I am kicking myself for not doing a survey before- you awesome people all had so many interesting things to say! I feel like I just went to a party with all of you, and we had so many cool little conversations.  Let’s take a look at the results!
There were 427 responses, Â and in the age category, most readers were in their 30s (so am I) and next largest demographics were in their 20s and 40s; but there was representation from all groups, which I was really pleased to see.
I loved learning more about your hobbies! Unsurprisingly, most of you are knitters.  The vast majority of you self-identify as readers, and then cooking and baking rounded out the top three hobbies. I’m not surprised to see TV and movies up there, since that’s what I’m usually doing when I’m knitting, too! In the ‘Other’ category, a lot of you enjoy spinning, weaving, and running, but pretty much every hobby you can imagine was mentioned at least once.
Question 3:Â Â As for what you like about crafting, most of the results fit into these categories (these were the short answer questions, so I exported them into Excel and went through the results manually. Next time, I’ll do multiple choice so I can get a handy graph):
1. The satisfaction of making something
2.  Having a creative outlet that lets you play with colour and texture and style
3.  You find it relaxing and enjoyable
4.  You love the process, the actual act of crafting
5.  You enjoy learning new skills
Question 4: As for crafting challenges, there were several recurring themes (again, I exported the data into Excel so I could find clump together similar answers), which I found really interesting. It’s in these longer answer questions that I really felt like I was getting to know more about you guys:
1. Â Not having enough time to craft
2.  Unclear/less than ideal pattern instructions
3. Project not turning out as expected
4. Startitis/Motivation to Finish
5.  Sourcing Supplies/sourcing affordable supplies
6.  Making Mistakes
7.  Struggling to learn new skills
Those were the main subjects that came up over and over again, and I can definitely identify with many of them myself. I wanted to ask this question because while we do have a lot in common with our shared love of knitting, I think it would be interesting to unpack each of these challenges in future posts, and talk about what we could do for each of these.
First- you’ll see there is a weird anomaly in the chart, it counted Finished Knit Posts in two separate categories, even though there wasn’t more than one option on the survey. I assume it was a glitch. I had no idea there would be so much interest in Knits in Progress, I always feel like those are the posts that I struggle with most- but lately I’ve been putting my cats in those posts, which I hope helps make them more interesting! I also found it amusing that my favourite, the Outtake posts, didn’t rank that highly- the least popular in all the categories! I guess the pretty pictures win out over the silly pictures.
I was so surprised that the video podcast ideas turned up so low on the list of things you wanted to see- it feels like every knit blogger out there has a video podcast now, I thought I was missing the boat, but clearly there are already enough podcasts to go around.  Highest votes went to pattern reviews, which is a great idea and I’m happy to start doing that- but I feel I should come right out and say I’m not going to bash anyone’s pattern. I know personally how much time, effort, and work goes into creating and writing up a pattern, and how it can go through loads of test knitters and multiple rounds with a tech editor and still emerge on the other side with a typo or an error in instructions. You would need to have a totally anonymous blog to do something like that (and also not worry about ever hurting someone else’s feelings or crushing their dreams). So, I’m thinking that when there is a new collection from, say, Knitty or Twist Collective or Wool People or etc., I can put together my top picks and explain why I like them- does that sound interesting? I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you would like to see included in pattern review posts.
Second most requested are happiness and general living posts, which I’m thrilled to see- I’d love to talk more about that! I’ll get working on that right away. As for product reviews, I can definitely do more of those- Â I can talk about tools I like best, other products I use and enjoy. If there are specific products you’d like to see reviewed, let me know in the comments. I’m always open to suggestions.
Most popular recommendation in the the ‘Other’ category was yarn reviews. I think I can do a bit of that, talking more about different yarns I’m using or my favourite yarns for certain types of projects. Â I love trying out new yarns all the time, but I do have favorites that I know hold up well when the knit is finished. I’ll be sure to talk more about that in forthcoming posts.
Question7Â asked, “What is one thing that I don’t talk about often, that you would like to see more about?” Â Most popular suggestions were:
1. Â How I choose patterns and yarn for myself/deciding what to knit, knits in progress
2. Â More insight into my design process
3. How I fit knitting into my daily schedule, my work/life balance
4. Other crafty things that I do, thing I make from Pinterest posts
5.  More about my personal life: home, Lila, pets, etc.
6. Â How to make modifications
There were some great requests, like someone who suggested seeing updates on the things I’ve knitted, a sort of ‘Where are they now?” update on past FOs. And I’ve tried to be so careful to not post too many things about my daughter, not because I mind sharing stories or photos, but because I Â have seen too many blogs I enjoyed slide gracefully off into the sunset and become entirely about their kiddos. I’m so hyper-aware about not doing that, someone actually commented, “wait, you have kids?” So that tells me I’m in no danger of overwhelming everyone with photos of my daughter (I save that for Instagram and Twitter!).
Question 8: “Is there anything about the blog that you wish was different?”
