A Milestone

I was just looking out my window at the grey sky and thinking about what I'd write today. I logged into Ravelry as I usually do in the morning, and there was my answer.

1,000,000 Ravelers!

If you've ever had to defend your knitting in public, if you've ever had to explain why you enjoy crochet or spinning, now you can refer to the fact that ONE MILLION people worldwide are members of this crafting community.

I joined Ravelry when it was still necessary to wait for an invitation. I was a little hesitant to do so since I didn't use other social networks (still don't) and wasn't sure of the benefit. Well, there hasn't been a day that I've regretted my decision. The sheer volume of resources available makes it worth it, even if you never post a comment or make a friend. Being able to research a pattern, a yarn, or read someone's notes on a project while sitting at home (even in pajamas!) is invaluable. Making friends, seeing what's new, getting advice or help or being able to find that one skein or partial skein that you need to finish a project can't be beat.

Ravelry is a part of my day. I don't know how many times I've learned something completely unrelated to knitting. I've joined groups that talk about audio books, Mac computers, and running. There are people from all walks of life here who have a common interest in fibery pursuits but who also are willing to share expertise in other areas.

No wonder when there's charity work to be done, money to be raised, or encouragement to be given, knitters step up. We're everywhere and involved in everything. Maybe now when the next major event is being organized (Sock Summit '11?) and the IT people are told to make accommodations for thousand of people to hit the servers at once, they'll listen.

Comments

Cathy-Cate said…

Hi, twin! And, great minds think alike, as usual -- see my post today!

No conflicts so far for SS '11, by the way, so I am hoping to come out -- and maybe bring my family to visit the PNW too!

November 13, 2010 at 4:55 PM

I Can't Stand It Anymore

Those who know me accept the fact that I am an English major at heart, if not in real life. I can spot a typo at 50 paces and a misplaced apostrophe at 100. I have much more respect for writers (even bloggers and people who post in forums on the net) if they use apostrophes correctly and spell accurately. In reading one of my favorite knitting blogs just now, I was disappointed in the author (who I enjoy and generally think does a great job of keeping her grammar and spelling top notch) when she made the mistake that I seem to notice constantly lately. (No, family, it's not putting "at" at the end of a sentence, but that annoys me, too.) Lose vs. loose. What is so hard about this? Loose is when your pants are too big and fall down. Lose is what you've done when you can't find your car keys. You don't loose weight, you lose it (if you're lucky.) The sweater you knit is not too lose, it's too loose (assuming it's size is too large for you.)

Catching Up

It's been awhile since I've posted any knitting, but I have finished a few things. Let's see, I got it into my head that I had to finish my Cozy wrap before our trip to Ireland, so I could take it on the plane as a blankie. Well, I knitted and knitted, so much so that my elbow began to hurt (ack!) but didn't finish. I decided to take it with me as airplane knitting, even though the larger, sharper Harmony needles I was using could perhaps be a problem, but they sailed through security screening each time. (I love these needles by the way, in all sizes. I haven't had any problems with them at all.) So Cozy came with me, sat on my lap, and I finally finished it halfway through the trip. Then I decided that it wasn't long enough, so I packed it into my suitcase and planned to block it out larger after returning home. Well, I blocked it and now it's really long, but I still like it and use it to throw over my shoulders as I sit and knit at home. Here&#

The Race Begins

Dishrag Tag has officially begun. I drove home this afternoon, saw the mail carrier leaving our house, and found not one but TWO boxes in the mailbox! One was my dishrag tag relay box, and one was yarn I bought earlier in the week at The Loopy Ewe. And inside the boxes, I found goodies. The first box held a dishrag from our fearless leader, Emily , two balls of cotton yarn, a recipe for shortbread, and two cute little gingerbread-man (person?) cookie cutters. Of course, beautiful sock yarn was in the other box: GypsyKnits, Melon Patch colorway, and Cider Moon Flurry in the Midnight Special colorway. The third beautiful skein is my July sock club yarn from Zen String, Harmony in a colorway for spring called Dragonfly. That arrived yesterday. It's been a good week! Of course, I immediately had to begin making my dishcloth for the relay so I can get the box in the mail tomorrow. I chose the yellow/orange yarn and made a simple pattern so I could finish quickly. Here it is dry

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