the site, their own making, and how the site promotes both community building and individuality. Though the website has international membership, most of my respondents were from the United States or The United Kingdom.17 Next, I explain Ravelry.com’s connection to Web 2.0 creativity, with the specific example of the
“patterns” page of the site. Patterns are considered necessary for fiber crafting and are a way to track making trends throughout history, so how Ravelry.com steers the current trends is vital to include. Finally, I will look at moments when the social making of fiber objects is at its most powerful, such as the visual statement of the Pussyhats at the 2017
Women’s March on Washington.
15 Ibid., 68. 16 Julia Bryan-Wilson also writes extensively on craft and collaboration, feminism and politicized craft practices. 17 See Figure 3: Ravelry.com, 2018. “Ravelry.com Forum post: Ravelry Study (Institutional Review Board Approved)” or https://www.ravelry.com/people/hthome/threads?threads=1&search=. 16
Chapter 1: Digital and Physical Spaces of Making
As of March 2018, Ravelry.com has 7,675,719 registered users, with over one million active users during the previous month (Figure 4).18 Etsy.com has 1.9 million active sellers as of February 2018, and burdastyle.com has 1,369,061 total members as of
February 12, 2018.19 These are all sites where making happen, but not all crafting sites maximize user interest combined with Web 2.0. Howard Rheingold used the term “social web” to emphasize the expansive social implications he believed the Internet had.20 Later the focus of research shifted to interactive, user-driven content exploration through the
World Wide Web. Web 2.0 was first suggested as a way to define the next stages of the
Internet by Darcy DiNucci in her article "Fragmented Future."21 DiNucci imagines a diverse set of systems in which interactivity will happen.22 In academic writing, the terms
18“Users,” Ravelry.com, last modified of March 21, 2018. https://www.ravelry.com/statistics/users. This page also has ways you can stay up-to-date on member activity, by “watching” when finished projects come up with a link to “the project radar” or involve yourself in rising discussions with “the forum radar.” Below the “What is everyone up to?” section is a world map, with online Ravelers highlighted in shades of green (the darker the green the more concentrated the number of members from that area online now. When I viewed the map at 9:18am February 21, 2018, the darkest green area was the United States, Germany was slightly darker and various countries across the globe were a light green. If users keep scrolling, they can see the “exact numbers” of members representing various countries online. At 19:19am February 21, 2018 the densest representations on Ravelry.com were from the United States--1540 members, from Germany-- 310 members, from Canada--243 members, and United Kingdom--200 members. 19Etsy.com is a social marketplace, focusing on handmade and vintage products. Burdastyle.com is a fashion and sewing pattern site. https://www.etsy.com/. http://www.burdastyle.com/. 20 Howard Rheingold, The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier, Thee MIT Press; 2 edition (October 23, 2000): 334. https://books.google.com/books?id=fr8bdUDisqAC&pg=PA334#v=onepage&q&f=false. 21 Darcy DiNucci, "Fragmented Future," Published by Print magazine. (1999): 1-3. Author posted PDF on website: http://darcyd.com/fragmented_future.pdf. 22 Ibid., 1. The term was used in 2004 at the O’Reilly Media Web 2.0 Conference with great success, see: Jonathan Strickland, “How Web 2.0 Works,” 28 December 2007. 17
“social web” and “Web 2.0” have been used to support and define sites on the Internet that are user driven in purpose.23
Web 2.0 can be explained metaphorically as a community garden rather than private allotments.24 People work in their own plots, creating their own content but the community garden can be entered by anyone with access. Web 2.0 then becomes richer in context when makers on the Internet collaborate, as if tending to this garden by connecting various websites. Ravelry.com exemplifies the capabilities of Web 2.0. With the continued expansion of human interaction, the space (or spaces) a maker works in has become a conglomeration of digital and physical elements.25 The ease of site interface, useful organizational features and ability to communicate with like-minded people in their niche community were the main explanations for why members enjoyed
Ravelry.com.26 Another factor in the formation of social handicraft communities is the increased accessibility of the Internet.
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a United Nations specialized agency, says “the total population using the Internet is 48%” but “the proportion of young
23 See also: Larry Gilbert and David R. Moore, “Building Interactivity into Web Courses: Tools for Social and Instructional Interactions,” Educational Technology 38, no3 (1998): 29-35. Megan P. Stevenson and Min Lui, “Learning a Language with Web 2.0: Exploring the Use of Social Networking Features of Foreign Language Learning Websites.” CALICO Journal 27, no. 2 (2010): 233-59. Jan Mikolaj Piskorski, A Social Strategy: How We Profit from Social Media. Princeton University Press (2014). 24 David Gauntlett. Making is Connecting, the Social Meaning of Creativity, from DIY and Knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0. Cambridge: Polity Press, (2011). Print. Page 5 25 Hine briefly discussions issues of identity and authenticity in online space on page 144 of her book Virtual Ethnography: “Where authenticity and identities are performed, a link between the offline and the online is also rendered. People speaking about who they are and what is the case are making a statement about a feature of the offline world. Rather than the Internet severing links with the offline, these links are strategic performances. The offline world is rendered as present within the online spaces of interaction.” No space is completely one or the other --yet. 26 RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017. 18 people aged 15-24 using the Internet (71%) is significantly higher than the proportion of the total population using the Internet (48%).”27 In contrast, only eight of the three hundred and five my survey respondents who identified their age were between 18-24 years old.28 The ITU also reported that at the end of 2015, 3.2 billion people were using the Internet globally, “of which 2 billion are from developing countries.”29 In the early phases of the World Wide Web and the Internet, the question was how such a space could be used as a site for research. New theories of learning, making and human interaction have surfaced because of the Internet. Christine Hine examines how the Internet can be used in fields like sociology, as both a cultural artifact and as a culture “in its own right” in her book Virtual Ethnography.30 For Hine, the Internet of 2000 is “...no more than the sum of the computers that can communicate using its language, the protocol TCP/IP.
More loosely, the term ‘Internet’ is used to denote a set of programs that enable particular kinds of communication and sharing of information.”31 From Hine, I conclude the
Internet functions as both a social object and a social culture.32
The landscape of craft in the 21st century includes not just a maker’s local community but also the terrain of an interconnected, content driven Internet. While the
27 “ITU ICT Facts and Figures 2017,” International Telecommunications Union Telecommunication Development Sector, 2017, accessed February 21, 2018. https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Pages/About.aspx 28 Or 2.62%, RavelryAsArchive Survey. Nine of my respondents identified their age range to be 75 or older, forty-five identified in the 65-74 age range, seventy-three in the 55-64 age range and the largest group was 45-54 age range, with 75 participants. Sixty participants were in the 35-44 age bracket, thirty- five in the 24-35 bracket and eight respondents were between 18-24 years old. 29 “ITU ICT Facts and Figures 2015,” International Telecommunications Union Telecommunication Development Sector, 2015, accessed February 21, 2018. https://www.itu.int/en/ITU- D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ICTFactsFigures2015.pdf 30 Christine Hine, Virtual Ethnography, London: Thousand Oaks and California: SAGE (2000). Print. 31 Ibid., 27. 32 Ibid., 34: “The Internet can usefully be considered as thoroughly social.” 19
Internet has not replaced local, non-digital crafting groups, it does offer an alternative space and community. My survey asked respondents to describe their digital and physical spaces. One hundred and forty-five respondents immediately answered ‘yes’ or explained to me the spaces where they craft when not online as per my question “Do you also participate in any local, non-digital crafting communities” (question 9). Usually the response was, “LYS,” shorthand for a local yarn store/shop. Other popular sites included: places of worship, schools, cafes, libraries, private homes and/or community centers.33
Nineteen respondents said they only ‘occasionally’ or ‘sometimes’ attend local crafting groups. One hundred and forty-three respondents said ‘no’ or that they do not attend a group at this time. Some participants said they did not have an immediate physical gathering place or know other makers willing to meet. Respondent 39 wrote, “I'd love to, but there [is] nothing much around here in real life.” Another respondent (152) explained that “No, unfortunately there aren't a lot of local options.”34
Rural geography was the cause of fewer physical crafting groups, according to respondent 113, who answered “I'm at the edge of the world, in a fairly rural area. Not
33By looking at the Daughters of Liberty spinning ‘bees,’ United States Sanitary Commission (predecessor to the American Red Cross), and African-American quilting I have gathered specific places where social craft happened in the past. Churches and private houses of upper class society members were the most common places for white women to gather. According to Gladys-Marie Fry’s book, Stitched from the Soul: Slave Quilts from the Antebellum South, enslaved African-Americans were occasionally allowed ironic ‘free time’ in which they worked on blankets or other fiber objects. When pioneering families were moving west, women had to adapt to wagons. Much of the handiwork on the frontier was done in solitary, as the spread-out homesteads did not lend themselves to easy communication. With the growth of the United States in population and territory, fiber crafting gained support in free or accessible spaces. Fiber crafting still happened in the home, but only encouraged possibly socialization with immediate family. To expand social connections, makers joined a niche community group, such as a knitting club (Stitch N’ Bitch) or a sewing circle. Places of education such as schools, universities, and libraries became sites of crafting. 34RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017. 20 many opportunities. My LYS is 1-1/2 hours away. Not making it to Knit Night, or whatever they call it, because the drive home would be too late.” 35 Ravelry.com is a digital bridge to meaningful interactions as well as practical making applications. The visual design and website layout impacts how a user explores the digital space. This thesis will engage some aspects of Ravelry.com as a user would. Recall the login page discussed in the introduction; this was the first movement a member would take to experience Ravelry.com, so the web page was friendly and simple. Ravelry.com continues this inclination throughout the website’s use of digital space.
After logging in, Ravelry users are directed to the “Home” page (Figure 5).
Projects and advertisements run along the center of the Home page, with example projects featuring user’s creations. Every few weeks, an administrator or creator of the website has a ‘themed’ post, which could be popular colors, projects or ways to use the interface of Raverly.com. The themed inspiration posts of the Raverly.com blog greet users at the Home page after they log in. “Unraveled,” an inspirational blog, can also be found on the “blog” section of Ravelry.com.36 The daily “Eye Candy” is a way to uplift and involve community members as well as engage others to create patterns or projects.
Though the employees of Ravelry.com pick the “Eye Candy” objects, the inclusion of multiple members makes the community seem more open. The Home page encourages involvement with the idea that anyone could be featured on the website’s public blog.