Most of you commented that were happy with the blog as it is, which is great to hear- I’m glad that you are enjoying it! Quite a few said they would like to see more frequent posts. I personally aim to post at least 3 times a week, and when I can, I post more frequently. But since I work full time in an office, I think they might notice if I started to bring my knitting in and take photos at my desk (which isn’t to say I haven’t done it, but I try to keep it infrequent). If I ever find a way to blog full time, I will totally post every day!
Several commented that you don’t use Pinterest (What?! People aren’t using pinterest?!) and many of you have probably already noticed that I took to heart what many of you said about not using Pinterest, so added in original post links as well- the response has been great.
As for comments:
I don’t think I was particularly surprised by this, since  every blog will have more readers than commenters, especially in the current age of declining blog comments.  But it clearly had a strong influence on the results of the next question:
Unsurprisingly, I’m betting that the people who comment probably enjoy the emails back and forth (since I try to respond to every single comment), but those that don’t would like to see it in the comment section. I’m not sure what my next steps will be with this information- maybe I’ll start doing a mix of individual responses and commenting back on the posts as well. Maybe I’ll try just commenting on the comment and see how that works? I’ll have to give this section more thought.
And the final box allowed for you to tell me anything that you wanted to let me know- and I’m glad that so many of you filled it out!  First off: to the person who commented that my older Ravelry projects no longer link to my blog posts- thank you!! I had no idea when I migrated my blog from Blogger to WordPress every single old link would be killed (cautionary tales, my friends).  I’ve now gone back and updated all those old links, so my older Ravelry projects link back to the appropriate blog posts. I’m working on updating older Pinterest links, too.
I really appreciated the comments about how well the integration of the “meet the sponsors” posts are going, as I know some of you were nervous when I opened up to advertising. Please know that no one else has any control over which ads appear; every single one is a relationship that began with an email inquiring about space, and then I evaluated the fit to make sure it would be interesting if I saw it on someone else’s blog. All the items that appear in the Meet the Sponsors posts are picked out by me. The sponsors get to be surprised along with you!
This has been a really enjoyable experiment. I’m so glad so many of you participated and gave me your feedback- thank you!! I feel like I have a much better idea of what sort of things you would like to see around here. But don’t worry- there won’t be any sudden or swift changes, just trying to work in more of what you want to see.
This is so awesome! What a wealth of information you’ve gathered there. It would be really cool if you would focus on the “struggling parts” in crafting in future posts. Sometimes blogs seem so perfect, like everything is going great, and it’s nice to know that we with our “fails” and weaknesses are not alone. Especially when we lose confidence in our abilities after a dejecting experience. I didn’t know knitting bloggers have video podcasts. Many of my searches for knitting videos had me squinting and trying to use my imagination to understand what’s going on. I would love to find good youtube channels about knitting that aren’t just about techniques. For example, spinning, Abby Franquemont is my idol and I would love if she made more spinning videos in HD. Also sometimes it feels like you can find good “beginner” videos, like where to start, but what if you want to take it a step further? It would be awesome to have high quality youtube channels for that. Maybe they exist and I haven’t found them yet! It would be great if you did pattern reviews, and maybe product reviews – it’s nice if you point out a nice pattern, but it could also be better if you could say what was good about a pattern that you knit – like what techniques are involved, what you found useful about the instructions or what ideas you had for modifications or how you overcame any fit issues or mistakes. BTW when I see a pattern I like to know that it looks good on a lot of women, not just on the model, so I like to look at the finished projects in ravelry. If you find a designer you recommend or a pattern that seems to work for a lot of wearers, that would be cool. Anyhow, this is really great and I’m looking forward to future posts!
It was really interesting to see all your results laid out – thanks for this!
I have 2 quick questions – what made you decide to move from Blogger to WordPress? I get the impression that most people prefer WordPress and I’m on Blogger at the moment so I’m considering moving but want to know if its worth the time/effort etc? And secondly was it difficult/worth it to move (besides discovering your links stopped working – thanks for the heads up!) – any chance to pick your brain on this would be really helpful if you have the time – no rush on any response 🙂 thanks! jenny xx
This is something I would be interested to know more about too. I missed the survey because I was on holiday but I’ve really enjoyed reading the results. I love a good pie chart!
Hi Jenny,
I moved from blogger to WordPress mostly because of the comments- the comment feature in Blogger was so lousy, I often couldn’t’ reply to anyone’s comments via email at all- which meant that I’d have to hope that they followed up in the comment section, which so few people do. Moving to WordPress gave me more flexibility in the deign of my site, more plug-in options, and lots of different comment options that could plug in. I’m happy with it, but the learning curve was steep- it took me a while to get used to the new way of doing things. As for the difficulty of moving things, I was fortunate- my husband is a web designer, so he did the heavy lifting for me. I do all the regular back-end stuff, but he handles any problems that crop up, or really big changes.
This is all so interesting. It’s awesome that you have such a terrific relationship with your readers, giving them a voice and taking what they have to say to heart. Excited to see where you take this!
It’s really fantastic that you have so many engaged readers willing to take the time to answer the survey. That in itself indicates how highly regarded and enjoyed your wonderful blog is. I loved taking a look at the results and thank you for sharing them with us!
