Cassie over at the Mario Scarf blog is wondering what the point of Ravelry is and I’ve heard others voice the same sort of questions. I’m not sure if I’m more organized or if Ravelry changed my life, but I certainly enjoy using it. So, rather than commenting on her blog directly, I thought I’d post here about why I love Ravelry and what I do with it (and encourage others to do the same).

Although Ravelry is also a good way to see what others say of their experiences with certain yarns or patterns, I can’t say that I’ve ever decided to (or not to) buy a yarn or do a pattern based on what someone has said in a Ravelry forum. Frankly, I find the groups and forums to be a huge time suck and I try not too spend much time in there. It’s all to easy to kill an entire morning or afternoon day in the forums. The last thing I need is to spend that much time and energy debating knitting vs. crochet or the merits of various yarn weights or the finer points of copyright law. And I don’t want to get sucked into discussions of politics or different TV shows/movies/books or get into any “big issues” debates. Blah! But, even if there were no Ravelry forums, I would still be using it.

I often use Ravelry to find patterns for yarns I have in my stash, but that have never had a clear destiny (I tend to buy yarn because it called my name and is smooshy/soft/brightly colored). So, I go into “yarns” and see what others have knitted with it. Or, if I’m looking around for another project to cast on (likely because I am bored with my current projects), I spend entirely too much some time browsing “patterns”.

I try to keep my queue organized with projects that I REALLY am going to do. For those projects I love and fantasize that maybe I’ll do some day, I use favorites. While I only have listed a few of my yarns under “stash”, I do document each of my projects. I like to have a record of items I’ve knitted since much of what I do is given as gifts. I’ve found that I really do enjoy going back and reminiscing about projects I’ve done and thinking about where they are now.

You’re not less of a “hard-core” knitter if you don’t use Ravelry or are just not that into it. You’re just not that kind of knitter. And that’s okay. Knitters come in all flavors.

Any other Ravelers out there? Do you still like it? Blog about your experience and link back to Cassie (and me if you want)!