35 Respondent 220: “Sadly not. None in my area. But I would like to[.]” 36 http://blog.ravelry.com/. 21
The “Eye Candy” for November 9, 2017 revolved around hand crafted objects that were pink. The choices seem based on personal aesthetic, as one user named
“oharethey” mentions “…my current favorite shade, the pale peachy millennial pink.”37
However, “oharethey” references the accessibility and ease of user interface when she mentions “I found these patterns mostly by searching for projects in the color family,” which includes a link to Ravelry’s detailed site search engine.38 Before the makers and links to the features objects are project photos which dominate the post. The emphasis is on the visual cues users can take from pictures like these, and if users want to mimic that exact project, then they can click the links provided.39 In response to the question “How did you get involved in the online crafting community?” respondent 11 mentions a passing conversation with a friend, then googling Ravelry.com. She says, “[m]ust admit, the mermaid patterned fingerless gloves that features on their public page back then hooked me in - I desperately wanted to make a pair, up until I got access to the site and read [the] e-pattern and decided I didn’t actually fancy the pattern any more.” Her initial
37 Ibid., November 9, 2017 38 Ibid. 39 Alan Pipes, How to design websites (London: Laurence King, 2011), 25-35. From Pipes, I gather the layout of Ravelry.com is based on typical CSS page layouts of “
The Home page updates members Ravelry.com features with “Tips” such as
“Photo Rotating” on October 5, 2017 and “excluding in searches” on September 22,
2017, which are accessible by scrolling down through previous posts. Along the right of the Home page runs a basic search bar, “Helpful Links” box, a link to “Our marketplace” and a few banner advertisements for shops that can be found on Ravelry.com (and other online/social media marketplaces such as Etsy). The thin green bar at the top of the website houses more quick links involved in navigation and community interaction. The green navigation bar efficiently guides users to their desired section of Ravelry.com.
Within the interface, each user is free to use the site as they wish, with a few guidelines for interacting with other members. Most of the links are to the social aspects of Ravelry;
“people” will help you find friends with similar interest (or from similar geographic regions), “groups” will help you find even more specific niches for crafting (such as
“Knitters with Chinchilla[s]”) and “forums” leads to places of online discussion on a range of topics.
“Groups” are smaller, online communities under the umbrella of Ravelry.com.
Many groups are based on location (such as the San Gabriel Valley group) and encourage makers to come to a physical location for events (Figure 6).41 The groups a user has already joined are featured first on the dashboard and a record of active conversations in
40 RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017. 41 https://www.ravelry.com/groups/san-gabriel-valley-knitting-group 23 these groups is next. To find new groups, a user need only scroll or search keywords in the provided “groups search” bar.42 Many respondents meet through cyberspace and plan for local, physical world meetings through Ravelry.43 A respondent (158) mentioned she attends “monthly knitting group but we arrange our meetings on Rav.” Respondent 198 is more enthusiastic as she explains her local, physical group: “Yes- but the caveat is that I met them on Ravelry! I was looking for a local group to knit with in person and the easiest way to find them was to post on Ravelry's local forum. We have become very close friends and it wouldn't have happened without Ravelry.” Respondent 251 said her only non-digital community is because of Ravelry; she goes to “Knit meeting once a month - but we announce the meetups on ravelry and find new participants via ravelry too :-) Otherwise, no.”44 Not all local groups require or engage Ravelry.com but it is a common, easily accessible hub.
Ravelry.com has not destroyed the need for physical spaces to learn or expand fiber crafting knowledge. A few survey respondents mentioned they physically meeting versus interaction through a screen.45 Respondent 242 explained “I always prefer face-to-
42 Members of Ravelry.com can find people through the groups page, through the ‘people’ page or through the main forums. By clicking the "people" tab, users are taken to one of the many pages dedicated to Ravelry users and creating connections between these users. Members can search for a person by their Ravelry username or through their blog or other personal website. In side column on the left, members can view the "new kids" and when they recently joined Ravelry (2 hours ago, 4 hours ago, 10 hours ago, etc.). Many users have chosen to have a tiny flag icon to represent the country they are logging in from. This flag is one feature that allows users to see their “neighbors." These "neighbors" may be geographically similar, have the same taste in patterns, share similar friends or a combination of all of the above. For the user with established connections is the section about "friend’s activity," so users can continue to be involved in a making group even if someone is distant from friends or family. 43 RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017. 44 Ibid. 45 In response to “What might you tell someone interested in joining a local, non-digital crafting group?” Respondent 51: “It is a great place for face-to-face exchange.” Respondent 88: “This can be a nice way to unplug and meet with actual people face-to-face.” 24 face contact with other people, especially other knitters. It's much more gratifying to share you WIPs in person, give each other tips and feedback, etc. Social media is a sorry substitute for real human interaction.” Members of Ravelry.com also suggested the local groups are a way to get to know a different, perhaps new community. Respondent 266 said “It's nice to meet people online but even better to knit/crochet etc. with other 'like- minded' people. I enjoy the social aspect of being part of a local group.” Respondent 281 suggested combining both digital and physical crafting spaces, as many fiber crafters do.
She said “Sometimes, the personal touch sitting right next to you is better than a screen.
Definitely do both. While a digital community is fabulous, it can't take the place of meeting in person with like-minded people.”46
Fiber crafting groups exist outside of Ravelry.com as well, on other social networking sites (Figure 7). A Facebook page “CAL - Crochet A Long” is a ‘closed group’ that advertises itself as “A fun and friendly CROCHET group where we can share our passion for all things crochet and indulge our yearning for crochet delight.”47 At least
44,500 members feel that the project-based group was appealing enough to join. A
“crochet-a-long” or “CAL” is similar to a knitting, sewing or quilting circle in which members meet to make object in the same timeframe, often in the same physical space as
46 RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017. 47Figure 2: Facebook. “CAL- Crochet A Long.” Received February 14, 2018. The group has a link to their other websites, including a Ravelry page and describes themselves as “A fun and friendly CROCHET group where we can share our passion for all things crochet and indulge our yearning for crochet delight! Please read the PINNED POST at the top of the page to learn more and remember the key words are FUN And RESPECT for ALL so that we can keep this as happy a place as possible! Enjoy the CAL world – it sure is an incredible adventure!” Closed groups on Facebook are pages for groups were some content is limited to the public. One must send a request to join and wait for an Administrator of the group page to approve your request. To join the CAL group, I also had to answer a few questions about myself. 25 other members.48 Many times, large yarn manufacturing companies -such as Red Heart or
Lion Brand -sponsor and ‘host’ the CAL. This way they are continually reminding the crafters of their product. Smaller, local spinners and dyers also host CALs or KALs (Knit
A longs) for the same reason, often featuring a ‘one of a kind colorway’ that makers can buy. Pattern designers may donate a pattern to a group CAL/KAL but many times the patterns must be paid for by a member who wants to do the CAL/KAL. A CAL/KAL is similar in purpose to knitting groups that met to create charity objects which all had to be roughly the same (socks for soldiers, etc.). All the women in the group, whether digital or physical, help each other make an object via constructive feedback. The largest difference between the past and present is that most of the CAL interaction happens on the Internet through websites like Ravelry.com or Facebook.
Technique and material are the focuses of a CAL but sharing of personal experiences is almost as valuable. Often the digital storytelling revolves around which parts of the pattern were difficult and possible tips to help other members. A crocheter from New Zealand can start making the same “Granny Square” as someone from New
York, then post a picture of their work in progress or WIP.49 In some CALs the members choose different colors or types of yarn to experiment with, then report back on discussion boards, forums or blog comments, depending on the set-up of content sharing
48 More reading on this subject: Knit it together: Patterns and Inspiration for Knitting Circles by Suzyn Jackson, published by MBI Publishing Company, Minneapolis MN, (2009) and Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together Larissa Brown and Martin John Brown, published by Stewart Tabori and Chang (spring 2008). 49 Some international projects for the “Friends Around the World” categories of CAL at: https://calcrochetalong.com/friends-around-the-world-cal/ 26 platforms on a site. Within his book Making is Connecting, the Social Meaning of
Creativity, from DIY and Knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0 David Gauntlett defines
‘platforms’ as
Web 2.0 applications which encourage people to make and share content are often not very specific tools, as such, but are broad platforms. The word ‘platform’ is both the technically correct term for this kind of thing, but also the right common- sense word to describe the kind of stage which they offer for creative performance. Platforms of this kind tend not to assert a preference for particular topics or styles if material. Rather, they encourage users to express their creativity in whatever way they choose -- within a particular framework, and general type of content.50
Whichever platform is used, the main goal of a CAL is content creation and sharing for responses from the community. Crochetalong.com includes links to how-to videos and a comment thread, while others are done through Facebook. Websites with platforms that are easy to use, flexible with content generation, engage creativity and foster a sense of community in users are usually more popular.51 Elements of their physical selves’ impact
50 David Gauntlett. Making is Connecting, the Social Meaning of Creativity, from DIY and Knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2011, Page 88. 51 Ibid., 89-90. Etsy.com and BurdaStyle.com also provide spaces for makers to buy and sell crafting products. Etsy declares their mission statement is “to Keep Commerce Human.” For Etsy, the goal is to make sellers attractive to buyers, hence the focus on product imagery and security for both parties. Etsy.com has no other online spaces for social interaction and interaction in the physical realm only exists the form of ordering then receiving an object in the mail. Etsy.com is popular due to its focus on the individual maker and connecting the maker to an interested buyer. BurdayStyle.com says they are “a community website for people who sew or would like to learn how,” and that they are focusing on teaching a new generation (http://www.burdastyle.com/statics/about). This niche community may be naturally smaller since the focus is only on sewing, rather than all the fiber arts. Since BurdaStyle is a magazine, there is a heavy focus on the latest issue, which you can get patterns from electronically. There is not a ‘free’ section for patterns, but special deals flash in bars at the top and sides of the screen. The patterns for sale all seem to be posted by BurdaStyle, no mention of independent designers is made. The ‘blog’ and ‘projects’ tab makes the website feel less corporately controlled and the ‘galleries’ feature users to feel more connected. BurdaStyle, despite being heavily influenced by one company, still has valuable digital space for users to learn and discuss sewing.
27 how Ravelry.com members use digital spaces, as evident in RavelryAsArchive Survey
(2017).
Demographic questions in the RavelryAsArchive survey enabled me to address possible stereotypes or see changes in making trends. The survey asked questions such as
“Please identify your age range,” “Please describe your ethnicity/race,” “What is your occupation?” and “What is your gender identification?” I asked for members to define their gender identification, both to be inclusive and so I could respond to feminine making stereotypes. Of my 307 respondents, 303 answered, four skipped the question, one person was unsure of what I meant by “gender identification” and one person said they would prefer not to answer. One respondent identified as male. Two hundred and ninety-eight respondents identified as “female” or as a “woman” while two respondents identified as genderfluid and respondent 101 indicated he/they was “male leaning, per pronouns.” One person identified as agender, a part of the non-binary spectrum of identity. Respondent 291 explained they were “[g]ender nonbinary, designated female at birth (I use she/hers and they/them pronouns, and primarily end up using she/hers where I live now because it's a CONSERVATIVE area and I'm not looking to start any fights).”52
The implication of this response is that while the person felt comfortable sharing their gender identity in an anonymous online survey, interacting in non-digital space requires
(at the very least) adaptation and denying a part of themselves for physical and emotional
52 RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017. 28 safety.53 The respondent continued by explaining that they did not attend any local crafting spaces, other than with friends: “When I go back to my hometown and meet up with friends, there is sometimes knitting happening, but apart from that I'm not a part of any groups. (And in my town, I'm not sure I'd find one that would be welcoming to me anyway).”54 Hopefully this survey respondent will be able to find an accepting local or online group for fiber crafting. As presented by my sampling of the Ravelry community, most people involved in online crafting did identify as white women.
