In Praise of Ravelry

Got your Google+ invite? Yes? Created some circles, placing people where you think they belong in your life then moving them about every time someone else you know appears on the site?  Wish the circles would overlap because you just can’t resist a decent Venn diagram? Want a Ninth Circle of Google+ where you could banish those people you never want to interact with?

Well, I can’t help you with any of those questions but asking them got me thinking about how and why I use social networks.  Maybe it goes back to those chat rooms when AOL was the only game in town and I had two kids in diapers (not to mention the two huge dogs and one large husband to care for) so uninterrupted face to face chats with friends over coffee or at a bar just weren’t going to happen.  We mommies opened up our chat rooms in the morning and popped in and out as naps and videos allowed.  My children survived to enter kindergarten and my marriage probably lasted a few days longer due to the opportunity to converse with other adults with similar interests and issues.

Fast forward a significant amount of time and we have Twitter.  I signed on initially to share a conference experience at NYU but then discovered what a wonderful platform it was to converse with friends, network with professionals, and keep in touch with the world outside my classroom.  This lasted about two years but then the school community jumped on board and, well, it became a case of “be careful what you wish for”. Used to be a great platform for self expression, now not so much, but that’s how I learned to manage Facebook lists.

Now we have Google+.  Just about the time I got my invite, @hoxtonhandmade tweeted an article from Slate entitled “A Tight Knit Community: Why Facebook Can’t Match Ravelry, a Social Network for Knitters” (more about @hoxtonhandmade in a few).  Ravelry was founded by a husband and wife team and has just four employees to keep a social network of over a million members going.  No pretty diagrams, no chats based on sports metaphors, just forums, groups, shopping, and a way to catalog all my favorite patterns and yarn as well as ask questions of other knitters as I strive to be more than a novice.

I have over 2000 followers on Twitter, close to 200 friends on Facebook, over 30 folks in my Circles on Google+ … and 3 friends on Ravelry.  One to one connections aren’t as important as sharing a passion for a specific topic with the group at large, and you needn’t post all over the place to feel like you’re a participant. While I’ve never joined a knitting group, I get the impression that Ravelry is like those chat rooms the moms ran way back when – a group of people discussing their knitting successes and failures as well as resources and entertainment.

I tend to visit the groups that focus on the various podcasts I love.  The Knitmore Girls, Electric Sheep, and A Playful Day are my favorites (although I’ve found I slip into a decidedly British accent for no reason these days I swear, and the latter 2 podcasters love of mustaches and ale is an added bonus).  Yarn and pattern recommendations are easy to follow up on Ravelry, and when I’m looking for that perfect next project, these podcasts tend to at least give me a push in the right direction.

I admit, after catching up on A Playful Day’s podcast I’m seriously lusting after Madelinetosh DK yarn, and @hoxtonhandmade’s essay from awhile back about acrylic yarn made me feel not so bad about using Red Heart over fancy alpaca or cashmere.  After all, I am a new knitter, poor teacher with two expensive teenagers … and acrylic was certainly alright for Grandma!  I wish The Knitmore Girls hadn’t timed their first vacation with mine, but their return in September will make that month just a bit more palatable!

The best part of Ravelry for me, though, is exactly what made me first love Twitter.  A wealth of timely information and a group of experts to provide almost instant answers to pressing questions.  I recently decided to knit this pattern from The Brisbane Courier‘s Thursday, November 29, 1928 edition, based on this version created by Ravelry member KnittingAnd.  When I couldn’t quite figure out how to attach the lining, I emailed her and got a quick response even though she’s in Australia!

A successful social network for me at least is one that provides a platform for people interested in a similar subject to share ideas, ask questions, and provide information.  When I joined Twitter, I wanted contacts in tech and marketing, asked and answered questions about those topics and then education.  Yes, it’s great to send random thoughts out to the twitterverse, get your news almost immediately in your Tweetdeck stream, and casually chat with friends throughout your day, but for real social media value, I think specialized networks are the up and coming platform not the meganetworks like Google+.

I may be wrong (and please tell me if you think I am), but I wouldn’t be surprised to find there are other very successful specialized social networks out there…

I delayed this post because my daughter asked me to knit a sunglasses case for her friend Paige as a birthday present.  Sarah found a beautiful tea set but wanted to add something to the gift.  Being a good daughter, she fed my yarn stash on Mother’s Day and then promptly picked one of the yarns she gave me for use in this new project.  I tend toward bright colors (primarily pink and purple – can you tell?) so knitting a plain brown sunglasses case worried me … until I finished it.  The yarn color took on some depth when knit, and Paige loved all of her gifts!

The lighting isn’t great and I took that photo with my iPhone, but you get the idea!

I also started a scarf for Father’s Day for my Dad.  This is the first time I’ve worked with wool, and it took three tries to get the gauge and stitch right.  Now I appreciate why I should make a swatch before I start a project and not just dive in. Knitting may teach me a bit of patience yet!  The color is more like that in the second picture below, but you can see how the scarf is shaping up in the first one.  Again, let’s hope neither of my parents decide to check the blog anytime soon!

On the Needles: Cotton!

This week’s on the needles I have an infinity scarf I’m knitting for my daughter out of cotton yarn.  I chose cotton because I wanted her to be able to wear it this spring, and I’ve never worked with cotton before.  So far, I like the fiber but it doesn’t have as much “give” as acrylic.  I’ve also spent way too much time looking for a button or two to sew on the scarf to give it some style and have yet to find any I like.  Steampunk buttons were tempting but I think these are too heavy for cotton.  Any suggestions are appreciated!

I’m knitting six rows then purling six rows to give it some texture and a striped look.  Here’s a closeup of my progress so far:

Hope my baby girl likes it!

