Thursday Tip: Adding to your Library
January 29th, 2015
Your Ravelry library can be a great resource for you in keeping track of the patterns that you have and for storing Ravelry downloads. The most helpful part for me is that I can use it to help me remember all the different patterns I have on Ravelry, as well as in books and magazines. There is an “add to library” button on every pattern page, but the type of pattern determines what actually gets added to your library.
If the pattern is from a book or magazine, you will see this when you click “add to library”.
You can then choose whether you want to add the full book/magazine or just the individual pattern to your library. This will not add the actual patterns to your library, only the information about the pattern or book.
If the pattern is a free Ravelry download, you will see this when you click “add to library”.
This will add the actual pdf file to your library. You will be able to access it any time in the future by going to your notebook tab and clicking library.
If the pattern is a Ravelry download that is for sale, you will also see this when you click “add to library”
But, with a purchased download, the pattern pdf will not be added to your library when you click “add to library”. It will only add the information about the pattern. You might want to use this if you purchased the pattern somewhere outside of Ravelry. In order to add the full pdf file, you need to click “buy now” on the pattern page instead. Buying the pattern will add the pdf file to your Ravelry library upon purchase.
You can always go remove something that you have added to your library by clicking on the image of the item in your library and choosing the delete button. So, feel free to play around with it so you can get the hang of how it works.
A big advantage to having a library that is up to date with all of the patterns that you have is that you can search the patterns that are in your library without going through your bookshelf or your pdf files. To do this, go to the advanced search and choose the “In my library” option under “Availability” on the left of the page.
I hope this helps you to better utilize the resources available to you in your Ravelry library!