If a maker does not feel accepted or safe in a space where making happens, they will leave the physical space and rely on the digital space of online crafting. Respondent
128, in response to the question “Do you also participate in any local, non-digital crafting communities?” wrote: “I tried but it turns out the local knitting group is mostly racist old white ladies.” Though respondent 128 identified as white female, she obviously felt strongly about how her local crafting group treated people of color.55 Respondents 14,
180, 83 and 185 identified themselves as “black” and “African-American females,” respectively, but simply answered “no” or “not as this time” when asked about local groups. Respondent 91, who also identified as African-American, listed the multiple groups she was a part of: “I have a few knitting/crafting groups I meet up with, as well as
53 Ibid., Respondent 288 says “It might be nice if you found one that worked for you, but it can be hard to find a group of people that you like and that meets on a basis that fits your schedule. In my town, for example, there's only one yarn store, and the few times I've gone in, the staff have made me feel unwelcome due to my queerness. (Which is disappointing, because the store is better stocked than the stores in the last two places I've lived!) So it would be nice to find a friendly crafting group, but I've never been able to do it.” 54 Ibid. 55 RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017. 29 sporadically attending Weavers, Spinner and Dyers guild meetings.”56 She was the only
African-American or black respondent to also attend physical crafting groups.
Respondent 57 identified her race/ethnicity with a “?” but admitted “Not really.
I've tried local knit nights but didn't care as much for the people” when asked about crafting communities. Looking at the responses from minority identifying participants
(14 out of 297) was inconclusive, as it was split almost evenly (8 “no” or “not at this time” and 7 “yes” and an expanded list of groups they were in).57 Many respondents who identified as minority races/ethnicities did not expand on a reason for not being a part of local crafting communities. When asked, respondent 128 explained she likes
Ravelry.com (as compared to physical crafting groups) because “1 organization[,] 2 searchability, not just of new patterns but everything 3[,] enough ppl that I eventually found 'my ppl' who i chat with daily 4[,] balance of privacy and openness and the ability to control this myself 5[,] ads that are just fiber related, not generic or creepy or flashing.” Even though this respondent found her local group to be full of people she disagreed with, she found a community of like-minded individuals through a niche website like Ravelry.com.
A few respondents mentioned they prefer Internet spaces to most face-to-face interactions. When asked about physical crafting communities Respondent 287 explained she was not a part of such a group; “not really, as I'm very introverted. I attend the local wool festival, which is fun, and I'm interested in getting involved in the knitter’s guild.”
56 Ibid. 57 Ibid. 30
This respondent is still a part of the fiber handicrafting community but prefers different events and digital interaction to a regularly scheduled meet-up. Respondent 177 says
“Not really. I prefer to learn online and don't tend to combine socializing with knitting.”58
In the case of the latter respondent, she can still use the features of online crafting sites that appeal to her material making and simply avoid the ones that encourage socializing, such as the forums.
The most common place to meet for a local, non-digital crafting group is a “LYS” or “local yarn store.” There are large manufacturing chains like JOANN’s and smaller yarn shops selling specialty or high-end yarns. Yarn stores or independent spinners and dyers can register on Ravelry.com, were members can review the quality and service.
Ravelry.com offers a ‘Road Trip Planner’ for yarn enthusiasts who are traveling. The planner takes into account yarn stores that have registered with the site (Figure 10).59 The
Road Trip Planner illustrates a form of gatekeeping related to both the physical and digital world. Users can input any location into the store finder, and it is most useful when traveling to a new area. This feature fulfills member’s material needs with the store finder and encourages exploration into the fiber crafting communities in the area. If someone moved to a new city and did not know where to look for a local yarn club, typing in their city to the Trip Planner would show stores where they could start. The
Road Trip Planner also functions like a map, so if one goes a long distance for a trip, they could view yarn stores on the way to their destination, with the option for how far you
58 RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017. 59 When I was in Venice, Italy I was able to find a small, local yarn store that specialized in Italian-made yarns, because the store was registered on the Ravelry.com map. 31 want to detour. Thus, Ravelry.com fulfills a sense of adventure but also has the comfort of the familiar.
A few respondents mentioned being in a physical crafting group was not encouraging or possible.60 Some respondents have physical ailments that make traveling long distances or leaving the house difficult. Respondent 157 answered “Not at the moment as I am housebound through illness and haven't left the house for 3 1/2 years now. I have been to knitting groups in the past.” And respondent 201 shared “No, I’m pretty much house bound due to mobility issues.” One respondent (146) mentioned she learned fiber arts because “I became disabled.” For people with mobility or illness, online platforms are the easiest way to communicate to fellow crafters, if one has Internet access. Respondent 250 says (about her local crafting communities) “I tried a couple of times and I didn't really like it. I might try again now that I've moved to another city,” but when asked what she enjoys about Ravelry the same respondent says:
I like everything about Ravelry. I like the way it is organized and the way it is run, I like the low-key advertising. I like the enormous amount of information available through Ravelry, either by asking a question in one of the forums or by searching. I like the exchange of information and project sharing in groups, the knitting camaraderie. I like the friends I have made through Ravelry, some of whom I've had the pleasure of meeting in real life when I have travelled from Australia to Norway and Canada. I like the sense of community it provides. In this case she substituted what she could not find in a local social crafting group with the forums and messaging features online. The frequency of
60 Ibid. Some respondents mentioned their family situation as a reason they did not go to crafting groups in their areas. Respondent 96 said “I’m younger and just had a baby. I don’t have the time or patience to go to knitting club.” Other mothers mentioned crafting when they have a moment to themselves, like respondent 40 who said “No. Mostly I craft alone at home once the kids are in bed. Though I do bring my current project with me depending on where I’m going.” 32 crafting is so high for this survey sample because of the social support of
Ravelry.com.
Each respondent’s personal definition of craft plays a role in how often they make fiber objects. Many find a personal freedom in controlling this aspect of their lives.61 Gauntlett mentions “Indeed, comparative studies have shown that the intentionality of choosing [original source emphasis] to do a particular activity adds considerably to the pleasure, when compared to pleasant changes in circumstances which have merely happened.”62 People prefer the autonomy of personal choice, though following a pattern someone else has written to make the same object as someone else can be debated as unimaginative. Alla Myzeley argues that knitting participates in an opening up of the three binary oppositions, namely original vs. copy, public vs. private in relation to space, and heterosexual vs. homosexual in her article “The Journal of Cloth and Culture. Whip Your
Hobby into Shape: Knitting, Feminism and Construction of Gender.”63 She concludes that not craft theory holds many gray areas, but also invokes the aspect of choice:
The discussion of contemporary craft often touches upon the role of designer and the maker and the problematics of privileging one over the other……it is very important to realize that this binary (designer/maker) is in reality often blurred. The execution of a pattern involves choices, it allows for imagination to run as free as one chooses and more importantly it allows the agency and decisions to be
61 RavelryAsArchive, 2017. 62 David Gauntlett. Making is Connecting, the Social Meaning of Creativity, from DIY and Knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0, 126. 63 Alla Myzelev, “Whip Your Hobby into Shape: Knitting, Feminism and Construction of Gender,” Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture (July 1, 2009): 151. 33
made by the amateur knitter on what pattern they want to make, what yarn to choose, when to follow the pattern, and when to mix and match the yarns or the patterns.64
Personal definitions of craft explain how useful making is to each individual and their personal motivations line up with a positive use or feeling for making, thus the dedication.
David Gauntlett devotes a chapter of his book, Making is Connecting: the Social
Meaning of Creativity, from DIY and Knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0 to the idea of happiness and personal making within craft, both in the physical world and Web 2.0.
Gauntlett refers to writers William Morris and John Ruskin in the 19th century Arts and
Crafts Movement as they discussed human labor and industry. From their writings, he summarizes: “A human being can be forced to work as a ‘tool,’ following the precise instructions of their masters, making things correctly, but they are dehumanized, and their spirit is gagged.“65 William Morris lectured “[t]hat thing which I understand by real art is the expression by man of his pleasure in labour. I do not believe he can be happy in his labour without expressing that happiness; and especially is this so when he is at work at anything in which he specially excels.”66 Morris was concerned with the physical and emotional repercussions of the Industrial Revolution and advocated for ‘everyday
64 Ibid., 152 65 David Gauntlett. Making is Connecting, the Social Meaning of Creativity, from DIY and Knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0, 30. 66 From Morris’s lecture “The Art of the People,” delivered to the Birmingham Society of Arts and School of Design, February 19, 1879. William Morris gave a series of lectures in the 1870s which became a collection entitled Hopes and Fears for Art. Online archive edition: (Longmans, Green and Co. 'Pocket Library' edition, 1919, originally prepared by David Price for Project Gutenberg, and converted to XHTML by Graham Seaman). 34 creativity.’67 “Everyday creativity refers to a process which brings together at least one human mind, and the material or digital world, in the activity of making something which is novel in that context, and is a process which evokes a feeling of joy,” explains
Gauntlett.68
My survey respondents certainly evoke ‘everyday creativity.’ When asked “can you describe what does crafting means to you?” respondent 4 answered “Joy. I give away most of what I make so when I can see someone’s face when they see the time and effort and that went into my project and how much I appreciate them to do that it makes me so happy.”69 Her feeling of joy is not only for herself but for what she could give others, personalizing an object beyond what is mass produced. Another respondent (51) said “it is mostly a means to relax for me. It also makes me proud that I created something unique with my hands. It also is a great balance to my life spen[t] in academia. And knitting my own pullovers and cardigans also means that I can wear items no-one else has.”70 My respondents answered this question with varying degrees of personal depth, but all agreeing fiber crafting is part of their lives for an emotionally, mentally or physically fulfilling reason.71 Gauntlett fully supports the social aspect of making, as sharing is
67 Gauntlett, Making is Connecting, the Social Meaning of Creativity, from DIY and Knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0., 34: “But the argument shifts from the individual to the society- from the simple artist to the ‘big picture’ – by a logical route: individual self-expression is so vital that if a society creates supposedly rational systems (such as the capitalist division of labor) which do not allow a voice to people’s individual creativity, then the whole system rapidly becomes sick and degraded, like a tree in barren soil.” 68 Ibid., 76. Original author italicized for emphasis. 69 RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017. 70 Ibid. 71 Respondent 8 says that crafting is “A distraction from my anxiety,” while respondent 19 said “Crafting is like meditation for me. It is a way to pass time with meaning, and I also find it very calming.” Respondent 23 does not find crochet relaxing, but still useful to her “…I enjoy the engagement of knitting something tricky. I'm also extremely fidgety (I have autism) so the mindless sort of knitting gives me something to do with my hands so I can focus on other things and give my ears a break (I rub them a lot when I fidget or 35 needed to “...increase our engagements and connection with our social and physical environments.”72 By looking at a specific part of Ravelry.com in depth, the connections members make through fiber crafting is more easily found.
