Alarming Female

I received my Ravelry invitation on Wednesday, and have spent the last couple of days stumbling through, trying to make sense of what can only be described as an awesome candy shop for knitters, crocheters, spindlers, spinners—all sorts of fiber fans.

Since the entire time I was waiting for my Ravelry invite, I really was pretty ignorant of what I was waiting for, I’ve decided to present a “Ravelry for N00bs” guide. The guide will, I hope, clarify for those of you still waiting exactly what you can expect once the invite gets to you. Or, if you haven’t signed up, perhaps the guide will help you decide whether or not you want to (I think you probably want to–I’m just saying.)

Ravelry for N00bs, Part I

When you get your email invite, it will include a link to the page where you create a username and password. I typed “AlarmingFemale,” which is fourteen letters, no problem. I hear you get 16 letters total, but I didn’t check that for sure.

There is a really useful video to show how to input photos of your projects and stash (as well as profile photos–that’s mine above). I recommend it highly. When you’re ready, here’s a tutorial on how to enter the details of your projects and stash.

I spent much of this weekend photographing balls of yarn from my stash and uploading the particulars for each type, as well as info on my finished projects. I have to admit, I do wish I could make some or all of the stash private. Of course I could just not input it all, but it’s really helpful to me to have it somewhere I can see it (rather than just in the closet, where I forget what’s there). It’s just a little embarrassing for my ADD (which leans toward OCD just a bit when the issue is YARN) to be apparent to everyone. I mean, my stash isn’t THAT big, but it’s certainly enough yarn for a very long time, probably several years, even if I never bought more. Much of it is just one or two balls of sock yarn, so it’s not like I’m stashing 20 skeins of cashmere for a sweater. Plus, there are ways around entering each separate type of yarn, if you’re so inclined (eh, Susan?).

Anyway, next time I’ll give you the low down on groups. In the meantime, I’ll try not to spend so much time browsing Ravelry, and perhaps even get some laundry done! No promises, though.

*My gaming son Wm tells me that n00bs is a little harsh, and that it’s friendlier to use the term newbies. I asked him if it was okay to use n00bs if I was being friendly, yet ironic, and he gave me the go-ahead. He said I should pluralize with an s and not a z, though. Heh.