Ravelry

With over 3 million users, Ravelry has truly come into it's own.  For the non-knitting readers, Ravelry is a social networking site for people who do fiber crafts.  It includes yarn databases (both your personal stash and a compendium of every yarn ever known), book and magazine database, forums on any topic (even topics completely unrelated to fiber, and places to document and store your knitting projects.

How I Use Ravelry

Believe it or not, I first started this blog for the reason I now primarily use Ravelry...to document my knitting projects.  I wanted a place where I could look back on a project I knit and know which pattern I had used, what yarn, which size needles and how long it had taken me to complete and to post photos of projects in progress, or completed.  Ravelry does this much better than my blog.

So here are the ways I use Ravelry:

1. Tracking personal projects
2. Keeping up with the Men's Knitting Retreat communities
3. Looking for patterns of garments I need to make (recent baby gifts were found on Ravelry)
4. Documenting my stash (I haven't been very diligent with this)
5. Documenting my knitting library (again, not so diligent)
6. Selling patterns/designs of mine (the Koigu Cross-Stitch Scarf is by far the most popular design thanks to Theresa, the Keyboard Biologist, who has knit a few of them and has beautiful photos of her work)

I also check messages regularly and sometimes read through other forums to see what the knitters are up to.

Does anyone use Ravelry for other things as well?  Do other crafts (like quilting) have a similar site?

Current Knitting

I took a brief break from the Interlocking Crochet Scarf to work on knitting a pair of socks.

I honestly don't even know what sock yarn I'm using for this, but I think the heel (and eventual toe) is Koigu KPPPM.

Readers' Comments/Questions

Regarding the Men's Spring Knitting Retreat, BrewerGnome (who sells great fibers) wrote, "I really need to join you guys soon. Stupid money."

Yes...and I have two suggestions for you to help make it happen.  First, most of the retreats offer scholarships and  some even include stipends for travel.  Nominate yourself for one and get all your friends to nominate you as well.  If you had won a scholarship to MSKR this year, for instance, we could have given you a free registration and $400 toward your travel costs.  Second, we often ask one of our participants to set up a table of yarn/fiber they'd like to sell at the retreat, and you would definitely be welcome to do that at MSKR next May.  Pencil us in...you'd be a perfect fit in the group.

Regarding my latest quilting venture, Fredda asks, "Amazing! Is there anything you don't do well?"

Thank you for the compliment, and yes there are a number of things I'm completely crap at.  Most activities that take some physical coordination or finesse (including every sport ever known) take me forever to learn.  Fix-it/handyman like tasks are completely daunting to me.  I can't cook anything that requires frying...it tastes like ass.  My sense of direction is abysmal.  I could come up with a list, but then it would start to sound like a Catholic confession.