stim). I also love love love accumulating my knitted objects and looking at my Ravelry notebook. I like recording the amount of yarn I used and looking at my stats.” Respondent 40 enjoys the clarity of a finished project, she says crafting means “Sanity. A break from the demands of 4 kids, a project that actually ends and is finished (unlike laundry!).” Respondent 292 is one of many who referenced keeping busy by answering “It occupies my hands while I'm watching tv.” Respondent 297 mentions “[a]s a disabled adult, crafting makes me feel productive. It gives me self-esteem, particularly when I make things that appear to be complicated or highly detailed. I also take pleasure in being able to take vague ideas from my children and turn them into reality via my knitting or crochet.” Respondent 172, and multiple other respondents, refers to charity work as meaningful in her crafting: “It is relaxation to me. Also, most of my work goes to charities, so crafting is also a means to do good. In contrast, respondent 173 says “I don't really ascribe meaning as such to crafting. I like the feeling of accomplishment I get when I learn a new technique or finish a project to my satisfaction.” 72 David Gauntlett. Making is Connecting, the social meaning of creativity, from DIY and knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0, 2. 36
Chapter 2: The “Patterns” Page Reflecting the Uses of Ravelry.com to Members
My survey of Ravlery.com is a sampling of user interactions in current physical and digital fiber making spaces. Through Ravelry.com the level of access and dissemination of information for fiber crafters expanded, especially when compared to past ways of sharing fiber craft knowledge (books, magazines). Though some patterns do come with a price tag, Ravelry.com boasts a little over ninety thousand free crochet patterns as of February 21, 2018.73 Ravelers who visit the “Pattern” page have innumerable options when it comes to finding instructions for making a hand-crafted object. Members can use the first search bar to locate patterns “by name, designer, book, anything….” (Figure 8). If members want to browse with an advanced search a quick click takes them to a more detailed system with filterable results and drop-down categories. Categories include relevant making information, such as the type of hand craft
(crochet and/or knit), how much yarn the person wishes to use (or yardage), source types of the pattern (website, book, magazine), whether the pattern is free or paid, and other possibilities to narrow a pattern search.
While surveying Ravelry.com the Patterns section is mentioned most often by users as a database and archive. Of the 307 participants who answered question four
(“What do you like about a website like Ravelry?”), 234 mentioned the patterns feature.74
Respondent 23 wrote “I have high-functioning ASD (Asperger's) and data and databases are one of my favorite things[…] I love how comprehensive Ravelry's pattern and yarn
73 Exactly 90,299 free patterns as of February 2018. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#sort=best&craft=crochet&query= 74 That’s over three fourths of participants--76. 22%. RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017 37 databases are, and I love recording information about my projects and stash and being able to see the big picture. The social aspect isn't a big deal for me in a direct way, but people contributing their patterns is great and people putting details about their projects is really helpful when picking out yarns or choosing the yarn for a project.”75 For this user, the social aspect is a lesser draw than the categorization and record-keeping features of
Ravelry.com.
Another respondent humorously answered she likes the “[e]ndless stalking possibilities (What are my friends making and favoriting?), an easy way to keep track of stash. The pattern search features are great! (What can I make with x meters of Y weight yarn?). Also keep track of what new patterns get added every day, and check the forums for interesting threads.”76 As with any online space, there is still a certain level of
75 RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017. “Stash” is the term used to refer to a fiber crafter’s collection or yarn stash. 76 Ibid., Respondent 52. The “forum” tab leads to a page of all the “threads” or topics of conversation a user can be involved in, usually revolving around their niche interests as well as fiber arts. Most discussions are questions relating to fiber arts or opinions on current events and fandom groups. Discussions are public to users but not to anyone with Internet access. Ravelry.com has six main forum boards (with a link to the rules for these main boards pointed out at the bottom, encouraging most of all that users “DBAJ” or Don’t be a Jerk) but each group also has their own “threads” of conversation. Many of my survey participants greatly valued the set up and use of Ravelry’s forums, but respondent 294 said “it brings people together. but it also give[s] nutcases a platform - which is bothersome too.” Respondent 41 likes “Being able to look up a vast amount of patterns[sic] and see what other people's versions look like. The socializing is secondary, though I like reading others' comments.” In a touching moment, Respondent 208 shared that without Ravelry.com she could not have gotten through her husband losing his battle with cancer. She says “there is always someone who can answer your question or guide you to the right answer. The camaraderie. No one is a stranger and all are welcome. The support. You can find something in common with someone thru this craft and they understand. I have special feelings for Ravelry. When my husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, I tried “official” sites and felt as if they wanted to pat me on the head or hug me to them. I typed in pancreatic in groups and found one on Ravelry. And they saved me. They let me scream to them and they held me from afar. They listened and gave suggestions and allowed me to go thru my husband’s hell with him. And, when he died, a widow’s group was suggested that I joined and they did the same. I have tried to be there for both of those groups to help others who follow. We did not share patterns or comments on knitting. We asked if we would ever knit again? Would it come back?”
38 separation when communicating. Miscommunications happens but the Ravelry.com
Forums generally support the connectedness of the fiber crafting community and cultivate bonding. Without the social comfort of a dedicated fiber arts community,
Ravelry.com would just be a digital library of fiber craft patterns (and who is to say it would even be free?).
The Patterns page acts as a microcosm for the website’s functionality by being a place for meaning making. Digital features that are mostly customizable offer both individual expression and structure. What each participant gleans from Ravelry.com is ultimately up to them, but most find comfort in participating in social making experiences, such as Crochet A Longs or the Ravelinics games (where fiber artists attempt to complete projects during the two weeks of the Olympics). Readily available fiber crafting information, and opportunities to socially engage a supportive group with shared interests are the most appealing to users when discussing Ravelry.com.
Respondent 228 said
Where to start? Community - that's amazing. You can learn from other people so easily and get questions answered. If you can't find the answer online and don't know someone who knows how to knit, SOMEONE on Ravelry will know the answer and help out. It kind of takes the village you'd have learned from 200 yrs ago, and puts it all on your screen. Also, access to patterns, information about yarn, and ratings (that is particularly key, from a quality perspective). I did try to learn knitting once before, but had given it up as impossible because I didn't have resources or advice. Ravelry pretty much solved that problem. Also - ease of access. I don't have to go anywhere and the information is almost always right at my finger tips.”
The interface and design of Ravelry.com also helps ease members into the digital space.
Visually, the Patterns page is similar to blog layouts, with compartmentalized sections and images and/or text in each section. The ratio of images to text is about equal 39
(the text is also mostly hyperlinked ‘tags’ which send a user to another page). Members can even “personalize” their patterns search by technique.77 Included on this page are multiple suggestions for how users can find projects on Ravelry.com, such as through the popularity of a project as voted by other members. A popularity feed on the page reveals the social connection makers have to community sharing of patterns. There is a sense of kinship when a user can share their experience with a pattern deemed special in some way by thousands of other crafters.78 Users can ‘favorite’ patterns to show their interest or to save and come back to later. The “hot right now” section of the patterns tab has a changing feed of various patterns and then the number of favorites this pattern has. Users can search by the most ‘favorited’ pattern or by which pattern has recently received favorites. In early 2018, Ravelry.com did a review of the trends from the previous year with the “2017 superlatives.” The pattern/object “most knit” by users was the “PussyHat
Project” designed by member katcoyle, whose significance I will discuss later (Figure
9).79 By being able to visually and physically (by making a ‘favorite’ object) ‘follow’ popular trends, users can interact in both digital and physical spaces.
77 For example, I have been a member of Ravelry.com since September 2013 and I only crochet, so I only search patterns for crocheted object. By personalizing this aspect of the ‘patterns’ page I will have reduced typical search time and avoided redundancy when using the search bar. My preference is saved but can be altered at any time. 78 According to 98 PATTERN BOOKS FOR EMBROIDERY, LACE, AND KNITTING or 98 Mønsterbøger til Broderi, Knipling og Strikning by Charlotte Paludan and Lone de Hemmer Egeberg, the earliest of all known pattern books was published in 1524. The earliest published English knitting pattern appeared in Natura Exenterata: or Nature Unbowelled, which was printed in London in 1655, according to Richard Rutt’s A History of Hand Knitting. Slave women in America learned patterns from both other slave women and their white mistresses, according to Floris Barnett Cash in “Kinship and Quilting: An Examination of an African-American Tradition,” The University of Chicago Press, Journal of Negro History, Vol. 80, No. 1, (Winter, 1995) and Gladys-Marie Fry, Stitched from the Soul: Slave Quilts from the Antebellum South, The University of North Carolina Press (2002). Originally published by Penguin Books USA, Inc, New York, (1990). 79 Home page: https://www.ravelry.com/. 40
Ravelry.com offers a ‘bookmarklet,’ which is a bookmark bar feature that can be added to a web browser bar. With this addition to a user’s browser they can connect to
Ravelry, even when users are searching other areas of the Internet for patterns. The
‘bookmarklet’ is a way to cross reference what is on Ravelry.com with searches and information from other websites. On the patterns page there is also a visual feed that has rotating images of “recently added patterns” that can be narrowed down by category of object (doll, hat, scarf, bag, booties, cowl, top, vest etc.). The ‘categories’ section of the pattern search page is the most extensive, with over two hundred categories for creations by members or advertised pattern descriptions.
