Through the magic of the internet I found myself signed up to a social networking site that is specifically for knitters and crocheters. Called Ravelry, it has been around since 2007 and Wikipedia says it has about 600,000 users. Well, about 600,001 now. I don’t exactly need another internet obsession in my life, but now that I have joined, I am so into it.
The hours that I have spent on Ravelry so far have involved setting up my profile and searching the countless patterns available to the community. In the profile section, you get to list projects you are working on, post photos of finished work, have an RSS feed of your blog, list all the needles you own, and list all the yarn you have on hand. There is even a cool function that lets you save patterns into a page called the “queue”. The queue lets you keep track of all the patterns you have found online that you want to try. I already have nine patterns saved in my queue, as I spent the weekend searching through all the different patterns this site has to offer. There are literally thousands, and many of them are free. In my extended search I found quite a few patterns that are geek oriented (Star Wars, Firefly, superhero themed) and I’m excited to knit some geeky things in the future. I put a pattern for knit Chainmail in my queue! Is that geeky or what?
I haven’t engaged in the social networking aspect of the site yet, but there are hundreds of groups to join - everything from Tim Hortons Lovers to fans of Lord of the Rings. I have only just grazed the surface of everything there is to find on Ravelry, and I have a feeling I'm going to be completely obsessed by the time I finish exploring it.
The hours that I have spent on Ravelry so far have involved setting up my profile and searching the countless patterns available to the community. In the profile section, you get to list projects you are working on, post photos of finished work, have an RSS feed of your blog, list all the needles you own, and list all the yarn you have on hand. There is even a cool function that lets you save patterns into a page called the “queue”. The queue lets you keep track of all the patterns you have found online that you want to try. I already have nine patterns saved in my queue, as I spent the weekend searching through all the different patterns this site has to offer. There are literally thousands, and many of them are free. In my extended search I found quite a few patterns that are geek oriented (Star Wars, Firefly, superhero themed) and I’m excited to knit some geeky things in the future. I put a pattern for knit Chainmail in my queue! Is that geeky or what?
I haven’t engaged in the social networking aspect of the site yet, but there are hundreds of groups to join - everything from Tim Hortons Lovers to fans of Lord of the Rings. I have only just grazed the surface of everything there is to find on Ravelry, and I have a feeling I'm going to be completely obsessed by the time I finish exploring it.
Posts
OMG. As if I don't waste enough time on the interweb, you've gotta go and tell me that there's somewhere I can get Firefly and Star Wars oriented knitting patterns? You're killing me here, JL, just killing me. ;)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds awesome, and I may have to join you.
Buddy! You should totally join... I was definitely thinking about you while writing this post - I have found lots of geeky stuff so far on this site. There are geek groups! I don't want to obsessed with it, but I have spent HOURS looking through patterns. Tonnes are free. I love surfing through patterns!!
ReplyDeleteWhy is there so much fun stuff to do on the internet???