Friday Lists

Ravelry

1. Will Ravelry phase out blogs?  Making them the archaic method of sharing knits and life?
2. I hope not, because I don't use Ravelry that way.
3. I post my projects and am working on posting  my stash.
4. I don't read the forums, too much of a time suck and in some cases too much of the drama.
5. The message function is not my first method of communication, especially with people I know.
6. I am not as likely to remember to comment on projects there either.
7. I do love that you can search a project and find people that have made it, made modifications to it or worked out the kinks, get in touch with them and help each other out.  Love.That.
8. I have met new people that way.
9. It stinks when people don't return your requests, I try to in a timely manner, as much as is possible for me.
10. I love seeing what my friends are doing and adding to my queue more projects than I will live long enough to complete, or start for that matter. 
11. Things are brought to my attention through my friends that I might never have seen otherwise.
12. It is also so easy to search for something to do.  I used to pull out all of my magazines and books and pile them up and look through them all to find, say, a tank top.  So much easier online.
13. I still wish there was a way to update a WIP to a FO so all of your friends can come and see it again.
14. If people are switching from blogging to Ravelry it makes me a little sad, because I love reading about other aspects of people's lives.  You don't really get that in Ravelry.
15. Has your blogging or online life changed since Ravelry has become a part of it?

Knitting

1. The knit for hire is finished. "Cut, print, check the gate, moving on."*
2. Like the open road, my knitting life is ready and waiting for me to take to it.
3. For the weeks I was knitting for hire, I longed to knit so many projects that I queued on Ravelry.
4. For the weeks I was knitting for hire, I longed to knit so many of the yarns in my stash.
5. So why am I stuck?
6. I should cast on for something tonight.
7. Or pick up a WIP.
8. Like my tea cozy.  I really want to knit my tea cozy and go get some great fabric to line it with.
9. Or these socks, which I have been working on all winter.
10. Is it possible that I have not made a pair of socks since last summer?
11. It is.  Actually, I haven't even finished one sock since last summer.
12. And with the exception of knitting for hire, I haven't a sweater on the needles since November.
13. That is unlike me.
14. I think I will finish this post and go browse my queue, although I am pretty sure I will be knitting this first. 
15. Or this.
16. Or my tea cozy.
17. Can you see how this leads to paralysis?

Lists

1. These lists are not technically lists.
2. They are really poorly constructed paragraphs with improper grammar and sentence structure.
3. Because of that they are freeing.
4. Sort of a stream of consciousness way of communicating.
5. I could write this way every day.
6. Not worrying about imagery or details, just spitting it out there.
7. At first it was hard for me, but it is getting easier every time.
8. The hard thing is finding something to list about.
9. You should let me know if there is anything you think I should list about.
10. Ideas are welcomed at any time.
11. And greatly appreciated.
12. There is that improper sentence structure.

Two hundred fifty one to go.  *Ten useless points if you know the movie that quote is from.

Comments

[maryse]

i use ravelry like you do. it doesn't replace blogging for me. on the other hand, don't ask me about flickr.

[margene]

I love lists for all the reasons you listed. Knit the tea cozy...it will put you in the frame of mind to do something bigger.
I do think Ravelry is having an impact on blogs. Many people have given up or blog very (VERY) infrequently. It's sad, really. Ravelry works best in conjunction to blogs.

[Karen]

I use Ravelry the way you do. I do poke into the forums but for interests other than knitting. I do think there is an overall impact on blogs. There is also an explosion of people on Ravelry who would never have had a blog and we get to share their knitting when otherwise we would not have.
Please knit the tea cozy. It is so cute and just the right project to jump back into knitting for yourself.
Suggestions for your list: Favorite FOs ever, Biggest knitting regrets (things you haven't knit, things that didn't work out...).

[Jennifer]

You took the words out of my mouth. I've noticed a slow and steady decline in my reader stats lately. I don't think my blog has changed much. I have been wondering if more people are using Ravelry instead. I've been hoping that blogs don't die a slow death because I've really enjoyed my life as a blogger.

[--Deb]

I find Ravelry all kinds of useful, but no, I can't see that replacing blogs. They're completely different animals, so far as I'm concerned. Ravelry is a social network, but blogging is more personal. I very much enjoy both!

[Alison]

I am at the same place as you w/r/t knitting. I finished some pieces that were for-profit knitting (a class sample and a design for a publication), and now I can't figure out what to knit next. Although I'm even more stuck, b/c I feel like I have to knit only my own designs.

