What do you get when you combine a knitting comic, animated knitting stitches, free patterns, dissertation on organic yarn, and a future home of knitting supplies. Why, Knitting for Beginners (or knitting-humor.com I’m not sure which is the correct title) of course! I discovered this site today and spent a few minutes poking around–in all honesty, there’s not much more than a few minutes worth of content, but what is there is a good resource to be added to the pile.
I’m going to go down the navigation page by page and outline my thoughts.
First up, the free patterns. Okay, I find these patterns a bit creepy and the links to the actual patterns didn’t work. I don’t fault them for that at the moment because so many things could be the cause; however, if it lasts longer than today I find it to be a big no-no Web-wise. Anyway, most of the patterns are for doll clothes, which I just don’t understand. I think of a creepy, house-bound psycho who obviously talks to his/her dolls because he/she kills anyone who comes to the door and buries them in the basement as the type of person to make doll clothes. Then again, that opinion may just be me and my own personal issues, of which I have many. The Hand Puppet Puppies pattern looks like it could be fun; however, since the link doesn’t work, who knows. So a sort of thumbs up for the free patterns. I mean, they’re free so that’s always a bonus.
Next, the Animated stitches. I think this is cool and another great way to understand how the fundamentals of knitting work. I do think that the videos with actual dialog on knitting help are better suited to the job, but the animated stitches here do a good job demonstrating how techniques like a short row wrap works. In conjunction with other tools (books, knitting help, etc) this section of the site is great for people who are having problems understanding a knitting concept.
The organic yarn section is interesting, but more than that I don’t find it helpful. Maybe adding a list of organic yarns and the user’s review in place of the diatribe on the page would make the page more relevant. Now let me put that statement into context of my own natural bias. As a Web programmer, I often speak at work on why lot’s of text on a page is bad–people really don’t read when they just want info, etc–so seeing this page to me makes my inner web guru die of word shock. But again, that’s just me and I have issues.
Finally, (as the last section, knitting supplies, is an under construction message) the Bettyhill comic. I think the two currently there are cute; especially the street fight question. There needs to be more humor in the world.
Overall, an interesting site, but lacking a bit in execution and full content. The animated stitches are definately a nice addition to the other knitting resources out there. I do plan to add the link to both my Knitting Help/Tutorials and Free Patterns sections to keep an eye on it. We’ll see how it progresses. Hopefully the content contributors can fulfill the potential that exists within the pages.
Kis*Knit 