Survey respondent said they usually make garments, including sweaters, hats and socks.80 Often, the objects were meant to be gifts for family and friends, so the color and material is altered on a person-by-person basis. “I make everything,” says respondent 13,
“I make a lot of hats because I live in Portland so nearly everyone in my family wears a beanie every day. I make mitts because my kids lose them. But my favorite thing to make is scarves and shawls, particularly those with lace patterns requiring concentration.”81
Not only is the respondent aware of what the people around her need but she knows she enjoys a challenge when it comes to making fiber crafts. Many respondents mentioned
80 RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017. Respondent 296 said “I usually make socks for myself or shawls and scarves for others. I like blues and pinks. I enjoy knitting with wool, silk, or acrylic.” Respondent 302 said “I'm mostly knitting these days. I knit light-weight lace scarves, and shawls, because I live in a place where it doesn't get too cold in the winters, but a little something at the neck is always welcome. I also knit sweaters for me, just to have a bigger project on the needles. I knit socks for myself and friends, as 'traveling projects', often using yarn that I buy as souvenirs when I travel. I use natural animal fibers mostly. And colorwise, I lean towards a cool palette, and/or natural colors.” Respondent 274 answered “274 Mittens, hats, socks, shawls, scarves, make yarn for said objects as well. Mostly prefer jewel or earth tones, cool colors, a really rich red with a touch of blue, or sunset colors with blues.” 81 Ibid. 41 they make “everything” or have “no preference” for what they make.82 When
Ravelry.com celebrated their four millionth member in 2014, they released a “page of interesting facts about Rav.”83 This page included a graph of the “color families used in garments,” and the most popular were cool colors: blue, green and purple.84
My survey finds that this has not changed much in the past few years.
Respondents prefer “jewel tones” and cool colors.85 “I usually make shawls, hats, and mittens,” says Respondent 299 “I've made soft toys, as well, using my handspun yarn.
Colors are whatever someone would like, and for myself, colors kind of reflect my current favorites- mostly purples, lavenders, greens, and deep blues. Jewel tones, mostly.” Since survey respondents also like using “bright colors,” jewel tones, or tones that resemble those of gemstones, make sense.86 Independent designers can also use this information to stay updated on the latest fiber trends.
As an effort to stay current, new designs by “featured advertisers” rotate in the top right corner. Advertisers can be featured on the pattern page with an image no more than two inches on either side.87 The image is a hyperlink to patterns and projects created by
82 RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017. Respondent 40: “I love working with wool. I make pretty much everything - hats, mitts, socks, sweaters, the occasional baby blanket....” Respondent 173 says “I tend to make a variety of smaller objects (Socks, scarves, etc.) and work on one large Project simultaneously. I have no personal color preference but try to fit the colors to the Project, Purpose and Recipient.” 83 https://www.ravelry.com/about/fourmillion. 84 Ibid. 85 RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017. 12 people used the term “jewel tones” specifically. 86 Respondent 108 said she prefers “Bright colors. The more rainbow the better. I like wools, but will use synthetic as necessary for the project. I prefer socks, sweaters/cardigans, although other accessories appear[.]” 87 In her article “How Ravelry Works,” Stephanie Crawford explains “Ravelry's sponsors are regular site members who pay monthly rates to place their ads throughout the Web site. Advertisers are encouraged to submit useful and attractive ads, which go through an approval process before they're posted. Ads range from $5 per month for yarn purchase links to $40 per half-month for a 225-by-175-pixel ad displaying a 42 individuals or various small businesses. Ravelry has separated all the patterns that are available online to Ravelry members, though some have paid content. “Ravelry downloads” are online formatted patterns that can be saved to a member’s Ravelry
‘library’ or online personal database. Respondent 302 describes the usefulness of digital patterns thusly:
It [Ravelry.com] is a compendium of knowledge at your fingertips. Also, it's a storehouse of all the knitting lore that I've explored and purchased. My patterns are never lost. Anything I've ever bought in their marketplace sits right in my library[sic] and is available (unlike hard-copy patterns that I buy, and then forget where I've put them). Also, it's a community of like-minded crafters. It's given me an outlet for my knitting; once I realized I really don't need any more scarves, I discovered that there were folks who needed help tweaking patterns, and I was into a whole new world of knitting adventures.”88
Respondent 302 mentions a typical downside to pattern books: they can be misplaced or ruins and clutter up space.89 While pattern books have not gone out of style completely, many publishers offer an ‘ebook’ version for members to buy. The patterns available as Ravelry.com downloads allow storage specifically through Ravelry but users
featured pattern. Advertisers can also sponsor groups and provide charge-per-click links to their online stores.” (https://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/social-networking/networks/ravelry2.htm page 2-3) 88 RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017. 89 Other sources on pattern book and fiber craft history: Rutt, Richard’s A History of Hand Knitting. (Loveland, Colorado: Interweave Press,1987). Irena, Turnau, “The Knitting Crafts in Europe from the Thirteenth to the Eighteenth Century,” (The Bulletin of the Needle and Bobbin Club: Volume 65, (1982): 20-43). Joy Spanabel Emery, A History of the Paper Pattern Industry: The Home Dressmaking Revolution (London: Oxford, Bloomsbury Academic, 2014). Florence M. Montgomery, Textiles in America, 1650-1870: A Dictionary Based on Original Documents: Prints and Paintings, Commercial Records, American Merchants' Papers, Shopkeepers' Advertisements, and Pattern Books with Original Swatches of Cloth" (New York: Norton, 1984). See also: The Commercial Patterns Archive at https://copa.apps.uri.edu/. 43 also can download it to their computer as well. Instead of visiting multiple blogs or websites to search for one pattern, many designs are one click through Ravelry.com.90
Because of the importance of patterns to the fiber crafting community, the
Patterns page is a hub of links to other sections of Ravelry.com. If you did not ‘favorite’ a pattern or save it in your ‘library’ you can always go to your pattern search history. The
“my notebook” feature on Ravelry.com may be the most useful as a personal archive. In a user’s “notebook” are the links or PDFs of patterns they have saved or favorited, projects they have done and uploaded and other organizational tabs. Many survey users cited the
Projects page area of their notebook as vital to their use of Ravery.com. Each level of the notebook is customizable, there is even a page to keep track of all fiber related purchases made through Ravelry.com. Each completed or WIP (work in progress) item can be entered into a user’s project page, which other users can view. The user who uploaded the photo of their project can share the yarn they used (tagging it so it can be easily found by others in the Ravelry yarn databases), what pattern they used and if they had any tips or difficulties.
While Ravelry.com is an archived database, it is mostly user-created knowledge.
If a user does not detail how they made an item, it will be harder for others to glean any information for their own projects. Ravelry even takes the ‘tags’ or labelling elements that describe items on the site into consideration when choosing you “new pattern highlights.” These highlights are based on words used in a member’s ‘favorited’ pattern
90 No doubt based on my personalized preference for crochet patterns Ravelry also proudly declares “crochet designers on ravelry! Designers have made 322760 patterns available as Ravelry downloads.” 44 as well as projects a member themselves has made. By staying within a user’s personal aesthetic and vocabulary Ravelry can continue to provide ‘new’ or better organized content without leading to disinterest from a user.91 Finally, a randomly generated term then multiple patterns and projects, represented by hyperlinked images, are suggested in the “something random” search section of the patterns page. This may help members who need inspiration or are looking for something outside of their normal crafting experience; or who may just be bored and wanting to browse something visually different from their
‘library’ or ‘highlights.’92
Traveling through the online space of Ravelry.com requires only basic knowledge of how user-driven content sites work, and the website offers many tutorials. Projects, patterns and information about yarn is all added or edited by uses with the click of a comment or rating button. Ease is a big draw to Ravelry.com, as well as free membership
(Craftsy.com offers a free trail but crafting lessons range from $9.99- $69.99).93 Not only is Ravelry.com easy to use as a digital site, it is also easy to find communities within the larger niche of ‘fiber craft.’ As discusses in the previous chapter Ravelry.com hosts
“groups” or online clubs that have their own separate threads of conversation. Other
91 For example, many of my past ‘projects’ or items I have made and then described using Ravelry technology use more than one color, often earth tones. Because of this, in my pattern ‘highlight’ feed are patterns using yarn that have a similar color schemes but are not patterns I have already saved in my library. Projects or patterns can be marked with multiple ‘tags,’ or links. These links to project pages need not be just relating to the color or category of a made object but also more specific descriptors. The ‘tag’ search bar page explains in this way “Come up with a tag name an[d] try it above! Examples: blue, dog, alpaca, cabled, felted. You can search for projects that include several tags: baby ears hat You can exclude tags with an minus sign (-): norwegian -mittens “ from https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/crochet/tag. 92 On November 24, 2017 Ravelry suggested “stranded: multi-color knitting with all yarn used in the row/round carried across the back of the work” as a random category for me to browse. 93 https://www.craftsy.com/ideas/unlimited 45 groups revolve around favorite yarn, pattern designers, animals, books, TV shows, movies and more.94 While fiber arts are the common ‘threads’ between these groups (as the group’s forums and posts are housed on Ravelry.com), often the personal interests expand and deepen making experiences.
Ravelry.com was used in a recent study on fancrafting and textiles in Brigid
Cherry’s book “Cult Media, Fandom, and Textiles: Handicrafting as Fan Art.”95 She concludes:
Firstly, it is a communal activity [fiber crafting], just as fan culture is-- and the social web [or Web 2.0] has provided an environment in which online interactions have flourished. It is also important to note in this respect that through Stitch ‘n Bitch groups, knit-ins, and other knit groups, handicrafting has become a social activity… but the increase in social crafting facilitated by the social web is noteworthy.96
Of the many topics that Ravelry.com members bond over, fan culture is one of them.
Respondent 280 mentioned, in answer to the question “why did you learn crochet, knitting, weaving, spinning, felting or other fiber craft?” that “I wished to make a scarf for my partner as he had recently bought me a Harry Potter Ravenclaw scarf, and I couldn't find a Hufflepuff house one for him in kind.”97 Respondent 280 learned a new skill to create her own interpretation of the Harry Potter fandom as a gift.