It is really interesting to see all the feedback – thank for sharing it! It’s neat to see where I am in the majority, and where I am in the minority. I’m looking forward to seeing where all this leads 🙂
If you switch to Disqus for comments, your commenter will get an email notifying them of your response…plus, it will show up in the thread! I normally don’t bother asking anything in comments since I will never find out if there was a response.
Hi Lauren,
you know what’s funny- I really dislike disqus! I’m not a fan of commenting plug-ins that require you to sign up for their account in order to use them. But since so many people use it, I’ve had to succumb and sign up for the account (I always forget and use a different social media thing to sign up every time), because I didn’t want to ignore people’s blogs when they were so thoughtful commenting on mine.
I hate Disqus too, and refuses to sign for something I will not need other than commenting on blogs. So glad you are not taking this path. If bloggers knew how many comments they miss by requesting a sign-in, they might change their policy. Unless they have so many readers they prefer to “police” the comments.
Oh, wonderful! I’m glad you enjoyed my blog. I have been following yours for a few years now and just love all the knitting inspiration. 🙂
It looks like you got some really great information to sort through from this survey! I know in my own response I was torn about the Outtakes posts, because I really do like them, but could only choose three. However you decide to proceed, I’m excited to see how your blog develops 🙂
Such an interesting report. I totally agree with you about pattern reviews, you can just choose the patterns that you like and describe the positive aspects. We can draw our conclusions about the ones you don’t include! Your blog is so interesting, keep up the good work.
Very cool! I’m a huge fan of your blog and love the new ideas. Keep up the great work!
What?! Who has a video knitting podcast? I have been looking and looking for more knitting vlog content and haven’t been able to find ANYTHING. Who’s vlogging their knits these days???
HI Sarah,
There is a HUGE list here: http://knittingpodcast.blogspot.ca/p/video-podcast-list.html and I also know that Buckaloo View does them, Mandarine’s, Susan B Anderson…. any others I’ve missed, everyone feel free to chime in on the comments!
Huh, crazy! Thanks Julie. I’ll have to check them out.
Hi Julie! In addition (or instead of) pattern reviews, I’ve always liked bloggers who do round-ups of new patterns. Arianne of Falling Stitches used to do them when she was more actively blogging and I loved them! Takes away from the potential critical tone that you want to avoid with reviews.
Great to see the results, it was fun doing the survey, so happy for you many readers participated. My two cents on podcasts or vlogs: I just never seem to find the time to watch or listen to them, and find them way too long in general. I prefer reading.
I missed out on participating in the survey but see I’m fitting in along with everyone else. How great was it for you to see we all like what you’re doing?
The pattern let down is a big one and I think that’s part of what inspired Kate Atherley to write her book. Thank goodness for Ravelry project page so you can see the pattern results when knit by mere mortals.There IS a lot of work that goes into patterns & I appreciate you not wanting to crush anyone’s dreams. I can name 10 patterns that almost stopped me from continuing to knit due poorly written instructions and 4 of them were from trusted sources. Let’s sing the praises of those designers that do it right- if we draw enough attention, they can be the shining influence on others. (Shoutout to Tin Can Knits)
I like the idea of the ezine pattern reviews-it may also introduce us to resources we don’t know about (gasp! Can you believe some people don’t know about Knitty?).
As for podcasts, I listen to 99% Invisible, Snap Judgement and knit.fm while I knit.
I like the idea of the review of the online ezines
I’m sorry I missed the boat on filling out the survey! I kept meaning to come back to it when I’d have the time to answer thoughtfully and ended up just dropping the ball. I’m surprised many would request more frequent posts… not because your posts aren’t great – they’re so inspiring and engaging – but 3 posts a week is such a generous output already, let alone for someone with a full-time job. I really appreciate all of the work that goes into them: you offer such a positive and creative voice.
Oh, I love this survey! Sorry I missed it!
“So, I’m thinking that when there is a new collection from, say, Knitty or Twist Collective or Wool People or etc., I can put together my top picks and explain why I like them- does that sound interesting?”
I’d enjoy reading that!
This is so cool being able to see all the graphs and such! Really interesting! 🙂
I found it interesting that only 6 readers said they were in the 18-21 category – you’d think being younger that we’d all be up on the technology, but talking to girls at my university knitting group and so many of them don’t follow any knitting blogs, which is a shame, because they’re such a wealth of information!!
Can’t wait to see what changes you make to the blog, although it’s pretty awesome as it is already! 🙂
Hi Julie, I thought I had read all your blog posts, but somehow I missed the one where your offered the survey. I can’t find it. Can you send me the link? I would like to see the original post. BTW, I was fascinated with your results!
Hi Kristen,
No problem! The original post with the link was here: http://knittedbliss.com/knit-in-progress-chromatic-brioche-cowl-and-a-survey/
I put a reminder at the end of this post: http://knittedbliss.com/outtakes-hyperballad/
and of course, all the usual social media channels. It’s eas to miss stuff, though- I miss stuff on other people’s blogs all the time, and I swearer I check the internet every day!
I too would like to hear what you think of new collections and new patterns. I’m not particularly interested in patterns you don’t like – if you focus on what you DO like that gives enough information. We can infer that if you choose to comment on it, it’s a good pattern!
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