Wednesday, July 29, 2009

I will readily admit that I was one of the last ones to jump on the ravelry bandwagon. In fact, I only joined so that when people linked to patterns I could see them. And then I joined and went and looked around.

Wow. I know this is preaching to the choir here but it is a wonderful site. (and a really, really good time suck for when you're bored at work). Yesterday, while browsing new groups I came across one called Yarnstorm. Intrigued, I checked it out. It's a group of people who donate unwanted/unused stash yarn to a central source who then mails it out as a 'yarnstorm' to someone who could use a 'pick-me-up' or are having a budget crunch. It's a way to help a fellow crafter out and to clean out yarn (to make room for more?) and to generally feel good.

I found the group at work and it just made my whole day to read about how excited the recipients were when they got big boxes of yarn from the yarnstormers. And wow, have people been generous. There are photos on one of the threads of the donations. It's a huge amount of yarn. It's so cool. I got goosebumps.

So, right there, I found another reason to be glad I decided to jump aboard that wagon and become a part of the ravelry community. What's your favorite group?

13 comments:

roxie said...

Still skeered of teh Ravel thingy. People have gone in there, gotten lost, and resurfaced days later, totally changed and speaking some arcane language. (Clapotis?) I will stand back and watch a while longer. Have fun!

Bezzie said...

That's a cool concept.

I still can't get sucked into it though. Either the social or organizational aspect. I'll go on there when I'm on a certain pattern jag to see what works and what doesn't. I didn't do the empire waist as called for on my Skinny Empire b/c of the yucky examples I saw on there. That's about the only thing I use it for.

Favorite group? Ummmm.....I don't really have one. The Alaskan group had a rude person in it and I figured it wasn't enriching my life that much, so I unjoined.

Denise said...

Must admit I adore Ravelry, and visit every day.

I am an admin for the Crossword Junkies group, and run fun cryptic clue tutorials and quizzes. And the Chihuahua group is excellent fun too. I've made new friends, and can help knitters if they have any questions with my original patterns, and can organise my projects and stash, and I generally LOVE it :)

Sheepish Annie said...

I am on Ravelry, but don't do any groups. I'm not much of a joiner, I'm afraid. Of course that didn't stop me from joining Ravelry! How can you not love a site that lets you spend a whole day browsing knitting???

Jeanne said...

I love Ravelry and use it everyday - just seeing people's projects is very inspiring!

I find that I change what groups I follow frequently - I find something that I'm interested in..and then I wander off after a while to another group. There is just so much there.

Now I'm going to have to check out Yarnstorm!

Rose Red said...

I LOVE RAVELRY!! Yarnstorm sounds like a great group, what a fab idea! There are groups I read all the time (a few Australian groups) and I always check out the Wollmeise group although don't really participate in the conversations. The Tour de France KAL group was great, but of course that's over now. I tend to read more than post in the groups.

Bells said...

It's so nice you're finally getting ravelry. I don't understand not getting it, really. To those who say it's a time suck, it's as much or as little of a time suck as you let it be. I can go for days without doing more than just checking details on a project. Then I go for days doing loads of window shopping.

I come and go on the groups and often lurk more than participate and I'm mainly on local groups although I lurk on lots of OS groups too, very subject based according to what I'm interested in at the time. Love my Jane Austen groups though. I love reading those although I don't participate much there either.

Louiz said...

I have a lot of groups, but I mostly lurk. I think right now my favourites are the spinning ones.

Yarnstorming has a different meaning here (UK) - it's where people cover stuff with knitting or yarn. It's such a good idea though - I think there is a UK group, or they were discussing it anyway.

Galad said...

I mostly lurk on Ravelry though do follow a couple of my favorite dyers. I tried doing some book groups but couldn't keep up.

I'm like Bells as far as usage. Sometimes I'm on a lot looking at things and then I can go for days just checking on an occasional yarn or pattern.

TinkingBell said...

Love love love Rav! But it is a complete timesuck to the nth degree.

My favourite groups? Over the fence, an Australia and New Zealand silliness and chat group - and I admit to a certain fondness for any sci fi groups and to LSG and Rubberneckers - because they are generally so awful, they make me feel a model of rectitude in comparison!

Julie said...

I've been hanging around message boards on the internet since 1993, and because of that, I've grown to have a very jaundiced view of them. There's one group on Ravelry - Chronic Bitches, crafters with chronic illness - that doesn't drive me nuts. Everyone is kind and funny, they're as profane as I am, and they help each other out a lot. Best of all, I've been hanging around there since May and haven't yet put anyone on ignore. That's got to be a record.

Mostly I use Ravelry to check out patterns before I knit them (very useful) and do a bit of networking. For some reason people feel more comfortable e-mailing me there with questions about my designs, than using my regular e-mail. Whatever works.

I do think it's a fabulous resource, and I keep it around mostly for the database.

Geek Knitter said...

I mostly use Ravelry for the organization and the databases. I'll read some of the group discussions, and look for techniques, but very rarely post in the discussions.

Amy Lane said...

Okay-- feeling guilty--I REALLY have to spend more time on Ravelry!

Happy Sunday!  I am sitting here working on my sweater made with the cashmere yarn my husband gave me for my birthday last year. I’m further...