Joining Ravelry

I cheated on my blog last Thursday so that I could attend the Cubs opening day festivities at the Glenwood. Wow, confession really IS good for the soul! I did, however, crochet during most of the game. And of course I hosted my Stitch 'n' Bitch Thursday evening.

In other yarn-related news, I joined Ravelry.com today. It's like online Disney World for knitters and crocheters! The community is worldwide (so I guess that makes it more like Epcot. Whatever!!), so if you happen to be vacationing in Kuala Lumpur, you can go to the Ravelry page for the group Knitter in Malaysia and learn where the happening yarn stores are and what patterns the hippest Malaysian knitters are rocking right now. Or if you want to find a Stitch 'n' Bitch in Sligo, Ireland, there's one that meets on Tuesdays at 7:30 at the Clarion Hotel. It's free.

There are 77,055 patterns available right now on Ravelry. 4,915 of those are free crocheting patterns! They break those patterns down into type of item as well as attributes such as design element or crochet technique. Ravelry also has a page of "UGHs", which are projects that didn't turn out quite the way they should have. I can't wait to post my first UGH!!

Every stitcher has tons of extra yarn, right? Lord knows I do!! And yet I still make my mom take me to Hobby Lobby every time I'm in Batavia! Don't judge me! Because on Ravelry's Yarn page, I can sell or trade that extra yarn! This page also suggests projects I can make with each color of each type of yarn on the Yarn page. Fun!!

You guys, I think I've found my new online addiction! There's so much information and so much pretty yarn on this site that I may never see the light of day, or any of my loved ones, ever, ever again!! I wouldn't even NEED to crochet -- I could just live vicariously through those who do and post about it on Ravelry! Oh, who am I kidding? Part of the joy of crocheting is that I can take it anywhere and can be a social butterfly while I stitch. And of course there's my love affair with yarn.

So that's about all the news for now -- I've got to get back on Ravelry!! Until Thursday, peace love and yarn, my darlings!!