Mad Props

I’ve been in Ravelry for a couple weeks now, and feel ready to send out my opinion to the blogosphere… so here is my little review.

At first, Ravelry seemed super overwhelming, and honestly I thought it was too much to do. I thought, “You want me to photograph my entire stash? That’s a lot of work, so screw that.” Then I realized that nobody is making me do anything… I can just hang out in the forums if I want, ignoring every other feature on the site. A short while later I felt the inexplicable urge to photograph my entire stash.

It didn’t take as long as expected to take pictures of my yarn, but it was tricky to find good lighting. Anyone who happened to walk by must have been amused to see me squatting by my patio door taking pictures of yarn and scolding the dog for “blocking my light.” Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m the crazy lady in the neighborhood. Anyhoo, it’s done now. And looking at my stash on Ravelry gives me the warm fuzzies all over.

The little virtual ‘needle inventory’ section is nice, but really it just makes me want to go out and buy all the needles I don’t have. Since I have a penchant for high-end bamboo and rosewood needles, this would be quite an expensive endeavor. I filled it out, but try not to look at it anymore. If you have some self-control, then you can print out a card to carry around with you. For me that would mean financial ruin (or at least a big ding on my credit report).

I haven’t played around in the projects section of my notebook too much, and I suspect this will be my most neglected area. It just seems like I’d spend more time updating my project (its level of completion, my happiness with it thus far, and all my notes about the pattern/project) than I would knitting it. But if you’re into documenting those things, it would be great.

Remember that Colinette Giotto I bought last weekend? I looked it up in the yarn section on Ravelry and saw everything anybody knit with it. Awesome. Even if you don’t see something that you particularly want to knit up with your yarn, it still does wonders. I was able to determine what sort of stitch pattern I was looking for (lots of texture), and what sort of item I wanted to make (not a shirt).

Poking through the patterns area was fun. I looked up the pattern for the brother-in-law’s sweater, which isn’t in there yet- but the crew neck version is. It’s handy to see what yarn they used, since the pattern doesn’t state a specific yarn (just a DK weight). Then I noticed lots of other people where not nearly as thrown off by the Buttony Sweater as I was, since theirs fit. At first that made me feel completely incompetent as a knitter, but I felt much better when I placed the blame on the yarn.

Those are my favorite parts. It's worth mentioning the forums and groups, too. They're pretty extensive. I joined groups for yarn sniffers, lefties, and more. The forums are crazy helpful- you can answers to any questions you have.

Ok, so there's lots more I could gush about, but CSI is on now- I gotta go. Ravelry is great. Go sign up if you haven't already.