Ravelry, how I love thee!

I know most of you who check out my blog are here for the dogs, but dang, this Ravelry this is soooooo addictive! It's a record keeper (how much yarn and what kinds do I have, what types and sizes of needles do I have, which projects have I made, which projects do I want to make, etc.), but that's just the tip of the iceberg. How do I put this into dog terms? You know all the talk about building a cardi health database? Ravelry to knitters and crocheters is like that database, but only if it could give you all the health information; show you pictures of nearly every cardi that ever existed; link to every sport cardis have ever done and have pictures of them all doing those sports; show you what your puppies would look like if you bred dog A to bitch B; put you in touch not only with all the other cardi breeders now, but let you have access to resources left by every breeder ever; show you all win pictures of every cardi ever alive; show you every shampoo, lead, collar, food, and other product ever used on a cardi and what the results were; and more! It's amazing!!!!

On Ravelry, I put in the name of a designer and, most likely, go to that designer's personal Ravelry notebook that shows what she is working on, what types of yarns and needles she's using, what patterns she's written and how to get them, what books she's got patterns in and how to get those, what groups she belongs to, what her personal blog address is, and so, so much more. Or, say I find a great deal on some yarn, but I haven't a clue what to make out of it. I can put it in Ravelry and it'll show me every pattern any member has ever made out of that yarn. So, not only can I see what the projects look like, I can see what all the other colorways look like, too! And I just started using it, so I'm sure there is way more I haven't even discovered yet.

I joined a bunch of groups based on different knitting podcasts I listen to. While at one of those groups, I saw someone's chosen profile picture...a cardi! So, I went to her Ravelry site (Karen in California with Tango and Dancer), which led me to her blog and more pictures of her dogs. Turns out she was at Nationals and I'm almost positive I spoke with her very briefly. She's an amazing knitter and only has been at it a year longer than me. She bravely tackles stranded colorwork!!! I'm in awe! And that's just one person. So amazing to me!!!!

Gawd, I'm spending way too much time on the computer, I'm having to learn how to use Flickr, I missed handling class (nail appointment was the real reason, not copious amounts of time on Ravelry - RIGHT!), and I'm not even knitting. ARRRRRGGGGGG!!!!!

And if you're ever on Ravelry and looking for me, my username is RichelleCK. :)