94 https://www.ravelry.com/groups 95Brigid Cherry, Cult Media, Fandom, and Textiles: Handicrafting as Fan Art (NewYork: Bloomsbury Academic. 2016). 96 Ibid.,3. 97 RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017. Respondent 122 mentioned sewing as important to her fan creations: “Crafting is such a huge part of my life. In the Summer I sew. I make huge elaborate cosplay (costumes based on anime/comics/video games) and compete in craftsmanship competitions with them. I spend hundreds of hours making these outfits to wear to conventions. Knitting I do for relaxation in the winter to recover from sewing burn out. Both of these are integral parts of my life. With out my sewing 46
Another fan community that came up in my survey was for Doctor Who, the
British science fiction TV show. Respondent 221 said “I wanted a Doctor Who scarf,” which is assumed to be the famous, almost-24-foot long Tom Baker scarf.98 Cherry explains “…any and all representations of handicrafting in popular culture take on significance when closely observed by handicrafters (although they may never become iconic).”99 Other studies of identity and material culture are referenced in Cherry’s book, such as Ian Woodward’s Understanding Material Culture.100 Woodward sets up how material objects assist in the formation and performance of self and social identities in his chapter “Objects in Action.”101 Cherry continues this idea and connects it with fancrafting because
[c]lothing can thus be important in establishing a collective fan identity, though unlike vampire or steampunk fans many fans do not dress in ways that make them stand out as having a subcultural identity. However, handicrafters-- by wearing, using or displaying their own work-- are already declaring their identity as a handicrafter.102
There are 105 matches for ‘Harry Potter’ groups and 642 knit/crochet patterns in the database on Ravelry.com (Figure 11). Though the scarves and specific patterns are not mentioned in the books, fiber crafters Ravelry.com encourages multiple fandoms and
and cosplay my summers would be long and boring. And without knitting my winters would be the same. I've made many friends through these hobbies and a lot of my social circle exists because of that.” 98 According to Tom Baker, a member of costuming staff named Begonia Pope was given multiple balls of yarn and simply told to “make a scarf.” Pope assumed she was meant to use all the yarn, and thus the super long scarf was born. This part of Doctor Who fandom lore has inspired knitters since 1974. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjEtD0PDvoM 99 Brigid Cherry, Cult media, fandom, and textiles: handicrafting as fan art (NewYork: Bloomsbury Academic. 2016), 3. 100 See also: Ian Woodward, Understanding Material Culture (SAGE Publications Ltd, 2007). 101 Ibid. 102 Brigid Cherry, Cult media, Fandom, and Textiles: Handicrafting as Fan Art (NewYork: Bloomsbury Academic. 2016), 21. 47 niche interests. Many of my respondents said they learned how to knit or crochet to be closer to a family member or friend.103 They might not have learned or become interested in learning without the emotional connection to a loved one. Some respondents were required to learn fiber handicrafting in school.104 Respondents also relate that after they learned fiber crafting, it was a way to spend time with people important to them.
Respondent 83 said “I learned to crochet and knit because several women in my family did, and as a way of making garments and accessories,” and respondent 91 answered
“Because the 3 living generations of women did these things.” Respondent 122 said “to spend time with my grandma.”
The “Patterns” aspect of Ravelry.com proves fiber knowledge is spread digitally then physically enacted by fiber crafters. Sometimes, this physical action is part of a conscious effort to resist repression. None of my respondents outright said “I learned crafting to fight the patriarchy” or anything explicitly political but by making a conscious effort to create fiber crafts they are following a tradition of resistance. Social crafting
103 RavelryAsSurvey, 2017. 104 Respondent 59 mentioned some educational and cultural differences; she learned to knit “[b]ecause everybody did. (I'm German, learning crochet, knitting, and sewing was mandatory in school at least for girls in the 70s.).” Respondent 169 said she learned “[k]nitting and crochet: because they taught us at school and there was no escape. Every other fiber craft: because I wanted to.” Respondent 134 has a special case in which fiber crafting separated her from her video game obsession she said she learned because “134 I spent many years as a serious gamer. It was a pastime that kept me engaged and entertained, but also restricted my real world interactions. I eventually gave it up as an unhealthy obsession and tried to become more socially active. I succeeded to an extent, but of course I was left with many empty hours at home. I filled them with Netflix and Solitaire for the most part. One night I grew so completely bored that I was actually disgusted with myself and wished I had something more productive to do with my time. My grandmother was an avid cross-stitcher and had taught me the basics but I'd never learned to enjoy it like she did. It occurred to me that I might enjoy another type of craft. I don't know why I decided to try knitting over other crafts, I suppose it just popped into my head first. So I bought cheap supplies at WalMart, watched some YouTube videos, and found out that not only was I good at it, but I enjoyed doing it as well. Now I never feel like my time is wasted, and sometimes have to remind myself to set the knitting aside to tend to other responsibilities.” 48 often happens in moments of rebellion and social crafting also enables rebellions. The creation of community and encouragement of social making found on Ravelry.com harkens back to historical social fiber crafting interactions, though expands the reach of these interactions through Web 2.0.
49
Chapter 3: Crafting as Resistance—Another Function of Ravelry.com
While only a few pages of various books are dedicated to “Old Mom Rinker,” her manipulation of how fiber crafters were viewed was truly revolutionary. The so-called
“Old Mom Rinker” had family who owned Buck Tavern in Germantown, Pennsylvania, which was one way she gained information on British Military movements. 105 Rinker was also famous for taking her flax fiber to a nearby rock cliff to be bleached in the sun, where she could see and be seen by many passersby.106 She knitted while bleaching the flax so “[i]f by chance a British patrol passed that way, all it could see was a woman placidly engaged in the most peaceful of domestic tasks.”107 Rinker wrote intelligence messages for Washington and enclosed them in her yarn balls, casually dropping them when trustable militiamen walked by. 108 Even if she was not a doddering old woman, her actions as a knitter were unquestioned by British troops, as what trouble could a lady with her yarn be?109 Indeed, the factors that later feminists and femme artists railed against
105 John Bakeless, Turncoats, Traitors and Heroes (Philadelphia and New York: J.P. Lippincott company, 1959), 208. It is very likely Mom Rinker was a younger woman, to be able to scale the cliffs as she did. This was suggested by John Bakeless. 106 Bakeless continues on page 208, locals considered Mom Rinker’s flax “…to be the best bleached in the whole neighborhood, because she laid it out on a rock of her own, high on its cliff above the Wissahickon Valley, where sunlight lingered longer than anywhere else—a rock which stood where everybody could see it.“ Apparently “Mom Rinker’s Rock” is now a marked scenic overlook in Fairmount park. 107 Ibid. 108 Ibid. “Old Mom Rinker” is also mentioned in Anne L. Macdonalds’s No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting (New York: Ballantine Books,1988), 37-38: “Old Mom Rinker wrote messages for General Washington, encased them inside her ball of knitting yarn and perched on a cliff outside of town. Bestrewing her flax to bleach in the sun and knitting placidly, an image of tranquil industry, she anticipated the general’s troops passing on the road below her rocky ledge. When they materialized, she nudged the balls over the brink, and the soldiers, calmly scooped up, pocketed and conveyed to the general her priceless message. Old Man Rinker never dropped a stitch.” More on Rinker can be found in The Philadelphia Campaign vol 2: Germantown and the Roads to Valley Forge, by Thomas J. McGuire, (Mechanicsburg PA: Stackpole Books, 2007). 109 Women of all colors and classes gave a fledgling nation its strength. See: An Encyclopedia of American Women at War: From the Home Front to Battlefield, edited by Lisa Tendrich Frank, ABC-CLIO, 2013. Independent Dames: What You Never Knew about the Women and Girls of the American Revolution by 50
(domestic handicrafts as examples of the feminine and as gender determinism) Rinker used to continue her spying unmolested.110 Rinker’s actions were destabilizing the British control of the colonies with both the covert spying and the overt support of boycotting
British goods.
It is precisely because of the preconceived notions surrounding fiber crafting that such making is perfect for use in times of resistance or protest. When fiber crafting leaves the private sphere (for which it is so famously connected to femininity) its mere presence in public becomes a socially revolutionary act; seen in Rinker’s contribution to the war effort above. Robertson and Vinebaum comment on the current state of textiles in art and life with their article “Crafting Community.”111 A large trend that has changed since the late twentieth century is the shift of fiber crafting
from private space to public space, away from the domestic sphere, and into public sites such as cafés, pubs and bars, storefronts, galleries, public transportation, the streets, and cyberspace. What is more, knitting, sewing,
Laurie H. Anderson, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008. And: Women Patriots of the American Revolution: A Biographical Dictionary, by Charles Eugene Claghorn, Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1991. African-American women were often promised their freedom in aide of the Patriots and though less scholarship exists, they often played vital intelligence roles. Sadly, only a few African-American women gained freedom and/or recognition. For more, see: Water from the Rock: Black Resistance in a Revolutionary Age by Sylvia R. Frey, Princeton University Press., 1993 and "African Americans in the Revolutionary War" by Michael Lee Lanning, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, 2004. 110 “And while feminists a generation ago considered the humble apron a symbol of oppression, their daughters are out collecting vintage examples and sewing new ones without a second thought. If this is partly the result of changing styles, there’s also a real desire to connect with the women of our past. Turning backward, we celebrate the work and life of relatives, friends, and neighbors, embrace it with new fervor, and make it relevant for the future,” from Joan Tapper and Gale Zucker, foreword by Faythe Levine, Craft Activism: People, Ideas, and Projects from the New Community of Handmade and How You Can Join In, (Potter Craft: New York, 2011), 55. In Roszika Parker’s The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine, Parker mentions on page 190 that the shift in aesthetic philosophy of the early 1900s gave “[w]omen’s particular skills and traditional areas of activity in the domestic sphere, previously thought to be beneath the concern of the fine artist… a new importance.” However, the decisions behind this breakdown of the art hierarchy were likely not meant to directly uplift women as a piece of action against the status quo. 111 Kirsty Robertson and Lisa Vinebaum, “Crafting Community”, TEXTILE 14 no. 1 (2016): 2-13. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14759756.2016.1084794?needAccess=true 51
crochet, and even weaving in public spaces is most often undertaken by groups of individuals, marking a parallel shift from away from the individual maker. We contend that these public, collective types of making also have a performative bent, transforming public spaces into shared, dynamic, communal social space.112
Parker, in the 2010 introduction to her book, says she no longer believes there is “a thriving political movement of women” and outlines major differences between Second
Wave Feminism and contemporary feminism(s). I believe more than six years have made a huge difference in the level of female activism through craft, largely due to the Internet.
Robertson and Vinebaum argue
[i]t is not an exaggeration to say that the Interwebs have played a central role in moving textiles from the private to the public sphere. What is more, the Interwebs and social media have offered immeasurable opportunities for connection, through massive online communities of knitters, sewers, and textile artists such as Ravelry and Craftster, as well as opportunities to market craft goods through marketplace sites such as Etsy and Big Cartel. It would appear that access to online communications is essential to encouraging such interventionist, collaborative practices.113
Ravelry.com has become an online site whose members use the alterable coding of the site to spread revolution by encouraging fiber crafters to participation in public spaces.
The rise of a website like Ravelry.com can be contributed, in part, to the capabilities of the digital generation.
In his book Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World,
Tapscott discusses the trends and data he has collected about “the first generation to come
112 Ibid.,5. 113 Ibid., 6. 52 of age in the digital age,” which he termed the “Net Gen.”114 This group of kids, now adults, were the first to grow up “surrounded by digital media,” leading to miscommunications with older generations.115 Tapscott is a huge proponent of this generation, arguing that the way Net Geners interact because of how digital media enables more change and involvement on the world stage, rather than less.116 In regards to politics, Tapscott says “Web 2.0 technologies make the process of engaging citizens in policy making easier and less costly than ever before by providing tools to support knowledge- creation and community building—two core aspects of the digital-era policy making.”117 Tapscott’s predictions were proven at the 2017 Women’s March on
Washington, when fiber crafting as resistance was spread digitally, then physically enacted at the March.