On the Needles: Resources & Yarn Bombers!

I recently learned to knit at an NAHS workshop at the school where I teach.  @amandaszukofski gave me a great start, and in her instructions to us, she strongly suggested going on YouTube to learn more techniques.  I started by learning how to cast off with a video and am going to attempt to make a blanket with a cable stitch for my son this summer.  I also discovered mobius and infinity scarves on ravelry, an online community you really should join if you’re at all into knitting and the fiber arts.

A comment on last week’s blog post prompted me to compile a short list of resources I’ve discovered in the brief time I’ve been knitting.  Feel free to add more in the comments; I’m always looking for more resources!

1. As I mentioned, the first video I watched was how to cast off.  The knitting needles are HUGE, but I think that makes it easier to see what she’s doing.  The British narration doesn’t hurt either!
2. knittinghelp.com is an excellent resource for how to do just about any knitting stitch or technique.  For my first infinity scarf I needed to do “increases” and had no idea what they were or how to do them.  This simple explanation was the best I found on the internet.
3. Over at The Knitting Hobbist I found the best explanation of cable stitching I could find – and I viewed quite a few! In subsequent On the Needles blog posts, I’ll share my (let’s hope) success with this technique.
4. While I’ve spread the social media love around these past weeks, Twitter is still an excellent place to find knitting resources.  @traceyknits and @knittinghobbyist are my two favorites, and I’ve found quite a few good resources and blogs via their tweets.
5. While I’m still at the Michael’s and A.C. Moore stage of knitting (and acrylic washes REALLY WELL, a must when I make things for my teenagers although I did find a beautiful cotton yarn for Sarah this past week), @amandazukofsky swears by yarn.com and knitpicks.com.  She recently got a great yarn winder for $20 at the latter website, a tool I think I too will purchase! (And yes, I have been known to spend my entire 20 minutes of lunch browsing through what I call knitting porn on these and other websites especially etsy!)

I’ll leave you with a wonderful film project about yarn bombers.  What’s a yarn bomber you ask?  When I first started knitting in January, quite a few friends sent me links to various yarn bombers exploits because, let’s face it, if anyone’s going to do performance knitting at the Jersey Shore, it’s probably me.  Last year, there was a mystery knitter around Cape May that I followed and that was before I learned to knit!  This video describes a documentary project about yarn graffiti.  Please consider donating to their cause even if you just like to see colorful knitting in urban landscapes!

On the Needles

I decided to “borrow” an idea from the Knitmore Girls’ podcast and start an “On the Needles” series of posts on this blog. Recently a friend referred to me as a “knitting nazi”, and while I’m not keen on that noun especially during the Passover and Easter season, I get what she’s trying to say. Enthusiastic about knitting is an understatement; it’s a new obsession! I figure knitting’s inexpensive and as my Dad likes to say, it keeps me off the streets and out of bars.  So on a fairly regularly basis I’ll update my readers on what I’ve got on my needles.

My Mom doesn’t normally read my blog but just in case **SPOILER** (that means stop reading now Mom).

Ok, now that Mom’s gone, below is my current project, a striped scarf for Mother’s Day.  It’s solid lilac alternating with a lilac, purple and green gradient yarn.  The original scarf pattern had more contrast but I love these colors for Mom and this time of year.  I know it’s in the 80s down in Texas right now, but it’ll get cold again next winter, and  Mom will be warm and stylish!

Everyday Vegan presents … A Shepherd’s Birthday

@shoreflicks was right, that’s probably the first and last time that will ever be tweeted, more so because (at least for me) it’s true.  A discussion about yarn prompted that tweet, and let’s face it, if you read my blog or follow me on Twitter, you know about my new passion for knitting.  Much as I love art, I’m more about craft.  Before my kids were born, I completed all number of needlework projects, but you can’t take a year on an original needlework design when you’ve got two kids in diapers!  Now that my two are independent (or at least close to), I can relax once again with fiber.

Enough about me, where’s that Shepherd?  Tom Chenal, owner and shepherd at Summerhill Farm in Morganville, NJ, celebrated his 60th birthday this month in style.  Below is a picture of Tom and Fifi, one of the many lambs born this spring and an integral part of the celebration.

Fifi is the youngest of quadruplets, and her mother rejected her right after she was born.  According to the shepherd and his wife, Barbara, they were unsure the first few days if Fifi would survive.  They brought her into the house tried to bottle feed her commercial lamb’s milk.  Poor Fifi had a tough time at first but finally took to the bottle and is now a strapping one month old girl!

A couple of hours into the shepherd’s birthday party it was feeding time for Fifi.  Tom’s nephews took turns bottle feeding her in the kitchen as the festivities continued around her unabated.

Spilling out from the house, guests roamed the farm greeting the other lambs born this year, their mothers, and the llamas that now live next door.

The wool on these triplets is the same sported by mom; she’s brown and beige because her wool fades over time.

This everyday vegan recently learned to knit and can’t wait to make a few projects with Summerhill Farm wool. Wondering how a vegan can work with wool?  My choice to become vegan primarily rests on the treatment of animals with a strong preference to the use of grain to feed humans rather than cattle.  No animals I’ve ever met (including my own dog and cat) are treated as well as Tom’s sheep.  This shepherd sheers his own sheep so I know their wool is gently removed.  Once we get this wool cleaned, carded, and dyed, I want more than anything to spin it into yarn and start knitting!

Assuming I can find a spinning class within an hour from my house…

Anyway, no birthday is complete without cake, and for this shepherd, it’s a peep cake! While not vegan, it is colorful, seasonal, and the shepherd’s favorite.