[Laurie]

I still intend to blog, for all the reasons you cite. I also tend to use Ravelry as you do. The drama of the forums is too much for my blood. I get drama...the real thing...at work. That's enough.

I think the time issue is a real one. If you are Ravel'd every day, you are spending less time reading blogs. I've thought about it, wondering if I had a threshold, and then realized that I would use blogging like many do, to keep up to date with my in person and my internet knitbuds.

[Marcia Cooke]

I don't use Ravelry as much as some (ain't no way y'all are going to see MY stash!) and while I do read some of the group forums there are groups I belong to (cute banners) that I never read. BTW, I think if you go to your project list, you can "edit" the WIP to become an FO. I did that today with my baby blanket!

Great photos!

[Cookie]

I use Ravelry for pattern and yarn searches, but that's about it. Life's too short for all that drama and nonsense.

How lists of favorite things? Pets, shops, you could do pretty much anything. Then follow up with the matching hate list. Just a thought.

[Debi]

Actually I am deep in the throes of deciding whether I want to continue blogging or not. I'm really involved with the Sock Knitters Anonymous Group on Rav but that's a low drama, fun group but other than that I don't get too involved in the forums.

I just keep thinking maybe I've said all I have to say on my blog which was 99% about knitting and Pumpkin anyway....::sigh::

[Sharon]

1. While there is overlap, I think blogs serve a completely different purpose than Ravelry. For example, this blog entry is not something you would post on one of the forums, even if you used the forums.

2. I completely agree that Ravelry's database function is a fabulous resource.

3. I think knitblogging is taking a nosedive for other reasons too....like there are so many of us now. Impossible to keep up. And getting harder to say the same things in original ways.

4. And I like this listing format. Hmm...coming soon to a blog near you. :)

[Donna]

I'm loving Ravelry, it's a huge time suck, but I still love the blogs. The two don't compare in my opinion, but I am noticing a decline in my stats, and some of the blogs I read have died off, sadly.

[Vicki]

My Bloglines list is insane for a number of reasons, and certainly I can not and do not read everyone on my list everyday. Because of that, the "unreads" tend to pile up and it becomes very easy to see who has NOT posted. I recently took some time to check them out and trimmed nearly 100 blogs from the list -- almost all because they are simply not blogging anymore.

I use and love and hate Ravelry in exactly the same ways you do. I only ever go there with a purpose because I know what a time suck it could be. I don't want that, don't need that.

I, too, think that there are SO MANY blogs, it is hard to keep up, easy to get lost... I feel like a number. Well, you know, the cozy little neighborhood where everyone knew your name (CHEERS!) has long been swallowed up. It's good... and bad.

[Cara]

Lately, I only use Ravelry to dream. I don't have my stash on there and I don't document my projects on there (gave that up REAL fast) and I have maybe perused the forums once or twice. Having been burned in forum life before, you won't seem me there at all.

I love my blog and I love blogs and I really do think that Ravelry has affected the blog world. And not in the good way.

[Manise]

I feel the same way as you about how Ravelry has affected blogging and blogs. I too use Ravelry more as a resource than a way of keeping up with my knitbuds.

I can smell those hyacinths from here- nice pics.

[Norma]

I really don't use Ravelry at all. I love my blog and I love blogging. I'm with Cara in feeling that Rav has affected blogging and not in the good way. It may be that it will be like snowboarding is to skiing up here in Vermont -- only the old fogies ski anymore. I'm sad about that, but if I become a dinosaur talking into air by myself, at the moment, I don't think that will change anything about the way I blog. However, I guess it is possible I could lose the will to blog if nobody's reading.

[Kim]

For me, blogging is so much more personal than ravelry. Blogs are a slice of life at any given moment...and personally I enjoy blogs more.

I tend to look at Ravelry more as an encylopedia....lots of fabulous information right at your fingertips, but not quite as personal.

I can live without all of the nasty drama though on some of the different Ravelry forums. Life is too short for that :)

[Imelda / GreenishLady]

I haven't encountered Ravelry. Probably because my knitting life is very, very slow. Knitting doesn't feature on my blog. I 've mentioned crochet from time to time, but not knitting. I think my poetry is your knitting, perhaps. Loved this post. If I numbered each of these sentences, there would be quite a little list here. Make a list of lists. That's usually interesting.

[Teyani]

I, too, (as many above had said) use Ravelry to do pattern searches, and catalog my projects in a concise way - but it'll never replace my blog (which I consider more of a journal than a knitting catalog.)
PLease keep blogging. I enjoy reading - and the bullets/lists are fun too.