Participation in twenty-first century craftivism owes much to Web 2.0.118 The
Internet can digitally ‘host’ groups of people who are interested in attending a protest event, as Facebook did for the Woman’s March on Washington. The Pussyhat Project
114 Don Tapscott, Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World (McGraw-Hill Books, 2009). 115 Ibid.,2. 116 Ibid., 244. 117 Ibid., 264. 118 The Women's March Organizers, Together We Rise: Behind the Scenes at the Protest Heard Around the World (Kindle Locations 428-435) HarperCollins, Kindle Edition., Dey Street Books, January 16, 2018: “I think we should march,” posted retired attorney Teresa Shook on Facebook the night of November 8th. Shook, founder of the Women’s March, said “At first I was depressed and felt hopeless. I jumped on Facebook hoping to find some women to commiserate with—to help make sense of what had happened. I got on a thread where women were feeling the same, and the more they expressed hopelessness, the more I felt that old fiery urge to “do something.” So I commented that “we should march.” One woman in that thread said, “I’m in,” and that was all I needed to hear. I jumped off the Facebook page and went to make a private event. Before I went to bed that night, there were about 40 women attending and another 40 or so who had indicated that they were interested. When I woke up the next day, there were over 10,000 women attending and another 10,000 women interested. I started saying “Oh my God, oh my God” to myself over and over, trying to take it all in. Then I got busy bringing more women on board.” 53 website says the pattern was spread by “[l]everaging social media and the close-knit nature of the global knitting community.”119 In a promotional digital poster that was shared on multiple digital spaces, the Pussyhat project states their mission as
1.) Provide the people of the Women’s March on Washington D.C. a means to make a unique collective visual statement which will help activists be better heard,” 2.) Provide people who cannot be physically be on the National Mall a way to represent themselves and support women’s rights.”120
Such a movement aligns with the ideals outlined by Sarah Corbett and Sarah Housley in the article, “The Craftivist Collective Guide to Craftivism."121 The original goal of craftivism was to make the world a better place by bringing awareness (often through guerilla crafting) to socio-political injustices. The original founders of craftivism emphasize thought, not aggression, and a focus on human rights issues. Crafting reflects the handmade, human element, so craftivists use this universal connection as an appeal to our fellow man.122 Craftivism is now a mainstream idea, with recent articles about yarn bombing posted on websites and blogs.123
119 “Our Story,” Pussyhat Project, 2017, Accessed March 3, 2018. https://www.pussyhatproject.com/our- story/. In an interview with Fastcompany.com, Zweiman mentioned the importance of local knitting stores as places were ideas were spread, “…what we noticed is that a lot of these knitting stores across the country work as these really beautiful little community hubs, and so in thinking about these hubs and these really wonderful spaces where it’s predominantly women, these are already active participants. The project is creating real connections with people, physical connections, not just virtual one,” from Annelise Mcgough, “The Creators of The Pussyhat Project Explain How Craft Projects Are Protest” January 20, 2017. https://www.fastcompany.com/3067204/the-creators-of-the-pussy-hat-phenomenon-explain-how-craft- projects-are-pr. 120 Krista Suh, Jayna Zweiman and art by Aurora Lady. “The Pussyhat Project Knit Pattern.” PDF. 121 Sarah Corbett, and Sarah Housley, "The Craftivist Collective Guide to Craftivism," Utopian Studies 22, no. 2 (June 2011): 344-351. 122 Ibid., 347. Also, the manifesto is attractive because anyone who makes can be involved, either by crafting in or on the public sphere then sharing successes in an online community. The article ends with a call to arms for interested parties to join the collective. 123 Kurt McVey, “Someone Yarn-Bombed a Guggenheim Museum Toliet with Gold Crochet,” March 7, 2018, Hyperallergic, https://hyperallergic.com/431058/guggenheim-toilet-gold-crochet/. And Jade 54
The idea for Pussyhats came to architect Jayna Zweiman and screenwriter Krista
Suh in November. The pair had been attending crochet classes at the Little Knittery in
Los Angeles as a “low-impact hobby she[Zweiman] could do while sitting and recuperating [from serious injury].”124 At the time, the Women’s March was being discussed in multiple spaces, including social crafting groups. Zweiman and Suh wanted
“…a sea of pink hats at Women’s Marches everywhere that would make both a bold and powerful visual statement of solidarity, and also allow people who could not participate themselves – whether for medical, financial, or scheduling reasons — a visible way to demonstrate their support for women’s rights.”125 The January weather in D.C. would require hats and other warm gear, so Zweiman and Suh made the call to action accessible for those who wanted to aide marchers: “If you are a knitter who wants to participate in the Women’s March on Washington D.C., but perhaps cannot attend yourself, please consider making a PINK HAT for a person who will be there. The weather in D.C. that day will be a high of 35-45°F and a low of 15-25°F, so hats will be practically important to keep warm.”126 The owner of local yarn store, Kat Coyle (who had taught the pair to crochet), designed an easy-to-make pink hat that seemed like a simple rectangle until worn, when it appeared to give the wearer pink cat ears (Figure 12). Not only was the
Bremner’s article for the Lonely Planet “Los Angeles becomes the canvas for the Banksy of yarn bombing,” February 23, 2018. https://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/2018/02/23/los-angeles-yarn-bombing/ 124 “Our Story,” Pussyhat Project, 2017, Accessed March 3, 2018 https://www.pussyhatproject.com/our- story/ 125 Ibid. 126 Krista Suh, Jayna Zweiman and art by Aurora Lady. “The Pussyhat Project Knit Pattern.” PDF. And Draguca, Briana, “An Interview With Jayna Zweiman, Founder of the Pussyhat Project Inspired by the Women's March” January 21, 2017, TeenVogue.com: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/pussyhat-project- womens-march-jayna-zweiman-interview 55
Pussyhat project about making symbols of protest, but also about sharing this experience of protest in a way to create community between women that reached international scale.
Just as Ravelry augmented fiber crafting to new heights, the Pussyhat project elevated fiber crafts in moments of social political resistance to reflect twenty-first century values.
During the process of the 2016 Presidential Election, The Washington Post reported on an Access Hollywood tape from 2005, which showed Donald Trump discussing how he would “Grab them by the pussy…You can do anything.”127 The tape sparked debate about sexual assault, which is still a highly charged conversation today.
Many people were upset at the language and allegations of harassment against President
Trump (the language he later dismissed as “locker-room talk”).128 The pink, hand-made,
‘Pussyhats’ of January 21, 2017 were one-way female-identifying people and their allies reclaimed the ‘pussy grabbing’ comments made by President Trump.
The Woman’s March on Washington in 2017 was a direct response to President
Donald Trump’s election and inauguration, as expressed by Cassaday Fendley, a spokesperson for the March: “[i]n the spirit of democracy and honoring the champions of human rights, dignity, and justice who have come before us, we join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore.”129 The event organizers for the March planned on 200,000 people attending the March in Washington, D.C. and about 600 sister
127 Marie Solis, “An Activist Group is Playing Trump’s ‘Access Hollywood’ Tape on Loop Near the White House,” Glamour, October 6, 2017, https://www.glamour.com/story/ultraviolet-access-hollywood-tape-on- loop-near-the-white-house 128 Ibid. 129 Annelise Mcgough. “The Creators of The Pussyhat Project Explain How Craft Projects Are Protest,” January 20, 2017. Accessed February 28, 2018 https://www.fastcompany.com/3067204/the-creators-of-the- pussy-hat-phenomenon-explain-how-craft-projects-are-pr 56 marches around the world.130 On the day of the event, the official turnout was close to
500,00 people in Washington D.C., with sister marches taking place “in all 50 states and
32 countries, from Belarus to New Zealand.”131 The turnout ensured scholars would be analyzing the social, political and gendered implications and repercussions of the
March.132
While the Women’s March on Washington was gaining ground and supporters,
Kay Coyle, Jayna Zweiman and Krista Suh initiated the Pussyhat Project on
Ravelry.com. The Pussyhat Project pattern is still viewable on Ravelry.com, with 1,517 comments (Figure 13). The number of Ravelry.com members who recorded making a
Pussyhat is 12,398, according to the project page.133 By January 19, 2018, the founders estimated they had 100,000 hats gifted from makers to marchers.134 So many fiber artists were making pink hats that local yarn stores as well as large chains that sold yarn were reporting shortages of pink yarn.135 The Pussyhat pattern page has the free pattern
130 Ibid. 131 Heidi M. Przybyla and Fredreka Schouten, “At 2.6 million strong, Women’s Marches crush expectations,” USA TODAY, January 21, 2017, accessed March 3, 2018: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/21/womens-march-aims-start-movement-trump- inauguration/96864158/ 132 For more, see: Shannon Black, “KNIT + RESIST: placing the Pussyhat Project in the context of craft activism,” Gender, Place and Culture, A Journal of Feminist Geography vol. 24, issue 5, and “(Re)producing feminine bodies: emergent spaces through contestation in the Women's March on Washington,” Gender Place and Culture A Journal of Feminist Geography 24(5):1-11, July 2017 by Sydney Boothroyd, Bowen, Rachelle; Cattermole, Alicia; Chang-Swanson, Kenda; Daltrop, Hanna; Dwyer, Sasha; Gunn, Anna; Kramer, Brydon; McCartan, Delaney M.; Nagra, Jasmine; Samimi, Shereen; Yoon- Potkins, Qwisun. As well as: “Intersectional feminism beyond U.S. flag hijab and pussy hats in Trump’s America,” Gender, Place and Culture, A Journal of Feminist Geography vol. 24, issue 5, July 2017. 133 https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pussyhat-project 134 Annelise Mcgough, “The Creators of The Pussyhat Project Explain How Craft Projects Are Protest” January 20, 2017. https://www.fastcompany.com/3067204/the-creators-of-the-pussy-hat-phenomenon- explain-how-craft-projects-are-pr. 135 Erika W. Smith “So Many People Are Knitting Pussy Hats That Stores Are Running Out of Pink Yarn,” Bust.com. 57 download and suggested yarn for the project, as well as the mission statement and link to
Ravelry group (created by Krista Suh) specifically for Pussyhat makers (Figure 14).136
The group has a large picture of the Women’s March on Washington and declares the
“Pussyhat Project is a movement, not just a moment. Our work is not yet done. Join us as we craft the way forward.”137 Group discussions include topics such as “Making Pussy
Hats for 2018,” “Gun Sense,” and “Sea of Eyes- New Project from the Creator of the
Pussyhat.”138 Other social networks definitely played a role in the scale of the movement, but fiber crafting has always been tied to moments of protest or subversion.139
Roszika Parker concludes her research from The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine by examining how the use of embroidery by artists and women in politics blur the line of fine arts versus craft to “highlight its[embroidery’s] gender associations,” culminating in the final chapter of her book: “A Naturally
Revolutionary Art?”140 This was certainly a conscious desire in the creation of the knitted, crocheted and sewn “Pussyhats” many women and their allies wore to the
Women’s March on Washington in 2017. The Pussyhats were made pink to purposely highlight the connection between both the derogatory term “pussy” as referencing a
136 https://www.ravelry.com/groups/pussyhat-project 137 Ibid. 138 Ibid. 139 Annelise Mcgough, “The Creators of The Pussyhat Project Explain How Craft Projects Are Protest” January 20, 2017. Zweiman in an interview with Fastcompany: “It also took off on Facebook and Instagram. Facebook has been really good for conversation and news. And Instagram has been really great to show who is involved.” And: Briana Draguca, “An Interview With Jayna Zweiman, Founder of the Pussyhat Project Inspired by the Women's March.” TeenVogue.com. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/pussyhat-project-womens-march-jayna-zweiman-interview. Zweiman said “We started our social media presence early on, using Ravelry, a knitting social media platform, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And it really started resonating with people. A few different publications helped to widen the reach and it continued gaining momentum as people started wearing the hats.” 140 Parker, The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine, 192. 58 vagina and the positive femininity of making (thus the fiber art hats; fiber arts have long been associated with gendered spaces). Essentially, the women wearing Pussyhats and marching were challenges notions of gender inequality in public spaces.
