do you ravel?

if you haven't heard of Ravelry, you should probably stop reading this right now and go check out www.ravelry.com. if you have heard if it, i'm willing to bet you've already been on, checked the new patterns, qu-ed a favorite, and commented on a project by now.

Ravelry is sort of a facebook, but for knitters, and way better. instead of looking at the sordid details of your stalkee's latest romance in her status or on her wall, you get to see what projects she's working on, which projects she plans on working on, and whether or not she finished that aran sweater. those are the important things, anyway.

Ravelry allows you to talk the knitters you're jealous of, the knitters who you know you're better than, and your baby sister's progress on her lace. it allows you to post your WIPs (works in progress) and you can identify the kind of yarn you're using so that when someone falls in love with it, they can try to re-create it. you can look up patterns, both for free and for download, and laugh at the most ridiculous ideas (chapstick cosy, anyone?)

i called home this week to talk to my mum and i said, "what are you up to?"
she said, "oh i'm on the computer doing some work."
but a moment later she confessed, "well...actually i'm looking at your shawl on Ravelry."

and this is my dear mother who had never googled anything until she started buying yarn online.

i started creating my profile last week, but then i had to stop because the "dog ate my homework" excuse stopped working in the second grade. now it's the weekend, so go update your profile.