Bob loves good hardware- yum!

Bob loves good hardware- yum!
Originally uploaded by frecklegirl

Okay, this is the Boston Terrier whose two humans run Ravelry, the crafters networking site. I admit that I went through all the Flickr pictures of him, in slideshow, before I could pick one to blog.

About Ravelry--it's members-only right now, because they only have one guy (Casey the Code Monkey) to keep up with everything. To become a member, you follow this hyperlink, then put your name on the waiting list. After a week or two, you will get an e-mail with a link which you follow to set up your account.

Once you are a Raveler, you can:
List your Finished Objects, Works in Progress, Hibernating, and even your Frogged projects--with pictures, hosted on Flickr!

Catalogue your Stash--also with pics, if you care to take them. A lot of people do.

Catalogue your knitting needles and crochet hooks (no pics yet) and your knitting/crocheting library (with not only pre-loaded pics, but Table of Contents!)

Look at other Ravelers' Finished Objects, Stash, etc... if you are thinking of using a particular yarn or pattern, you can look at what everybody else has done with that exact yarn/pattern, and see what they thought of how it worked!

Queue up future projects you hope to make someday, with just a click of a button--many people's queues are longer than their lifespans.

Find knitting groups in your area, or find other Ravelers who share your interests--anything from JRR Tolkien to Rachael Ray's cooking show to the LA Dodgers!

Link to all your friends, and see their "recent activity" with the click of a button!

Chat with other crafters on some very active forums, about everything from bona-fide knitting problems to Random Sleep Outbursts and the Four Laws of Knitodynamics (both recent threads in the Remnants forum.)

Link your projects to your blog. If you've written original patterns and posted them on your blog, or anywhere else other people can find/buy them, you can even sign up for free to be a Designer, and other people can queue up your patterns!

"Favorite" projects, patterns, stash, yarn brands, designers, forum posts, and even advertisements so you can find them when you want them!

Okay, I'll shut up now. This is not a paid advertisement, or even an unpaid advertisement, just a gush from a random Raveler.

Happy knitting!