Part of the Pussyhat Project was “to de-stigmatize the word “pussy” and transform it into one of empowerment, and to highlight the design of the hats ‘pussycat ears.’”141
Some supporters of the Women’s March critiqued the Pussyhats as degrading to the message of the March by being vulgar. Zweiman responded these claims in the Detroit
Free Press:
[t]he original hat has these adorable cat ears, so 'pussyhat' also is a play on 'pussy cat.' ... The word 'pussy' is often used in a derogative way. It's almost impossible to ignore the Access Hollywood video with Donald Trump saying, 'Grab them by the pussy.' ... 'Pussy' is a very charged word; I'm now very used to saying it, but it's interesting to hear people talk about the word, and how they feel about the word. These are conversations we all need to have. The discussions are around what is this word, what does it mean? A lot of it is constructive dialogue.142
The Pussyhats and The Women’s March accomplished their mission of displaying the unified front against hate. Many women who had never attended rallies or protests felt the urgency to make a statement by marching on January 21, 2017 and felt instantly connected to other women attending.143 The symbolism of the pink Pussyhats gained
141 “Our Story,” Pussyhat Project, 2017, Accessed March 3, 2018 https://www.pussyhatproject.com/our- story/ 142 Erika W. Smith “So Many People Are Knitting Pussy Hats That Stores Are Running Out of Pink Yarn,” Bust.com. 143 Heidi M. Przybyla and Fredreka Schouten, “At 2.6 million strong, Women’s Marches crush expectations,” USA TODAY, January 21, 2017, accessed March 3, 2018: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/21/womens-march-aims-start-movement-trump- inauguration/96864158/. I also attended the March in 2017 and felt a sense of comradery on that day, despite the huge crowds. A group of men and women asked me if I wanted their sign (a glittery pink female 59 legitimacy because of the sheer number created and by following the tradition of fiber crafting present during resistance. Pussyhats have been incorporated in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum as “part of its Rapid Response program, which aims to bring objects related to current global and political events into the permanent collection in near-real time.”144The step-by-step knitting, crochet, and sewing instructions went from one small craft store to millions on the Internet, Ravelry.com included.
Ravelry.com has proven it can become an interface to spread revolution, but it also exists as a valuable archive of ephemeral fiber crafting culture. Ravelry.com expands twenty-first century fiber crafter’s access to knowledge and is an adaptable, user-driven platform. Members of Ravelry.com were not the only ones to participate in the Women’s
March on Washington, but without the community created through online fiber crafting there would not have been as much visual solidarity, or a ‘sea of pink’ as Zweiman and
Suh wanted.
sign with a fist inside or a fempower symbol) when they grew tired of carrying it, so I continued with it the rest of the day. I still have it and the Pussyhat my mother made me as mementos of the day. 144 Sarah. Cascone, “The Pussyhat, Beloved Icon of Women’s March, Enters the V&A’s Permanent Collection” Artnet news: politics, Accessed January 17, 2017 https://news.artnet.com/art-world/victoria- and-albert-museum-pussy-hat-884771 60
Conclusion
The possibilities of Ravelry.com are useful to social making groups, as shown in members’ responses to the survey RavelryAsArchive. Each member of Ravelry,com shared with me their own experiences with the website. Most often mentioned were platforms that supported interaction with like-minded people and the digital library of fiber crafting information. Ravelry users merge these two seemingly disparate worlds as much or as little as they feel necessary to their crafting experience. Ravelry.com cannot solely function in the digital realm, because eventually something must be made or attended in the physical realm. What results is that fiber knowledge is spread, in the 21st century, by mostly digital means, then physically created by crafters. Fiber crafting has evolved to continually fit the purpose of makers, and it is likely fiber will not stop being used as a means of resistance or protest.
Fiber crafting and crafting as a tactic for challenging the status quo existed in the
United States without Ravelry.com. However, organizers of the Pussyhat Project name the website as a hub for interaction, key to the statement made at the 2017 Women’s
March on Washington. Rozsika Parker used embroidery as a vehicle to showcase the adaptability of femininity; she believed “[f]or those who saw themselves as feminist artists, embroidery was the perfect medium to give form to consciousness-raising.”145 I posit that fiber crafts in general are adaptable mediums for thought provoking discussions.
145 Parker, The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine, 3. 61
Alternative archives as sites of research are valuable to multiple disciplines in academia. At the very least, Ravelry.com allows scholars a well-documented look at the fiber trends of the twenty-first century, even if the objects themselves one day disappear or deteriorate dramatically. Crafting websites do not change the nature of fiber crafting; but Ravelry.com is a digital bridge to meaningful interactions and practical making applications. Ravelry.com functions as tool that carries global implications for the fiber crafting community. First, I explored current fiber art expressions as records of “living histories” by giving an online anonymous survey to eligible Ravelry.com members. Then
I visually analyzed the user interface of Ravelry.com, which is relevant to how members make fiber objects and interact with other members. I also added responses from the members who took my survey as a display of how members use Ravelry.com and perceive their fiber crafts. Finally, I looked at past making traditions that support community building and identity. I found there was a strong connection between social making and making of fiber crafts in groups during times of protest or resistance, which continues today, as exemplified by the Pussyhats in the Women’s March on Washington in 2017.
Ravelry.com expands the audience for this making and community building beyond physical borders. Ravelry uses digital interactivity and organized record-keeping to propel fiber crafting forward while not disregarding the impact of social making groups. As Gauntlett outlines, the archetypal platform of Web 2.0 that enables digital crafting content does so by including “a framework for participation,” being “agnostic 62 about content,” and “fostering community.”146 Ravelry.com creates a contemporary fiber crafting space through ease of participation in forums, patterns, projects and groups, even meeting in physical spaces are encourages. While there are guidelines and rules for some participation, most of Ravelry.com is about content under the large umbrella of “fiber crafting.” Users can make and share anything inside the realm of their personal fiber art experiences, Ravelry.com has little control over interactions. By promoting individuals to interact, as well as having content that stretches over many niche groups, Ravelry.com has created a community. Today, Ravelry.com and Web 2.0 sites that encourage user involvement are integral to the changing landscape of human and digital interaction.
146 David Gauntlett. Making is Connecting, the social meaning of creativity, from DIY and knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0, 91.
63
Figures
Figure 1: Ravelry.com, 2018. “Ravelry.com Login Page.” Screen capture of Ravelry.com, accessed November 18, 2017.
Figure 2: Ravelry.com, 2018. “Ravelry.com Shop: Ravelry Button Pack.” Screen capture of Ravelry.com, accessed November 18, 2017 64
Figure 3: Ravelry.com, 2018. “Ravelry.com Forum post: Ravelry Study (Institutional Review Board Approved).” Screen capture of Ravelry.com, accessed March 5, 2018.
Figure 4: Ravelry.com, 2018. “4943 Ravelers are online.” Screen capture of Ravelry.com, accessed February 26, 2018.
65
Figure 5: Ravelry.com, 2018. “Eye Candy: Pink.” Screen capture of Ravelry.com, accessed March 5, 2018.
Figure 6: Ravelry.com, 2018. “Groups Page.” Screen capture of Ravelry.com, accessed March 5, 2018.
66
Figure 7. CAL- Crochet A Long Facebook Page. “CAL- Crochet A Long.” Facebook. Received February 14, 2018.
Figure 8: Ravelry.com, 2018. “Ravelry.com Patterns Page.” Screen capture of Ravelry.com, accessed March 5, 2018.
67
Figure 9: Ravelry.com, 2018. “2017 superlatives.” Screen capture of Ravelry.com, accessed March 4, 2018. https://www.ravelry.com/groups.
Figure 10: Ravelry.com, 2018. “Road Trip Planner.” Screen capture of Ravelry.com, accessed March 15, 2018. https://www.ravelry.com/groups.
68
Figure 11: Ravelry.com, 2018. “Patterns Matching ‘harry potter’ search query.” Screen capture of Ravelry.com, accessed February 24, 2018. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#sort=best&query=harry potter.
Figure 12: Ravelry.com, 2018. “Pussyhat Patterns: Projects Spotlight.” Screen capture of Ravelry.com, accessed March 10, 2018. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pussyhat-project/people 69
Figure 13: Ravelry.com, 2018. “Pussyhat Project Patterns Page.” Screen capture of Ravelry.com, accessed February 26, 2018. 70
Figure 14: Art by Aurora Lady. “The Pussyhat Project Knit Pattern.” Project/Pattern by Kat Cole, Krista Suh and Jayna Zweiman. Screen capture of PDF from https://www.pussyhatproject.com/our-story/ 71
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Appendix A: RavelryAsArchive Survey, 2017 Participants took part in the online, anonymous, short answer response survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8DVC3L2.
Q1: Why did you learn crochet, knitting, weaving, spinning, felting or other fiber craft? Q2: Do you remember the first time you made something? Could you describe what you made? Q3: How often do you work on your fiber crafts? Q4: Can you describe what crafting means to you? Q5: What do you usually make, and do you have any personal preferences for material or color? Q6: How did you get involved in the online crafting community? Q7: What might you tell someone interested in joining an online crafting community? Q8: What might you tell someone interested in joining a local, non-digital crafting group? Q9: What do you like about a website like Ravelry.com? Q10: Do you also participate in any local, non-digital crafting communities? Demographic questions: Q11: Please identify your age range: Q12: What is your gender identification? Q13: What is your occupation? Q14: What is your approximate income bracket? Q15: Please describe your ethnicity/race:
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