Ravelry Reveals Some Fun User Statistics

Ravelry recently reached the milestone of having 4 million registered users (congratulations to them!) and they released some fun information about those users and their habits to celebrate.

There’s lots to see here, but I love that Iceland has the most Ravelers per capita (followed by Canada and the United States, Norway and Finland). The most knit pattern last year was the Honey Cowl (no big surprise there), while the most favorited was Dreambird.

Monday is the busiest day on the site, with more new patterns being added on that day of the week than any other.

The most popular day for finishing projects? December 25.

And if you added up everyone’s unused stash as unraveled all the finished projects documented on the site, it would be enough yarn to give Saturn five new rings. That’s a whopping 5 billion kilometers of yarn! Finished projects alone used 1,000 tons of yarn.

Here’s to many more users, and many more knitters and crocheters in the world!

How do you use Ravelry? I’d love to hear about it.

[Photo via Ravelry.]

Next Pattern:

I’m trying to include more knits for kids in my posts because I know a lot of people do a lot of their knitting for the little ones in their lives.

This child’s striped vest from Lion Brand Yarn is not only cute and great for kids who might find a full sweater too hot, it’s also an easy project if you’ve never knit a garment before.

Lion Brand rates it as level 2 easy/beginner +, probably just because there’s a little shaping and seaming invovled, but it’s nothing you can’t handle.

The pattern comes in three sizes that are meant to be for ages 6, 8 and 10. The finished chest measurement is 30, 31.5 or 33 inches, which is 76, 80 and 84 cm respectively. This makes the vest a little roomy and makes it easy to slip on over a T-shirt or other top.

It’s worked in two pieces from the bottom up, with the neckband and armhole bands worked in the round after the body pieces are sewn together. One benefit of knitting stripes on a project like this is that it’s easier to make sure your pieces are the same length because you can just count the stripes (it’s also a little easier to seam because you’re always lining up the stripes).

If you’re knitting the smallest size, you only need one skein each of the two colors you choose, and for the larger sizes you will only need two, making this project a pretty good value. The suggested yarn is Color Theory, a worsted weight acrylic yarn that comes in 18 relatively muted colors. Of course you can use any worsted weight yarn you like. Keep it acrylic for easy washing or use wool to make this a warmer garment for kids who live in cooler climates.

You can grab the pattern for free from the Lion Brand website, or get a kit that includes the yarn you need (and needles if you don’t have them already). I think this would be a great basic to knit a kid for back to school in their school colors, or make it holiday with red and green, or whatever colors the child likes.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

Next Pattern:

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