Where can I find good crocheting patterns?

Question

I'm pretty new to crocheting and am trying to find interesting patterns online. I'm especially interested in crocheting rugs. Sadly, I haven't had too much luck finding patterns for them. Can somebody recommend a good site or a person to get crocheting patterns from?

Answer 1

The best resource for all crochet and knitting needs by far is Ravelry. Ravelry requires you to create an account and provides an astounding library of patterns, yarns (so it's easy to find a substitute), a community platform and your own project notebook. Some paterns are paid-for, but many are available free. As of me writing this reply there are over 1600 crochet rug patterns listed on Ravelry, some 600 of which are free

Youtube is full of crochet tutorials if you look around a little. For example Elena Rugal has a great library of crochet technique videos

If you want to dig into public domain resources, Antique Pattern Library has a section with hundreds of old magazines with patterns, though they may be hard to read for a modern, inexperienced crocheter because of the differences in writing style and extensive use of abbreviations

Yarn brands publish their own patterns, for crochet I particularly recommend Scheepjes. Similarly, many magazines exist and can be bought both online and in paper, check out titles such as 'Inside Crochet', 'Molly Makes' or 'Love Crochet'. Note that most of these will be included in Ravelry's library

Finally, there are countless crafty blogs, e.g. Moogly's, with tutorials and patterns

Answer 2

While there are a ton of sources, such as Ravelry, that offer a lot of patterns, you have specifically asked for "good patterns." Ravelry allows user submissions, which means that many patterns may have typos, defects, or other issues that make them considerably less than "good."

In general, when looking for new patterns, you'll want to focus more on those that have been tested, not just written out. If a given pattern has a comment or review section attached to its page, read through it to identify any errors that others may have already found; if there are no reviews, check other patterns by the same author to see if they have a record of issues with their other patterns.

As a beginner, you may wish to lean more on sites designed specifically for teaching. I've had very good luck with The Crochet Crowd; many if not most of the patterns are linked (with permission) from the designs available through yarn companies directly, but with extensive notes and video tutorials that address both actual errors and design elements that may feel like errors but are correct. There are a few rug patterns available there, and the additional resources in the form of explanations and videos can help you gain the skills to start identifying good patterns from other sources and take them on as well.

Answer 3

Woolpatterns.com lists a lot of very nice patterns. I signed up for notifications from them and haven't been disappointed once.